Cocaine Sharks Are BACK?!
As if the news hasn’t been stressful enough, a new study has found sharks in the Bahamas are high on cocaine. Okay, maybe not that extreme… but cocaine sharks are back.
A few years ago, scientists in Brazil found that sharp-nosed sharks were not only being exposed to cocaine, but traces of coke were found in several sharks they tested. One theory is that the cocaine likely came from packages of coke dumped by drug smugglers through the years.
It turns out the Bahamas is another hot spot for cocaine sharks!
A new study by Environmental Pollution tested five shark species in the Bahamas and found several CECs (contaminants of emerging concern.) Researchers tested 85 sharks near Eleuthera Island, a third of them tested positive for either caffeine, anti-inflammatory drugs, and in one instance, cocaine.
One of the lead researchers with the Federal Univeristy of ParanĂ¡ said the substances found in their systems were due to human pollution. “It’s mostly because people are going over there (the remote island where they found the sharks,) peeing in the water and dumping their sewage in the water.”
So not only are these sharks unintentionally consuming drugs, it’s through our poo! No wonder Jaws was after our blood…
