Bioaccumulation (a buildup of a certain substance in the adipose tissue) and biomagnification (the process in which the concentration of the substance grows higher as you rise through the food chain) are growing issues in the mesopelagic zone. Mercury in fish, which can be traced back to a combination of anthropological factors (such as coal mining) in addition to natural factors. Mercury is a particularly important bioaccumulation contaminant because its concentration in the mesopelagic zone is increasing faster than in surface waters. Inorganic mercury occurs in anthropogenic atmospheric emissions in its gaseous elemental form, which then oxidizes and can be deposited in the ocean. Once there, the oxidized form can be converted to methylmercury, which is its organic form. Research suggests that current levels anthropogenic emissions will not equilibrate between the atmosphere and ocean for a period of decades to centuries, which means we can expect current mercury concentrations in the ocean to keep rising. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, and poses health risks to the whole food web, beyond the mesopelagic species that consume it. Many of the mesopelagic species, such as myctophids, that make their diel vertical migration to the surface waters, can transfer the neurotoxin when they are consumed by pelagic fish, birds and mammals.