Scientists find fentanyl, other drugs in dolphins from Gulf of Mexico

In an article posted on its website, ABC News unveils that scientists  discovered traces of fentanyl and other drugs in several dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico. 

This is raising concerns about the potential impact on the overall health of the oceans. 

The study began in September 2020, when marine biologists, while conducting a routine survey to monitor the dolphin population in the Gulf, discovered a dead dolphin floating in the water. According to Dara Orbach, an assistant professor in the marine biology program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and co-author of the study, the scientists observed that the dolphin had recently died, as its tail was still moving. They decided to tow the dolphin back to campus for further examination.

Years later, when graduate student Makayla Guinn required dolphin tissue samples for her hormone research, the biologists retrieved some blubber from that same dolphin for analysis, according to Orbach.

The researchers then collaborated with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi biochemist Hussain Abdulla, who offered his laboratory for the marine biologists to conduct an untargeted analysis to determine what chemicals were present in the dolphin tissues. Christiana Wittmaack, a toxicologist at Precision Toxicological Consultancy and co-author of the study, explained that an untargeted analysis uses instruments to identify the presence of chemicals in the tissue.

While they were originally looking for hormones, the analysis revealed thousands of compounds. The researchers were particularly astonished when they selected three compounds they thought would be unlikely to appear in a dolphin—fentanyl, a muscle relaxant, and a sedative—and found traces of all three in the sample tissue.

For her honor student undergraduate project, Anya Ocampos analyzed 89 dolphin samples using a mass spectrometer. Of these, 83 were from biopsies of live dolphins in Laguna Madre, a shallow lagoon near Corpus Christi Bay in South Texas. Fentanyl was the most commonly found drug, detected in 24 of the samples.

The researchers discovered that all the dead dolphin samples tested positive for at least one drug. Some of these samples were historic, taken from the Mississippi Sound in 2013, indicating that these drugs have likely been present in the Gulf of Mexico's waters for an extended period, according to Orbach.

Dolphins do not drink water, Orbach explained. Instead, they get most of their hydration from the animals they prey on, meaning these contaminants are likely present in their prey as well. 

"This could be a widespread and persistent issue that has simply gone unaddressed," she added.

By Naila Huseynova