Blowflies shed mercury at maturity.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief Article) From: Science News | Date: April 16, 2005 | COPYRIGHT 2005 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

If an old lady swallows a blowfly, she may be better off ingesting an adult insect than an immature one. That's one implication of the discovery that blowflies, which can absorb mercury from fish carcasses that they feed on as larvae, rid themselves of much of the toxic metal when they develop into adults.

Canadian and French researchers raised blowflies on four mercury-containing trout carcasses and collected some flies for testing at each developmental stage, from egg ...