Sexually mutatating fish found in the Potomac

I did, and I know it's real. People have been finding weird things in the don river by my place for decades now. I know there is other factors as well, I just think the acidity is the primary culprit because we've been seeing these types of mutations for decades now and where these mutations happen, it is almost universally in places where the pH has plummeted. Massive amounts(at least in the amount we see today) of drugs that we're flushing today is in no way comparable to the amounts of acid precipitation we've recieved in the Northern Hemisphere over the last few decades. Eliminating that factor will just tick off one suspected source of these mutations. I expect that a drop in the 70-80 % range would happen(gradually of course though acidity is a cumulutive thing that takes decades to reverse).

Originally posted by sardion2000
I did, and I know it's real. People have been finding weird things in the don river by my place for decades now.

I know there is other factors as well,

Whew. I was beginning to wonder about you.

I just think the acidity is the primary culprit ...Eliminating that factor will just tick off one suspected source of these mutations. I expect that a drop in the 70-80 % range would happen(gradually of course though acidity is a cumulutive thing that takes decades to reverse).

There are so many factors, I doubt trying to correct the pH balance in isolation will do the trick - in fact, all the various contaminations including synthetic chemicals, may be involved in a cascade that generates acidity. And the hormone disruptors remain.

Watcha think?

Interesting subject, and great article find!

Pollutants in the water might be the likely factor, but there is also a possibility that they're adapting. If a factor of the female bass population came into play, it would most notably result in the same changes in their sexual reproduction as seen from the Cnemidophorus Uniparens species (Desert Whiptail Lizards).

This particular species of lizard are all female. All the male species of the lizards have been extinct. The question that arises is how the species can repopulate if there are no species of male to reproduce with. They produce offspring through the process of 'parthenogenesis,' in which the females produce self fertilized eggs. The female species of the lizards will stimulate sexual activity by one lizard placing its body over the other female's and sliding its body over the female's, as what would happen if a male were having intercourse. This "tricks" both bodies of the females into producing a fertilized egg, by causing the body to create double the amount of chromosomes. This process occurs naturally in many species of animals, and can also occur within species of only males.

[edit on 25-9-2006 by DJMessiah]

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Sexual change is a MUCH bigger problem than the opening article indicates.

There is a wealth of information about how chemicals and human waste trigger sexual mutation in animals.

For example, the first 3 of 2,000,000 Google articles for the terms " +sexual +"hormone disruptors" OR chemicals +"polar bears" OR fish OR amphibians ". From one of the links I posted earlier:

Animals' Sexual Changes Linked to Waste, Chemicals

Animals throughout the world are undergoing unnatural sexual changes in response to environmental pollution... The scientists warn that the gender-bending effects of certain man-made substances and human sewage seriously threaten polar bears, alligators, frogs, mollusks, and other wildlife.

(re) body-altering chemicals known as endocrine active substances, or EASs.

Scientists first realized the scale of endocrine disruptors' gender-bending potential in the 1990s. ...over 200 animal species around the world are known or are suspected to have been affected by EASs.

Again, what's missing in the studies is how often and how much the same contaminants affect human sexuality.

...if you want a sense of how often sexual mutations occur in people, run a quick search for "fertility clinic" OR "human infertility."

The size of the industry reflects the market - and the "need" in the human population.



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The latest data comes from a new report in the OnEarth journal of the Natural Resources Defense Council. That story is online and no charge for reading:

www.nrdc.org...


Another website has continuing reports on the connection between various forms of commonly used plastic and their endocrine disrupting effects in mammals. Funded by the World Wildlife Fund, that site is:

www.ourstolenfuture.org...