'Truly alarming': Florida bonefish found to be filled with pharmaceuticals

One fish was found to have 17 different kinds of drugs in its system.

MIAMI — A significant amount of drugs meant for human use have been found in Florida's waterways, potentially ending up in the food we eat.

Florida International University and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust earlier this year announced the results of a three-year study, finding that a sample of 93 bonefish in South Florida each contained an average of seven pharmaceutical contaminants. The fish were collected in saltwater areas of Biscayne Bay near Miami and the Florida Keys.

One fish, researchers say, had 17 different types of drugs in its system, including blood pressure medication, antidepressants, prostate treatment medications, antibiotics and pain relievers. Other noted drugs in researchers' findings include heart medications, antifungal medication and opioids.

"These findings are truly alarming," said Jennifer Rehage, the lead researcher and a coastal and fish ecologist and associate professor at the FIU Institute of Environment, in a statement. "Pharmaceuticals are an invisible threat, unlike algal blooms or turbid waters.

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