Scientists found cocaine in sharks off the coast of Brazil. This is the first time the medication has been found in wild sharks.
A recent study published in Science of the Total Environment and reported by Scientific American discovered that all 13 sharks tested positive for cocaine in their muscles and liver.
The study’s co-authors, ecotoxicologist and biologist Enrico Mendes Saggioro and Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis of Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, stress that the ramifications for sharks are uncertain. “No one has ever studied the behavioural or physiological impacts of cocaine in sharks,” Hauser-Davis stated, adding that this drug is simply one of several contaminants harming these apex predators.
“We detected high levels of metals, ‘forever chemicals’ [PFASs], pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including PCBs and PBDEs, in over 30 shark and ray species,” according to Hauser-Davis. PCBs, which were outlawed in the United States in 1976 and worldwide in 2001, are recognized carcinogens, whereas PBDEs, used as flame retardants, can affect brain development and hormones.
Mendes Saggioro discovered cocaine in Rio de Janeiro’s river water, which sparked the notion of drug testing sharks. Brazil, with an estimated 1.5 million cocaine users, frequently sees untreated sewage containing drug traces enter waterways. Drug couriers will sometimes dump cocaine into the water to avoid capture. A 2023 Discovery Channel documentary depicted sharks exploring mock cocaine shipments around the Florida Keys. Researchers believe sewage and polluted prey are the most likely sources.
Read also: Shark attacks recorded in Florida and Texas; three hurt.
In this study, Brazilian sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) were analyzed and found to have an average cocaine content of 23 milligrams per kilogram of tissue. Females had higher amounts than males, and half of the females collected were pregnant, implying probable transmission to developing fetuses.
“Adults may have better-developed systems to metabolise these substances, but a developing foetus may not,” said Chris Lowe, a marine biologist and Shark Lab director at California State University, Long Beach.
. Mendes Saggioro intends to do additional testing on rays and migratory fish to evaluate the degree of contamination. The report emphasizes two key points: avoid eating sharks owing to overfishing and contamination, and stop from dumping debris, especially illegal narcotics, into the ocean.
“Please don’t dump your trash, including illegal drugs, into the water,” said David Shiffman, a marine conservation expert at Arizona State University.
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