The blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) that inhabits the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo, in northwest Venezuela, is the victim of oil pollution and urban waste. “Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which cause nausea, colic and diarrhea, were found in 304 of 415 samples collected in the eastern zone of the lake,” which at 12,000 square kilometers is the largest lake in South America, and the epicenter of a century of oil drilling, Marin Montiel, professor of animal biology at the University of Zulia, told Tierramérica.

Salmonella was also found in 39 percent of the samples, she added.

That area of the lake produces some 10,000 tons of blue crab per year, an important source of income for hundreds of fishing families.