Research conducted by a team from Brazil indicates that sharks inhabiting the coastal waters of the Bahamas have tested positive for various foreign substances.

The study identified chemical signatures for illicit stimulants, caffeine, and analgesics within the marine predators’ systems.

According to a report by the New York Post cited by TVC News, the researchers reportedly described the troubling shark-otics trend, writing, “Pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs are increasingly recognised as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in marine environments, particularly in areas undergoing rapid urbanisation and tourism-driven development.”

The researchers noted that the “blow-fish” are not getting hooked on purpose, stressing that it’s the fallout from an uptick in marine pollutants, according to a jaw-calyptic study published in the journal Environmental Pollution.

To see whether these marine marauders were under the influence, the team was said to have analysed blood samples from 85 specimens around Eleuthera, one of the Bahamas’ most remote islands, as the subjects were drug-tested for both legal and illegal substances.

Of the samples, a shocking 28 sharks spanning three species tested positive for drugs, the most common of which was caffeine.

According to the New York Post, they also found in their system that acetaminophen and diclofenac, the active ingredients in the popular painkillers Tylenol and Voltaren.

Meanwhile, two of the animals tested positive for cocaine, which researchers attributed to them chomping on drug packets that fell into the water.

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“They bite things to investigate and end up exposed,” study author Natascha Wosnick of the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, told Science News.

This reportedly marked the first time cocaine had been detected in sharks in the Bahamas, trace amounts had previously been found in sharks in Brazil, and the first instance of the critters testing positive for caffeine anywhere on Earth.

Researchers noted that the drug-addled predators had been taken from popular tourist and dive spots, suggesting that they’d been exposed to wastewater from boats and urban developments, which may have been polluted with the aforementioned substances.

Coincidentally, research on goldfish found that caffeine ups their energy and focus just like with humans, per Wosnick, although it’s yet unclear how this would affect their toothier counterparts’ behaviour in the wild.

Nonetheless, scientists found their accidental drug use concerning, given the remoteness of the locale, suggesting that not even pristine marine environments are safe from the worldwide pollution scourge.

“We’re talking about a very remote island in the Bahamas,” lamented Wosnick.

Fanara said that ultimately this narcotic trickle-down effect serves as a “reminder that coastal infrastructure, tourism and marine food webs are tightly connected.”