研究野生鱼类古柯碱污染的研究人员报告称，暴露于与古柯碱相关污染的大西洋鲑鱼，其行为与正常鱼类不同，游得更远，且在更广的区域内分散。这项由 Griffith University、瑞典农业科学大学、伦敦动物学会和马克斯·普朗克动物行为研究所共同领导的研究，发表于 Current Biology，并提供了首个证据，显示古柯碱污染会影响野外鱼类的行为，而不仅仅是在实验室环境中。

为了测试这一点，研究团队在瑞典韦特恩湖的 105 只大西洋鲑鱼幼鱼体内，外科植入了缓释装置，随后将它们分成 3 组：对照组、古柯碱暴露组，以及 benzoylecgonine 暴露组；其中 benzoylecgonine 是古柯碱的主要代谢物，常见于废水中。这些鱼也被标记并追踪了 2 个月，分析显示，暴露于 benzoylecgonine 的鱼游行距离最多可达对照组的 1.9 倍，最终分散到距离释放点约 20 英里外。

最强的行为效应出现在代谢物组，而不是古柯碱组本身；这一点很重要，因为代谢物在水道中往往更常见，而且在风险评估中通常被低估。作者表示，这些变化可能会改变鱼吃什么、什么吃牠们，以及族群如何形成，并可能带来影响整个生态系统的后果。他们提醒，下一步是确定这种效应有多普遍、哪些物种最脆弱，以及这些行为转变是否会影响存活与繁殖。

Researchers studying cocaine pollution in wild fish reported that Atlantic salmon exposed to cocaine-related contamination behaved differently from normal fish, swimming farther and dispersing over a wider area. The study, led by Griffith University with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Zoological Society of London, and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, was published in Current Biology and provides the first evidence that cocaine contamination affects fish behavior in the wild, not just in laboratory settings.

To test this, the team surgically implanted slow-release devices in 105 juvenile Atlantic salmon in Lake Vättern, Sweden, then split them into 3 groups: a control group, a cocaine-exposed group, and a benzoylecgonine-exposed group, with benzoylecgonine being the main cocaine metabolite commonly found in wastewater. The fish were also tagged and tracked for 2 months, and analyses showed that fish exposed to benzoylecgonine swam up to 1.9 times farther than controls, eventually dispersing about 20 miles from the release point.

The strongest behavioral effect appeared in the metabolite group rather than the cocaine group itself, which matters because metabolites are often more common in waterways and are usually underweighted in risk assessments. The authors said these changes could alter what fish eat, what eats them, and how populations are structured, with possible ecosystem-wide consequences. They cautioned that the next step is to determine how widespread the effect is, which species are most vulnerable, and whether these behavioral shifts affect survival and reproduction.