Human-made chemicals have snuck on down into the ocean depths, showing up in the tissues of deep-sea cephalopods, says new research. In a study to be published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, researchers found various persistent organic pollutants -- including PCBs and DDT -- in nine species of octopi, squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses. "The fact that we detected a variety of pollutants in specimens collected from more than 3,000 feet deep is evidence that human-produced chemicals are reaching remote areas of the open ocean, accumulating in prey species, and therefore available to higher levels of marine life," says study coauthor Michael Vecchione. "Contamination of the deep-sea food web is happening, and it is a real concern."
source:Hitting the Squids
Deep-sea squid and octopi full of human-made chemicals 2
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Posted 12:10 PM on 13 Jun 2008
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caniscandida Posted 12:57 am
14 Jun 2008
The Woods Hole people are most directly interested in whales; and in connexion with this study of cephalopods, the toothed whales (Odontocetes), being famous eaters of cephalopods, are named here as possibly being harmed by the accumulation of POPs in their bodies.
But the right whales and rorquals tend to eat mostly crustaceans, who are just a short distance further down the food chain from the cephalopods. So we have to allow that their health too may be adversely affected by an accumulation of POPs.
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mtnprivy Posted 3:12 am
14 Jun 2008
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