SHARKS in Brazil have tested positive for cocaine and scientists say they have multiple theories about how the class A drug reached the South Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists tested 13 Brazilian sharks found along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and found high levels of cocaine in their bodies.
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The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which carried out the research, states that the drug strongly coats the liver and muscles of sharks.
The article, published in Science of the Total Environment, suggests that the drug was filtered through pipes from drug laboratories, all the way to the South Atlantic Ocean.
Other possibilities for exposure include excrement from drug users that has reached the ocean through untreated sewage.
Researchers also considered the idea that narcotics traffickers had dumped the dangerous drug into the seas, prompting sharks to gnaw on it, but they think that is less likely.
British Dr. Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, a member of the research team, said The telegraph: “[Results showed] chronic exposure due to human use of cocaine in Rio de Janeiro.”
She suggested that chronic exposure could also be explained by “the discharge of human urine and feces into sewage outfalls as well as illegal laboratories.”
She acknowledged that there is no proof that the drug makes fish more aggressive or likely to go into a feeding frenzy.
However, she says ingesting the drug is likely to be harmful.
His team fears that ingesting cocaine by sharks could damage their eyes, impair their hunting abilities and reduce their life expectancy.
Dr. Tracy Fanara of the University of Florida, who was not involved in the study, told The Telegraph that she suspects cocaine in sharks’ systems could affect fertility.
She said: “They may not be going crazy on cocaine, but it could reduce their life expectancy.”
Dr. Enrico Mendes Saggioro, from the research center, told the newspaper that other animals showed erratic behavior after consuming cocaine and did not rule this out for sharks.
But he also emphasized that more studies would be needed to prove the drug’s impact on sharks.
The Brazilian sharpnose sharks used in the study were taken from small fishing groups that roamed the coastal waters of Rio de Janeiro.
The researchers dissected them before examining them and discovered concentrations of cocaine up to 100 times higher than those previously found in similar animals.
O New York Post Office reported that sharks in the Florida Keys were getting high on cocaine after drug dealers dumped the white powder into the water.
Last year, marine biologist Tom Hird investigated the link between sharks and cocaine use in the TV series “Cocaine Shark.”
He dived and noticed some sharks acting strangely.
Testing sharks’ penchant for the drug, he dropped bales filled with fish powder on the Discovery TV show.
To his surprise, several “super aggressive” sharks munched on the food and even ignored the bait swans he threw into the sea.
He concluded that the sharks preferred to feast on a foreign object rather than what they considered a living creature, a swan.
He told the Post: “I firmly believe, and it is not just a probability, that a shark will encounter a floating bale [of cocaine] and take a bite.”
He continued: “What’s interesting is that the sharks we saw… weren’t right, they weren’t like that, they looked a little bit wrong – now what it was very interesting.”
The scientist explained that although limited research has been done on sharks’ reactions to cocaine, there was nothing to suggest that the hyperactivity was unrelated to the drug.
Hyperactive eels in the Thames on cocaine
COCAINE inhaled by Londoners is polluting the Thames – and making eels hyperactive. There are even fears that the critically endangered fish may become too confused to migrate the 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to breed.
Cocaine enters the river in users’ urine through treated sewage. Untreated sewage can also enter after storms.
Researchers at King’s College monitored levels near the Houses of Parliament and found consistently high amounts.
In many other cities, cocaine use peaks on weekends.
The experts said: “London is known as one of the biggest consumers of cocaine and this suggests daily use.”
They want water treatment systems to be improved, but noted that the giant sewer Tideway Tunnel must prevent any waste from entering the river when it opens in 2023.
The London team detected levels of cocaine in the river exceeding one microgram per liter of untreated wastewater.
Scientists in Italy have discovered that 0.02 mg of cocaine per liter is enough to send eels in tanks into a frenzy and cause damage to their muscles.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
