Temora turbinata: Recorded from tropical, subtropical and temperate coastal waters of the Indian Ocean, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Scientists have confirmed that oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster has entered the marine food chain.
Research by faculty and students at East Carolina University in
Greenville, N.C. found crude oil from the 2010 spill in zooplankton (photo), small animals that play a critical role in the aquatic food web.
Dr. Siddhartha Mitra with ECU's Department of Geological Sciences
and Dr. David Kimmel with the Department of Biology and Institute for
Coastal Sciences and Policy worked with students to analyze samples of
zooplankton collected from the Gulf of Mexico in August and September
2010. They identified the origin of the oil by examining polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, natural components of crude oil known to cause cancer, reproductive problems and birth defects.
"Our research helped to determine a 'fingerprint' of the Deepwater
Horizon spill; something that other researchers interested the spill may
be able to use," Mitra told ECU
Now Blog. "Furthermore, our work demonstrated that zooplankton in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico accumulated toxic compounds derived from the
well."
The ECU researchers worked with colleagues at the University of
Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the Georgia Institute of
Technology, Oregon State University and the U.S. Geological Survey. The
National Science Foundation funded the study, which appeared in
Geophysical Research Letters.
Next, they plan to look at whether oil compounds from the BP disaster made it to the North Carolina coast.
Fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico have been severely impacted by the 2010 oil spill, with fishermen reporting
that catches are down dramatically since the disaster. At the same
time, consumers are reluctant to consume Gulf seafood over concerns
about contamination.
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