Brazilian Sharks Test Positive for Cocaine

https://gizmodo.com/brazilian-sharks-test-positive-for-cocaine-2000477390

Cocaine Shark is already a horrible looking B-movie, but it’s also a reality as trace amounts of the drug have been detected in sharks near Brazil.

While a rampaging cokehead great white would undoubtedly make for an excellent antagonist, the reality is slightly less exciting and far more alarming in the grand scheme of things. Cocaine makes its way into the ocean through several avenues, including release from inadequate sewage treatment facilities and stray packets dropped into the water by smugglers that then get bitten open by wildlife (the latter scenario sounding rather familiar).

Due to these processes, traces of cocaine have been detected in sewage and surface waters in at least 37 countries between 2011 and 2017. The drug has also infiltrated various forms of aquatic life, including mollusks, crustaceans, and bony fish. But with all that said, no studies had ever looked into whether sharks are affected.

In a paper published last week in the journal Science of the Total Environment, Brazilian researchers sought to rectify that by capturing 13 Brazilian sharpnose sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The species is relatively small, measuring under three feet (0.9 meters) in length, and it feeds mostly on small fish and squid.

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