Where is all the Oil?

Where is all the oil?

That is the question of the day. Now that the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil well spewing thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico has finally been capped, the visible signs of the oil spill are starting to recede. The friends of oil companies have started to crow "we told you all along" - the oil will dissolve, disappear, disperse, whatever, and we don't need to worry any more. No need to change our habits, no need for more regulations on the oil industry, and no need for a drilling moratorium.

So where did all the oil go?

According to Dan Froomkin's report, the oil indeed may have been dispersed, by the millions of gallons of toxic dispersant Corexit BP poured into the ocean to try to make it appear as if the oil spill wasn't doing any damage to the ecosystem. Of course, dispersant doesn't make the oil go away, it just breaks it down into smaller droplets, so that it can't be seen by humans. It can be seen by small animals, however, like shrimp larvae and small fish, who may mistake the small droplets of mixed dispersant and oil for food and eat it.And into the food chain it goes.

So where is the oil, we ask?

It is under the shells of blue crab larvae, as the scientists in Froomkin's report are finding. It is in the tiny stomachs of shrimp larvae and young fish. It is floating in millions or billions of droplets, mixed with toxic dispersant, under the surface of the Gulf where it can wreak its damage unseen by humans for a long time to come. And perhaps, it will be coming to a dinner plate near you. Bon Appetit, BP!