Oil found in crab larvae plucked from Gulf coast

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To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem's health: the blue crab.

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web — and could affect it for years to come.

"It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water," said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans. "Something likely will eat those oiled larvae ... and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on."

Tiny creatures might take in such low amounts of oil that they could survive, Thomas said. But those at the top of the chain, such as dolphins and tuna, could get fatal "megadoses."

Marine biologists routinely gather shellfish for study. Since the spill began, many of the crab larvae collected have had the distinctive orange oil droplets, said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

"In my 42 years of studying crabs I've never seen this," Perry said. More...

USM, Tulane scientists say oil now in Gulf of Mexico food chain

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Think of what this means. What do you think will happen once the word spreads, and people begin to realize that all sea life in the entire Gulf region is toxic. You can expect a huge propaganda campaign designed to discredit reports of oil in the GOM food chain.

Sun Herald

OCEAN SPRINGS -- Scientists at The University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University have found oil in the postlarvae of blue crabs entering coastal marshes along the Gulf Coast signaling that oil may be entering estuarine food chains.

Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, has found droplets of hydrocarbons or oil, in blue crab and fiddler crab larvae. According to Perry, the oil appears to be trapped between the hard, outer shell of the crab and its inner skin.

“I’ve been sampling in Mississippi coastal waters for 42 years and I have never seen this,” declared Perry. “My guess is that the crab picked up this oil offshore while in the megalopal (postlarval) stage and brought the oil with it when it came back to the marsh."

Tulane researcher, Dr. Caz Taylor has found orange-colored droplets in megalopae as far east as Pensacola, FL and as far west as Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, but analysis of these droplets has not been completed.

Perry sent samples to an independent lab in Florida which confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons. While the oil was tested, it was not specifically analyzed for the markers that would pinpoint it to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, Perry believes it is no coincidence that the timing of the oil spill matches finding oil in the crab. The Tulane samples are currently being analyzed at their laboratory and Perry and Taylor both cautioned that additional testing will be required to relate the oil to the recent spill.

Blue crabs are more than just a favorite food for humans; they are also a favorite food of a host of fish species that live in the marsh. Speckled trout and red fish feed heavily on the crustaceans. The food chain is now affected because whatever eats the crab will be affected, and so on.

Besides finding oil in the body of the crab, Perry’s group has begun seeing small fish with oil clinging to their bodies. “Oil on the fins decreases mobility and makes these fish easy prey for other species. This is yet another example of oil being incorporated into the food chain,” she added.

Whale sharks swimming in heavy oil four miles from Deepwater

Swimming with a whale shark off the Alabama coast

This week's report: Three whale sharks swimming in heavy oil four miles from the gushing Deepwater Horizon wellhead. "Our worst fears are realized. They are not avoiding the spill area," said Eric Hoffmayer, the University of Southern Mississippi scientist who found the large aggregation last week. "Those animals are going to succumb. Taking mouthfuls of oil is not good. It is not the toxicity that will kill them. It's that oil is going to be sticking to their gills and everything else."

Whale sharks, the largest fish on earth, feed by filtering plankton and tiny fish from the water through sieve-like mechanisms in their mouths.

"Based on all the information I'm getting, they are doing the normal things regardless of the oil. The idea that sharks have these evolved senses that will protect them -- well, they haven't evolved to detect oil," Hoffmayer said.

He tagged whale sharks on the Ewing Bank in June of last year. The satellite trackers showed that some of the animals spent that July migrating hundreds of miles toward the Alabama coast and Florida Panhandle. If they follow the same route this year, it would carry them straight through the heart of the spill. More...