Marine Life Tries to Escape Oil Spill With No Place to Go

Talk about your classic "out of the frying pan, into the fire" scenario. Marine animals are trying to escape the toxic oil slick, and they're ending up in dangerous shallow waters. Dolphins and sharks have been spotted off Florida beaches and mullets, crabs, rays and small fish are congregating by the thousands off an Alabama pier.

Scientists worry that this exodus could result in mass die-offs. Overcrowding could deplete the water's oxygen. It also makes the fish easy targets for predators. And, these animals may be swimming themselves into a corner; as the oil slick continues to head toward the shore, they may end up trapped between beaches and the oil.

This trend has researchers worried — it means the animals' usual habitat is badly polluted and they're looking for cleaner waters. And scientists expect there's more to come. Larry Crowder, a Duke University marine biologist, said, "A paralell would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire? There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this water they detect is not suitable."

The overall tally of wildlife in distress is still considered to be just the tip of the iceberg. Because the oil spill is so huge and much of it remains out at sea, many of the animals who die or fall sick will be scavenged by other wildlife, or they'll simply sink to the bottom of the Gulf, never to be found. Some of the repercussions may be long-term, too, as the chemicals from the dispersants and the broken up oil that's not recovered is ingested by smaller fish and makes its way up the food chain.

Sadly, these migrations to dangerous shallow waters may help reveal the real scope of the disaster by telling us just how much habitat has been contaminated.

In addition to marine animals seeking refuge by the shore, oil-covered birds are disappearing into the shelter of Louisiana marshes. Rehabilitation of oiled wildlife is an uphill battle as it is, but deep in the marshes, they can't be rescued or counted.

And there's more to these body counts than bird-watching and morbid curiosity. Dead animals reflect the overall impact of the oil spill on the ecosystem. The numbers also help determine the tab that BP will have to pay in order to try and fix this mess.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy