What happens to a fish on drugs?
The drugs you take have an effect on the environment
It is has been known for sometime that the leftover of the female pill in our waterways after urinating causes some fish to have 2 heads and they don’t know whether they are Arthur or Martha as their sex organs are often altered. This is an interesting recent article on drugs for anxiety that affect fish.
If it’s a wild European perch exposed to a popular anxiety medication, chances are it wanders away from the safety of its group and devours food more quickly than its peers-behaviour that could have profound consequences, according to a forthcoming report in the journal Science.
Researchers from Umea University in Sweden examined how perch behave when exposed to Oxazepam, a drug commonly used to treat anxiety disorders in humans.
Scientists exposed the fish to concentrations of the drug similar to those found in the waters near densely populated areas in Sweden.
The result?
‘Normally, perch are shy and hunt in schools…but those that swam in Oxazepam become considerably bolder’, said ecologist Tomas Brodin, lead author of the article. They ‘lost interest in hanging out with the group.
‘We think it’s working through stress relief on the fish’, Dr Brodin said. ‘It removes the fear of being eaten’.
The researchers said such behaviour, coupled with the tendency to eat faster, could lead to ecological changes in the real world. For example, if they consumed more plankton, it could lead to an increase in algae.
Dr Brodin and his colleagues noted that residue from a ‘veritable cocktail of drugs’ is in waterways world ide. The US food and Drug Administration has said the main ways drugs enter waterways is by passing through individuals. WASHINGTON POST
