Inorganic mercury discharged into a bay is dangerous to people who eat fish from it mainly because anaerobic bacteria in the sediment:

1. Areduce all of it to a gas that escapes from the water
2. Boxidise it to mercury(II) sulfate, which is non-toxic
3. Cconvert it into lipid-soluble methylmercury, which bioaccumulates in fish
4. Dconvert it into nitrate, which causes blue baby syndrome