Sharks Near Brazil Test Positive For Cocaine (bbc.co.uk) 40
RockDoctor (Slashdot reader #15,477) writes: The BBC are reporting sharks have tested positive for cocaine.
Thirteen sharpnose sharks which were captured off the coast near Rio de Janeiro. They were tested for the drug in liver and muscle tissue samples — and returned positive results at concentrations as much as 100 times higher than previously reported for other aquatic creatures.
The research was published in Science of the Total Environment. The 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 starring in "Cocaine Shark" or "Cocaine Sharks", two recent productions on the subject featuring hammerheads and tiger sharks (the "trash cans of the sea").
The likeliest source is effluent from drug processing labs inland, though the snorting population of Rio may have added their contribution into the sewers too...
Whether cocaine is changing the behaviour of the sharks is not known. Perhaps it would affect their aim with their head-mount lasers, bringing closer their conquest of the land with it's tasty, tasty humans. Hollywood, hopefully, as the answers.
The research was published in Science of the Total Environment. The 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 starring in "Cocaine Shark" or "Cocaine Sharks", two recent productions on the subject featuring hammerheads and tiger sharks (the "trash cans of the sea").
The likeliest source is effluent from drug processing labs inland, though the snorting population of Rio may have added their contribution into the sewers too...
Whether cocaine is changing the behaviour of the sharks is not known. Perhaps it would affect their aim with their head-mount lasers, bringing closer their conquest of the land with it's tasty, tasty humans. Hollywood, hopefully, as the answers.
Damn (Score:5, Funny)
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Bears and now sharks too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Sharks that can fast-talk their way out of anything!
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Lets not forget Meth Gaters
Coked out laser sharks (Score:2)
wtf?
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It's just sensationalist crap. Less than 2% of sharks have head lasers.
And yet they are responsible for 83% of the world domination plots.
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It's kind of buried in this report, but apparently these sharks also tended to prefer Clapton-heavy playlists [youtu.be] on their Zunes.
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It's kind of buried in this report, but apparently these sharks also tended to prefer Clapton-heavy playlists [youtu.be] on their Zunes.
I hear they also enjoy Depeche Mode ;) [youtube.com]
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It is sort of a testament to the sensitivity of modern detection and analytic equipment. But since state of the art in the 1970s could identify drug source region from cigarette-butt residues, I'm not surprised. (Dad was an industrial chemist when I was at school, and he was more interested in these things than I was. But I read the papers he brought back from work - it
Is sea salt being tested? (Score:1)
Re:Is sea salt being tested? (Score:4, Interesting)
Does this mean that there's a minimum drug level for aquatic creatures?
It should be zero since drugs are man-made item.
That said, it would make sense. Sharks are at the top of their food chain. They eat other fish and whatnot that have eaten bunches of smaller fish and whatnot. The cocaine and other drugs get more concentrated the higher up you go.
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No, it was not a random "let's spend some tax dollars" experiment. (What is Brazil's currency? Reals? Wiki : "Currency Real (R$) (BRL)" ) It was a
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According to the reports I've received - including at first hand from people made to work at gun-point in the cocaine processing "jungle" labs - tyhe main solvent used is, indeed, cheap and discarded. It's petrol (EN_US ; "gasoline"). Because it is cheap, and disposable.
Chemically, in an ideal world, you might prefer an organic solvent with some electron lone pairs - so absolute ethanol, dimethyl ketone (acetone) or an etheric oxygen
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Yes.
No, that isn't intended to be a helpful answer. It just means you have to be very careful, all the time, on every date. That should be helpful.
The silt itself ... probably not much of an issue. Clays (phyllosilicate minerals have a very much higher surface area per gramme than silt minerals) or organic matter in the silt ... potentially more of an issue.
Applying the meme in TFA ruins the fun (Score:1)
30 years i waited to apply the meme, and you ruined it. dick
Coke sharks off Florida are a real thing (Score:1)
Coke boats that either sunk or were forced to dump some cargo have dropped tons of the stuff in highly concentrated form into the Florida coastal waters, usually still wrapped in plastic coated blocks. This has been going on gor many years.
The sharks chomp up the stuff and then... no one knows (that I'm aware of). Who the fuck is going to chase down and start conducting tests on coked up sharks and how could you tell the difference between a coked up shark attack and a regular shark attack, anyway?
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Coke boats that either sunk or were forced to dump some cargo have dropped tons of the stuff in highly concentrated form into the Florida coastal waters, usually still wrapped in plastic coated blocks. This has been going on gor many years.
The sharks chomp up the stuff and then... no one knows (that I'm aware of). Who the fuck is going to chase down and start conducting tests on coked up sharks and how could you tell the difference between a coked up shark attack and a regular shark attack, anyway?
The teeth marks have white residue around them?
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I Knew It! (Score:2)
No way those fishes can spend 24x7 hunting without a little help.
Guess what tipped them off in the first place (Score:2)
Those wild block parties at the beachfront, flashing colored lights, loud carnaval music, police showing up every now and then
From the LP "Hydrophonic" (Score:2)
If your bay gets bad news,
you want ocean blues,
cocaine
Just half asleep while you snooze,
gotta swim or you lose,
cocaine
When your laser turns rad,
and you burn from the head,
cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine
impressive (Score:4, Funny)
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Gills are probably a pretty effective drug intake system.
I guess that's where the '... up to the gills' expression comes from.
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If that doesn't make you very afraid, it should. Cooperative coke-snorting sharks. With, or without lasers on their heads.
This is how the Sharknados start (Score:2)
Drug the sharks and they just lose their stuff and start swimming in circles. Next think you know some 90's teen show actor is fighting off sharks.....
It was just one female shark (Score:2)
Its name was Mia Wallace.
Speculation (Score:2)
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It is plausible that it is run-off from the Andes into the Atlantic. Alternatively, it could be run off form particular processing operations near the Atlantic shore, which by wildlife sampling they can narrow down the locations of, delivery/ operations schedules of, and never come close enough for the guards to see, let alone
Honestly the best slashdot title/topic ever! (Score:1)
Scofflaws (Score:2)