Fish with wrong sex organs
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OrlandoSentinel.com
Fish with wrong sex organs
Scientists think pharmaceuticals in water cause problem
Jeff Donn
Martha Mendoza and Justin Pritchard, The Associated Press
March 11, 2008
LAKE MEAD, Nev.
On this brisk, glittering morning, a flat-bottomed boat glides across the massive reservoir that provides Las Vegas its drinking water. An ominous rumble growls beneath the craft as its two long, electrified claws extend into the depths.
Moments later, dozens of stunned fish float to the surface.
Federal scientists scoop them up and transfer them into 50-quart Coleman ice chests for transport to a makeshift lab on the dusty lakeshore. Within the hour, the researchers will club the 7-pound common carps to death, draw their blood, snip out their gonads, and pack them in aluminum foil and dry ice.
The specimens will be flown across the country to laboratories where aquatic toxicologists are studying what happens to fish that live in water contaminated with at least 13 different medications — from over-the-counter painkillers to prescription antibiotics and mood stabilizers.
More often than not these days, the laboratory tests bring unwelcome results.
A five-month Associated Press investigation has determined that trace amounts of many of the pharmaceuticals we take to stay healthy are seeping into drinking-water supplies, and a growing body of research indicates that this could harm humans.
But people aren’t the only ones who consume that water. There is more and more evidence that some animals that live in or drink from streams and lakes are seriously affected — including fish tested in Orlando.
Pharmaceuticals in the water are being blamed for severe reproductive problems in many types of fish: The endangered razorback sucker and male fathead minnow have been found with lower sperm counts and damaged sperm; some walleyes and male carp have become what are called feminized fish, producing egg-yolk proteins typically made only by females.
Meanwhile, female fish have developed male genital organs. Also, there are skewed sex ratios in some populations, and sexually abnormal bass that produce cells for both sperm and eggs.
There are problems with other wildlife as well: kidney failure in vultures, impaired reproduction in mussels, inhibited growth in algae.
“We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation,” says Erik Orsak, an environmental-contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pulling off rubber gloves splattered with fish blood at Lake Mead. “We find [this] pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are ubiquitous.”
More than 100 pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters throughout the world.
“It’s inescapable,” said Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. “There’s enough global information now to confirm these contaminants are affecting organisms and wildlife.”
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