Octopods On Blow

In December 2007, Portuguese police confiscated 9.4 tons of cocaine in a shipment of frozen octopus from Venezuela. “I suppose it’s possible that someone defrosted the animals, took out the cocaine, then threw their bodies overboard”

Even more disturbing is it is more likely a parasite, bacteria or virus.

3 Replies to “Octopods On Blow”

  1. FWIW, the best theory I’ve heard so far on the Portuguese octopus washup was neither drugs nor disease, but salinity change due to freshwater runoff from rains. Dr. James Wood at the Aquarium of the Pacific pointed out that cephalopods are uniquely bad at dealing with osmotic stress and mentioned similar die-offs in Hawaii after large rains.

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