Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

‘Cocaine sharks’ might be feasting on drugs dumped off Florida coast, scientists say

Shark Week's "Cocaine Sharks" investigates sharks' reaction to fake bales of Cocaine. Jeff Rotman / Alamy Stock Photo

Sharks lurking off of Florida’s coast may be eating bundles of cocaine dumped in the ocean by US-bound drug smugglers — and scientists want to find out.

With the massive amounts of drugs washing up on beaches and being pulled out of the ocean by authorities each year, marine biologist Tom Hird wanted to investigate whether or not sharks had ingested cocaine as part of a new TV series “Cocaine Sharks” — which will premiere during Discovery Channel’s beloved “Shark Week” next week.

In the program, Hird and University of Florida environmental scientist Tracy Fanara conduct a number of experiments on sharks off the Florida Keys, where fishermen have reportedly told tales about drug-addicted fish.

“The deeper story here is the way that chemicals, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs are entering our waterways — entering our oceans — and what effect that they then could go on to have on these delicate ocean ecosystems,” Hird told Live Science.

Marine biologists conducted several experiments to test a shark’s reaction to dummy bales of cocaine in the Florida Keysmediadrumimages/@captainjohnmoor
Tens of thousands of kilos of cocaine and other drugs are seized by the US Coast Guard each year.via REUTERS

Hird and Fantana dove underwater and noticed some sharks acting strangely in the episode. A hammerhead shark, a species that typically shies away from humans, darted right at them and appeared to be swimming askew.

At 60 feet below the surface, a sandbar shark was seen swimming in tight circles, appearing fixated on an object that was not there, according to the show.

Next, they tested how sharks reacted to the packages they dropped in the water which were similar in size and shape to cocaine bales.

In the experiment, the sharks appeared to shoose fake bales of cocaine over a dummy swan.Alamy Stock Photo
The sharks also appeared to respond to bricks of fake cocaine dropped from an airplane.Santiago Fernandez/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

In the experiment, they placed the fake bales next to dummy swans, and were shocked to watch sharks head directly for the bales and take bites out of them — with one shark even swimming away with one.

Hird and Fantana then attempted to ethically recreate the physical rush of cocaine with a highly-concentrated ball of fish powder to trigger a massive dopamine response from the sharks.

The sharks can be seen going wild, according to Live Science.

“I think we have got a potential scenario of what it may look like if you gave sharks cocaine,” Hird says on the program. “We gave them what I think is the next best thing. [It] set [their] brains aflame. It was crazy.”

The experiment was inconclusive, with further research needed, the scientists said.AP
“Cocaine Sharks” premieres next week on Discovery Channel as part of Shark Week.Alamy Stock Photo

For their final experiment, they dropped imitation bales of cocaine from an airplane to simulate how the drugs might actually get into the shark’s ecosystem. Multiple shark species made a bee-line for the fakes, the scientists observed.

Hird said their experiments don’t prove that there are drug-addicted sharks consuming cocaine off Florida. More experiments would have to be repeated and there could be a wide number of environmental reasons why the sharks responded in such a way.

“We have no idea what [cocaine] could do to the shark,” Hird told Live Science, adding that of the limited research that’s been done, different fish appear to react in different ways to the same chemical. “So we can’t even say well this is a baseline and go from here,” he said. 



This post first appeared on Viral News Africa | Africa Trending News, Celebs, Social Media News, please read the originial post: here

Share the post

‘Cocaine sharks’ might be feasting on drugs dumped off Florida coast, scientists say

×

Subscribe to Viral News Africa | Africa Trending News, Celebs, Social Media News

Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

Thank you for your subscription

×