Sharks off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine, according to a new study from Brazil.
The findings were detailed in a study published in the Science of the Total Environment journal. The study investigated how illegal human drug consumption was harming sea life.
Scientists dissected the bodies of 13 sharpnose sharks that were caught in fishermen’s nets off a beach in Rio de Janeiro.
All 13 sharks tested positive for cocaine.
The researchers said the concentration found in the tested sharks was 100 times higher than had been found in other marine animals in previous studies.
It’s not known how the sharks were exposed to cocaine in their natural habitats, but scientists theorised it could have been from smuggled drugs dropped or dumped into the sea or from sewage discharges.
"Regardless of where the drug came from – which is still not possible to determine – the results show that cocaine is being widely traded and moved in Brazil," The Guardian reported study coordinator Enrico Mendes Saggioro from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute saying.
“Cocaine has a low half-life in the environment … so, for us to find it in an animal like this, it means a lot of drugs are entering the biota,” he said.
“In other studies, I had already found cocaine in rivers flowing into the sea off Rio, but it was a surprise to find it in sharks – and at such a high level,” said Saggioro.
Researchers also raised concern over the residents eating the sharks, as they were a common part of the Brazilian diet.
“We do not know the level of impact it may have on humans, which will need to be the focus of future studies. But in any case, it serves as a warning.”
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