Corresponding author: Prosanta Chakrabarty (
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev
The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill took place over 180,000 square kilometers during a 12-week period over five years ago; however, this event continues to influence the development and distribution of organisms in and around the region of the disaster. Here we examine fish species that may have been most affected by noting their past distribution in the region of the spill and examining data of known collecting events over the last 10 years (five years prior to the spill, five years post spill).
We found that more than half of the endemic fish species of the Gulf (45 of 77)
The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (also called the Deepwater Horizon/BP disaster/oil spill, or Macondo blowout among others) was the largest accidental spill of oil in history (
These collection records are obtained from natural history museum records of specimen collections. Museum collections are a vital source for biological records (
The occurrence records of the 77 endemic species of the Gulf of Mexico were tallied using
Scatter plots of endemic fishes from the Gulf of Mexico are shown below with the “Number of Occurrence(s)” on the y-axis vs. the “Number of Years” on the x-axis. Species are listed in alphabetical order. Endemic species that have few or no collections records do not have a scatterplot but details about their last collecting events are presented. The scientific name is also presented followed by common name (when there is one) and family. Spill zone overlap information is from
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The continued influence of an oil spill that occurred more than five years ago on the Gulf of Mexico is evident (
The species we should perhaps be most concerned for are the 14 that have collection records in the five years before the spill, but lack records post-spill (2010-2015). Among these are
Other species appear to be more common post-spill, with most of the collections occuring in the last five years (rather than the 2005-2010 period):
There are some notable trends among and within groups as well. Of the six eels in the study (
Of the seven cartilaginous fishes (
More than quarter of the Gulf of Mexico endemic fish species (20) had greater than 35% of their historical records in the area of the spill zone (
We thank the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative for funding to BB and PC - Crude Life: A Citizen Art and Science Investigation of Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
Summary of species occurrence records (based on GBIF and FishNET2), and habitat types (from McEachran 2009;
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12 | 24 | Bay and Near Shore, Anadromous, Neritic |
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47 | 177 | Bay and Near Shore, Anadromous, Neritic |
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1 | 1 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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15 | 29 | Bay and Near Shore, Neritic, Estuarine |
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9 | 17 | Bay and Near Shore, Neritic, Estuarine |
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85 | 180 | Bay and Near Shore, Neritic, Estuarine |
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9 | 32 | Demersal, Seagrass |
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0 | 0 | Demersal |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Coral Reef |
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0 | 0 | Demersal | |
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0 | 0 | Demersal | |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Coral Reef |
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0 | 1 | Demersal, Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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33 | 90 | Demersal, Beach and Shoreline, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 2 | Demersal, Slope |
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0 | 2 | Slope, Soft Substrates, Burrower |
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0 | 0 | Benthic, Slope |
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3 | 17 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine, Seagrass |
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97 | 292 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine, Seagrass |
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0 | 306 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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0 | 2 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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35 | 69 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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20 | 92 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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1 | 14 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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2 | 2 | Demersal, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 3 | Demersal, Burrower, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Soft Substrates, Burrower |
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1 | 1 | Demersal, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 2 | Coral Reef |
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0 | 0 | Demersal |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 0 | Demersal, Coral Reef |
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0 | 0 | Benthic, Slope |
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19 | 40 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine, Seagrass, |
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0 | 10 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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84 | 146 | Neritic, Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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0 | 0 | Demersal |
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0 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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0 | 29 | Bay and Near Shore, Estuarine |
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0 | 0 | Bay and Near Shore, Coral Reef |
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0 | 0 |
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0 | 5 | Demersal, Coral Reef |
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0 | 0 | Neritic, Bay and Near Shore, Beach and Shoreline, Estuarine |
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6 | 6 | Demersal |
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0 | 6 | Demersal, Hard Substrate |
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0 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | Benthic, Slope, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | Slope, Soft Substrates |
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24 | 26 | Demersal |
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74 | 76 | Demersal, Benthic, Slope |
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2 | 6 | Demersal |
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0 | 0 | Coastal Surface and Epipelagic, Demersal |
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83 | 109 | Demersal, Bay and Near Shore |
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50 | 93 | Demersal, Coral Reef, Seagrass |
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0 | 0 | Mesopelagic |
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0 | 0 | Benthopelagic, Bay and Near Shore, Seagrass |
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6 | 8 | Demersal, Benthic, Soft Substrates |
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0 | 0 | Demersal |