Sharks in Brazil are testing positive for cocaine, according to scientists

You’ve heard of Cocaine Bear…

Sharks off the coast of Brazil are getting high on cocaine, Brazilian scientists have revealed in a new study titled Cocaine Shark.

The study was conducted by dissecting 13 sharpnose sharks caught by fishermen off the coast of Brazil and found that all 13 contained traces of cocaine in both their muscles and livers.

Scientists fear that ingesting cocaine could change the behaviour of these sharks, causing “serious toxicological effects” in sea creatures around the Santos Bay area.

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According to researchers, the most likely explanation for this unusual finding is that cocaine is entering the sea from untreated sewage, or in a less likely explanation, the drug is dumped overboard during smuggling operations.

Speaking to The Telegraph, scientist and cocaine shark researcher Dr Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis explained: “We don’t usually see many bales of coke dumped or lost at sea here, unlike in Mexico and Florida.”

Last year, scientists in Florida said that large packages of paraphernalia dropped into the seas by drug traffickers are affecting fish, sharks, and other sea creatures.

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“We’ve seen studies with pharmaceuticals, cocaine, methamphetamines, ketamine, all of these, where fish are being [affected] by drugs,” one scientist told The Guardian.

Sharks aren’t the only marine creatures getting high on cocaine - over in the UK, cocaine and ketamine is being found in river wildlife, with 100% of freshwater shrimp testing positive for cocaine.

In a separate study conducted in 2018, researchers also found that Britain’s eels are getting high on cocaine - and it's said to be making them “hyperactive”.

Last year, a film titled Cocaine Shark was released, brought to screens by the director of classic films including Cocaine Warewolf, Shark Encounters of the Third Kind, and Sharkula.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter