Oily aftermath

Oil spills mean fish kills

By Culinate staff

January 24, 2012

Nearly two years after the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the relevant food science is starting to come in, and yes, it’s bad. As the Los Angeles Times reported, exposure to oil and then to sunlight has been documented to destroy fish embryos, a phenomenon known as phototoxicity:

In the wake of BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico . . . much of the spilled oil stayed at depth, but that which did rise through the water column could have produced phototoxic effects that are still unknown and unstudied.

Will there be fish in the Gulf in the future? Stay tuned.