Sharks Near Bahamas Found With Cocaine, Caffeine Traces

Marine scientists have discovered traces of cocaine, caffeine, and common painkillers in the bloodstreams of sharks swimming near a remote island in the Bahamas, marking the first such detections in the region and highlighting growing concerns over pharmaceutical pollution in marine environments.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, involved analyzing blood samples from 85 sharks representing three species: Caribbean reef sharks, Atlantic nurse sharks, and lemon sharks. Researchers captured the animals around Eleuthera Island, located about 50 miles east of Nassau, with most samples collected roughly four miles offshore near popular diving sites and an inactive fish farm. Of the sharks tested, 28 showed detectable levels of at least one substance, including caffeine in 27 cases, the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in 13, the pain reliever acetaminophen in four, and cocaine in two. One of the cocaine-positive sharks was a juvenile lemon shark from a nursery area. This represents the first global detection of caffeine and acetaminophen in sharks, as well as the initial finding of cocaine in Bahamian shark populations.

The contaminants, classified as...