Squids and octopods beware: Contaminants now in your world

Reminds me of Glenn Beck- it's the large uncaring eyes

More to the point of the article, as a biologist who works on the taxonomy of deep oceanic crustaceans, this helps answer a question I have been thinking about since it was asked by one of the students in my high school marine biology course this semester.

Wow. And to think. This all started back before we were even aware it would have long-term effects. Back in the 80's, 70's, and before. Now we will have to deal with it for forever, or until we can filter out the entire ocean(never). That is a shame, and I wish that we would've been more caring about our environment. I am only 20 years old. I have a long life ahead of me, and it troubles me to know that neither me nor my close ones will be able to eat food from the seas for much longer, for much longer, without there being a serious health hazard or side-effect. It's just a shame on humanity. Hopefully we will be able to follow this up, and find some sort of way to counteract the agents... maybe then we will be able to decontaminate the area(s).

[...] face from the tentacled denizens of the watery deep. Our species has not been idle. Hopefully our nefarious plans won't [...]

This is not surprising news – disgusting but not surprising. It just proves that there is no corner of our earth that is remote enough to be safe from the "intelligent" species – humans.
In our blind, selfish, arrogance that we are the superior species and entitled to take what we want, annihilate any other species we want – in any number of barbaric disgusting ways -, use until we use up everything, we are slowly but surely destroying our world.
We humans have no concept or consciousness of how small we really are in the grand scheme of things, but there are so many of us that even seemingly innocuous activities have a huge, lasting, vastly destructive impact.
Some day there will be nothing left and our planet will be as barren as so many we see out there in the universe. We will have noone to blame but ourselves!

It would help to have a little more information to put this in perspective. What amounts are we talking about here? All kinds of man-made and natural chemicals persist in the environment and end up in the food chain of every kind of organism, but they are harmless especially if measured in a few parts per billion or even a few parts per million. Probably nothing to be worried about, but the article doesn't specify how much is accumulating in the cephalopods measured. Why did the author neglect to provide useful data and instead punctuate the article with alarming phrases like "It’s not yet clear what level of these chemicals could harm or kill these deep sea creatures?"

Obviously all chemicals need to be evaluated using a cost benefit ratio, but since DDT was banned in 1972 how many millions of children have died due to malaria?

Imagine what the octopus would think of us, if he only knew what we were doing to him and all his kin? Humans should be considered the most feared of all the earth's creatures by any measure. Think about that the next time you look in a mirror.

Joke all you want, but it's clear – we're doomed.

Long live the cephalopods!

S Callahan, I think that's a very good point. These chemicals are distributed throughout the world, and find their way into ecosystems we had no idea they would get into. While we may not be directly eating a lot of Cephalopods (although I like calamari), it should make people pause and think for a moment.

If our actions have THESE unintended effects, what else are we doing that could harm us much more directly?

The deep sea is not discovered... the human species knows little about the oceans (nearly 80% of world).

The sea doesn't need our saving. The earth doesn't need out saving. Do what you need to do. Don't be reckless. It doesn't matter if another million species go extend. Millions have. Millions more will. Man will eventually be one.

Everything can hurt. Everything can help. Typical alarmist environmentalist. Ashamed of being human. Typically ashamed of be American.

Get the hell out of the way so business and entreprenuers can make things happen.

@starzzguitar, I think the bigger point of the post is that the stuff we throw around is getting to these incredibly remote ecosystems. Considering that humans practically wallow in our own filth, I wouldn't be surprised if we're all EPA condemned zones. But to think that our actions on 1/3 of the surface has such an effect on the remaining 2/3 of the surface, down to depths that we didn't even think contained life. THAT should give you pause. Sure, we're fine TODAY, but what about tomorrow? The shortsightedness of your comment is more frightening than what these studies actually found.

Mother Earth is an obsessive compulsive cleaner. Rain washes away, the rivers carry it out to sea, and the octopi get free chemicals. The steroids from Professional Sports, concentrated, in unexpected places. All they can tolerate smorgasbord for the deep sea creatures.

As it is ....I am ashamed of what we have done to ourselves in a short period of time. The ocean is so vast that it's hard to comprehend how we have contaminated it to this depth and treated life that is so beautiful and alien to us in such a way. Every day I hear or read about some new contaminant being discovered and how the environment and wild life is affected. The only cure is for us (humans) to stop sticking your heads in the sand and start thinking about what we can do to fix the problems and prevent further issues. This does not have to keep us from being entrepreneurs and business people. It is so sad to see such defenceless creatures slowly suffur while absorbing our selfish mistakes. Life is too short for this.

We still haven't accepted that what comes around comes around....we have harmed everything on earth for the sake of "progress". The "primitive" cultures were a lot wiser than us today. We've planted the seeds of our own demise, and judging from some of the comments, that may not be such a bad thing for earth..

This story is alarming in a way because it shows how big of a reach we have in our own world, in places we know almost nothing about. To the people who think we should not care about the Earth, you have a very dim view of the world around you. As a scientist, and person living on this planet, we have a lot of control over what happens here. We have ruined a lot of what we have and we should try to do our best to fix it. Yes, species go extinct, and we will too, but we are speeding up the process and causing unnatural things to happen. These animals deserve to be here just as much as you or I do. So what gives us the right to dump toxic chemicals into our rivers, oceans, etc? Nothing does. I agree with the point about not being reckless, but not trying to save the planet we live on goes too far. I do not care what country causes the most pollution nor do I have problems with people who are business people and entrepreneurs. I am sorry but I am American and I am a scientist. I am not ashamed of being an American so please do not generalize or insult us like that. I am not an alarmist environmentalist either. I care much about it and I am willing to study it and draw conclusions based on solid fact, not jumping at shadows. KC, you need to open your eyes a bit more and do not be so quick to judge others. I could have been very rude to you regarding things you said but I was not. You have your views as with others having their own but at least care about the place that you call home. We are considered the most intelligent race on this planet and with that comes a responsibility whether we want it or not. And it is to take care of what we have. If people do not agree with me, that is ok by me, that's life.

Poisonous frogs advertise; eat me and die.
How soon before we see very colorful octopi ?

Some of you people need to grow up! Evidently there are a lot of 9 year old boys who post here. Adults should know better than to make jokes about something so devastatingly serious. This kind of pollution will affect you too!!! Will it be funny then?

        
Pollution is a byproduct of comfort and progress.
Sweep it under a rug, put it on top of a garbage mountain.
Drive a car, fry a carrot, light a campfire, roast a wiener.
We are born to pollute – pollute or die !

Decrease entropy around us, but increase entropy far away.

As long as better for us, the Octipussies will have to adapt !
After all, they neither have backbones, nor are USA voters !

So sad. We are the smartest animal on the planet and yet we don't see the signs that what we do on a daily basis for our own survival will eventually wipe out all other species. No matter what your politics, our existence here is finite. So much for intelligence, we should be talking about ignorance!

To die as Sushi, or to live as a pollution waste dump.
That is the question.

Mosquitoes eat DDT; Also, Octopi are versatile in their tolerance.
Oceans have all kinds of pollutants and poisons.
Black Smokers do not kill them.
Monster of the Deep is tougher than you think.

I know this comments list is already clogged with arguments going both ways, but here's a simple thought:

We're not perfect.

As humans, we strive to make the world better. We curb diseases and extend the shelf life of our food with technology. Chemicals like DDT were developed to make life better, when we figured out that it was doing a lot of harm, we stopped using it.

So, yes, as many of those posting have stated, we are human. No form of life is perfect, including us. Do the best you can not to destroy your part of the world, and chances are that the human species will continue to thrive.

Human beings really do just destroy everything. It's amazing how we affect everything on this planet in such a negative way.

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