Knowledge Portal Munitions in the SeaDistribution of munition compounds in the marine food web and effects on the sustainability of the biological production of the seas.
The chemical munition compounds (MC) that leak from munitions in the sea pose a potential risk to seafood consumers. Near munition dumpsites and shipwrecks, TNT and its degradation products have been found in a wide range of aquatic organisms including algae, benthic fauna, mussels and fish. It is less well known how long MC persist in biological tissues, and how rapidly they may be excreted. Ongoing work seeks to characterize how widely organisms are contaminated with MC and mechanisms of their retention in biological tissues.