PALM BEACH, Florida - July 25, 2010 - Twelve miles off the Louisiana coast, an underwater mound known as Ship Shoal teems with blue crabs.
This sandy section of the Gulf of Mexico holds one of the largest concentrations of blue crabs in the world. From April to October, the females lay eggs here every 21 days.
But this year, just east of the shoal, a toxic soup of dispersed oil threatens the area; and blue crabs are just one of many species breeding this time of year in the north-central Gulf.
Fishery experts say the more than 1.8 million gallons of dispersants applied since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20 could cause widespread harm to many species that swim in and out of the area.
Large migratory fish such as tarpon and Atlantic bluefin tuna travel hundreds or thousands of miles to spawn in waters now infused with crude oil; and many sea animals are most sensitive to toxicity when they first feed, shortly after birth.
"In the tarpon's case, where it's headed is ground zero of the (gusher)," said Jerald Ault, a marine biologist at the University of Miami. "They'll spend anywhere from three to four months up in that area and then they reverse field and migrate out seasonally."
The dispersants break oil into smaller droplets, which sea creatures more easily absorb. "These crabs are likely being impacted as we speak by the dispersant-released oil," said Richard Condrey, an oceanographer and fisheries management professor at Louisiana State University.
