Mining and e-waste recycling release trace elements (TEs) that can accumulate in aquatic organisms and impair their vital functions. Predicting whether an element will biomagnify or biodilute in food webs is challenging, as it depends on the element, species, and environment. This is especially true for technology-critical elements (TCEs), including most rare earth elements (REEs), which remain largely unstudied and are currently unregulated in most countries, despite growing emissions into the environmental. To address the gaps in understanding pollution fate and ecological implications of these elements, we quantified concentrations of understudied TCEs (Ti, Sr, Co, Tl, REEs (La, Ce)), alongside conventional TEs (Cu,