This material is very sticky, and it adheres to almost all objects that it encounters, including birds and sea otters. Abelson) There has been one report of a minor fish kill in Prince William Sound. Observations at other oil spills indicate that dispersed oil is not toxic to zooplankton when ingested. It is eliminated in the feces. In general, oil chemicals are not concentrated in the food chain.

             There are many ways that nature fights oil in the environment, when it gets put where its not suppose to be. After all crude oil is a natural part of our environment. In one study designed to simulate the effects of waves and tides, contact with seawater gave the black, sticky oil "the fluffy appearance of a flocculated emulsion" that no longer strongly adheres well to sediment, Bragg reports. Seawater made up about 80 percent of these cloud-like aggregates. The rest consisted largely of mineral grains stably bound to oil droplets 1 to 10 microns in diameter. (Beached).

             For instance, the Exxon scientists found that flocculation can increase the area of the oil-water interface -- sometimes by up to 1,000 times. This increases the likelihood that the more toxic, water-soluble aromatic chemicals will leach from the oil, Bragg says. Moreover, it expands the area available for hydrocarbonhungry bacteria to latch on to, thereby facilitating the oil's breakdown. Indeed, water taken from oiled beach sediment revealed that active bacteria usually make up part of any naturally produced oil-clay floc.

             Flocculation also helps explain another formerly puzzling observation: the relatively rapid disappearance of oil from even quiet, sheltered bays. Most researchers expected oil to persist in these areas, where abrading waves and sediment movement seldom occur, even during storms. But experiments by Bragg and his co-workers showed that waves too weak to move sediment sands could still drive the flocculation-fostered removal of oil, initially at rates of 3 percent per hour.