Oil does not have to be sticky to endanger wildlife. Both sticky oils such as crude oil and bunker fuels, and non-sticky oils such as refined petroleum products can affect different wildlife. Oils such as refined petroleum products do not last as long in the marine environment as crude or bunker fuel. They are not likely to stick to a bird or animal, but they are much more poisonous than crude oil or bunker fuel. While some of the following effects on sea birds, marine mammals and turtles can be caused by crude oil or bunker fuel, they are more commonly caused by refined oil products. Oil in the environment or oil that is ingested can cause:

-poisoning of wildlife higher up the food chain if they eat large amounts of other organisms that have taken oil into their tissues;

-interference with breeding by making the animal too ill to breed, interfering with breeding behaviour such as a bird sitting on their eggs, or by reducing the number of eggs a bird will lay;

-damage to the airways and lungs of marine mammals and turtles, congestion, pneumonia, emphysema and even death by breathing in droplets of oil, or oil fumes or gas;

-damage to a marine mammal's or turtle's eyes, which can cause ulcers, conjunctivitis and blindness, making it difficult for them to find food, and sometimes causing starvation;

-irritation or ulceration of skin, mouth or nasal cavities;

-damage to and suppression of a marine mammal's immune system, sometimes causing secondary bacterial or fungal infections;

-damage to red blood cells;

-organ damage and failure such as a bird or marine mammal's liver;

-damage to a bird's adrenal tissue which interferes with a bird's ability to maintain blood pressure, and concentration of fluid in its body;

-decrease in the thickness of egg shells;

-stress;

-damage to fish eggs, larvae and young fish;

contamination of beaches where turtles breed causing contamination of eggs, adult turtles or newly hatched turtles;

-damage to estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass and mangrove habitats which are the breeding areas of many fish and crustaceans, interfering with their breeding;

-tainting of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and algae;

interference with a baleen whale's feeding system by tar-like oil, as this type of whale feeds by skimming the surface and filtering out the water; and

poisoning of young through the mother, as a dolphin calf.