Cocaine-addicted sharks run amok
Are sharks lurking off the coast of Florida eating packages of cocaine dumped in the ocean by drug smugglers bound for the United States?
With the massive amounts of drugs washing up on beaches and being removed from the ocean by authorities each year, marine biologist Tom Hird set out to determine if sharks had ingested cocaine as part of a TV series called "Cocaine Sharks".
As they observed, scientists noticed some strange behavior.
A hammerhead shark, a species that usually shies away from humans, lunged at them and appeared to be swimming sideways.
A sandbar shark was seen swimming in tight circles 60 feet below the surface, seemingly fixated on an object that wasn't there.
The researchers then tested the sharks’ reactions to bags of cocain they dropped into the water, which were similar in size and shape to the cocaine bags. The sharks headed straight for the bags and grabbed them in their jaws, with one even swimming away with one of the fake cocaine bags.
Scientists Hird and Fantana then attempted to recreate the physical effect of cocaine by using a ball of highly concentrated fish powder to trigger a massive reaction in the sharks.
The sharks can be seen going wild.
“I think we have a potential scenario of what could happen if you gave sharks cocaine,” Hird says on the show. “It set their brains on fire. It was crazy.”
(MH with MaSi/Source: New York Post/Photo: Unsplash)
