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A school of Pacific herring. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.
“These embryos were literally falling apart …”
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Very low concentrations of oil from a 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic herring. Ultraviolet light dramatically increased the toxicity of the bunker oil that leaked from a ship after it collided with the Bay Bridge, killing a high percentage of the young fish.
“Based on our previous understanding of the effects of oil on embryonic fish, we didn’t think there was enough oil from the Cosco Busan spill to cause this much damage,” said Gary Cherr, director of the University of California Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory.
The spill devastated a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, according to a new study by the University of California, Davis, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (more…)
Filed under: biodiversity, energy, Environment, Marine biology, oil drilling, Summit County news | Tagged: Cosco Busan, herrings and oil, marine biology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, oil spills, San Francisco Bay | 1 Comment »
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