Researchers Discover 'Cocaine Sharks' in the Bahamas

Step aside, cocaine bears, and make way for the cocaine sharks — creatures emerging in the Bahamas due to partygoers discarding drugs, including painkillers and caffeine, into the ocean.

A team of marine biologists and scientists from various international programs analyzed blood samples of 85 sharks from five different species in the region to test for at least 24 legal and illegal drugs, per CBS News.

Sharks in the Bahamas are consuming substances including caffeine, painkillers, and even cocaine, according to a new study by marine scientists who say it could potentially impact the animals’ health and behavior:

Twenty-eight of the sharks had detectable levels of caffeine, two common over-the-counter anti-inflammatory painkillers, or, in one instance, cocaine in their blood, according to the study. Some tested positive for more than one substance. Medications, illicit drugs and other substances are “increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern” in oceans and other bodies of water, the researchers said. They noted areas that are “undergoing rapid urbanization and tourism-driven development” are especially at risk. This is the first study looking at the effect of these contaminants on sharks in the Bahamas, the researchers said.

Natascha Wosnick, a zoologist and associate professor at Brazil’s Federal University of Parana, noted that cocaine poses a serious risk; the presence of other pharmaceutical drugs should be “equally alarming.”

“While the detection of cocaine — an illicit substance — tends to draw immediate attention, the widespread presence of caffeine and pharmaceuticals in the blood of many analyzed sharks is equally alarming,” Wosnick told CBS News. “These are legal substances, routinely consumed and often overlooked, yet their environmental footprint is clearly detectable. This underscores the need to critically reassess even our most normalized habits.”

While the researchers could not yet determine the exact harm caused to sharks, they noted that behavioral changes were possible, which could potentially lead to population decline.

“Our primary concern is not an increase in aggression toward humans, but rather the potential implications for the health and stability of shark populations,” Wosnick said. “Chronic exposure to these anthropogenic compounds, many of which have no natural analogue in marine systems, may lead to negative effects that are still poorly understood.”

Wosnick told Science News that the presence of cocaine in the sharks’ bloodstreams likely stemmed from drug packages falling into the water.

“They bite things to investigate and end up exposed,” she said.

“Researchers noted that the drug-addled predators had been taken from popular tourist and dive spots, suggesting that they’d been exposed to wastewater from boats and urban developments, which may have been polluted with the aforementioned substances,” per the New York Post.