The BBC reports that sharks tested positive for cocaine. Thirteen sharks captured off the coast near Rio de Janeiro.
Liver and muscle tissue samples were tested, and returned positive results at concentrations up to 100 times higher than previously reported for other aquatic creatures.
The survey was published in Science of the Total Environment. Little-known sharpnose sharks were examined because they spend their entire lives in coastal waters. This makes them more likely to be exposed to drugs from human activities than the more cinematic species featured in “Cocaine Shark” or “Cocaine Sharks,” two recent productions about hammerheads and tiger sharks (the “trash of the sea” ).
The most likely source is sewage from inland drug processing labs, although Rio's population may have added its own contribution to the sewers…
It is not known if cocaine changes the behavior of sharks in any way or the way Hollywood wants it to.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174798
