A total of 13 sharks gave positive for the first time in the history of cocaine on the coasts near the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, according to marine biologists after detecting that the animals presented high levels of the drug in their muscles and livers.
In this sense, the Italian News Agency Latina (ANSA) reported that the concentrations of the captured fish were up to 100 times greater than those indicated above for other aquatic creatures.
The study, already published in the journal “Science of The Total Environment”identified the presence of cocaine in 13 sharks of the species Rhizoprionodon lalandiiknown as the Brazilian sharp-nosed dogfish. The samples were collected in the neighborhood of Bandeirantes Recreation Area between September 2021 and August 2023.
How did the sharks become poisoned?
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundationwhich carried out the research, is the first institution to discover the presence of this substance in sharks and specialists think that the drug enters the waters through the illegal laboratories where it is produced or through excrement of addicts.
Lost packages of cocaine or packages abandoned at sea by traffickers could be a source, although it is less feasible, experts say. To reach this conclusion, the scientists analyzed muscle tissue and the liver of the thirteen sharks, three males and ten females.
Ecotoxicologist Marina del Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences Sara Novis, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Leiria, told Science magazine that the findings are “very important and potentially worrying”Scientists and analysts believe that the impact on the Human health is minimal or almost nullsince contact with these waters is very limited and is not used for consumption and feeding.
The research project has an objective that seeks accompany and analyze the changes that occur in the Marine lifewhether natural or altered and caused by human action.
Source: Ambito
