Male fish with eggs in sewage off California coast

[emad]

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Researchers have found male fish with eggs in their testes and female sex traits off the coast of Southern California and believe that chemicals in sewage may be the cause, an author of two studies said on Monday.

The two reports found the changes in fish such as English sole and California halibut, both of which are bottom dwellers, in water near where sewage is released, said Dan Schlenk, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Riverside.

High levels of estrogen, both natural and man-made formulations used in birth control pills, are thought to cause such abnormalities in fish. Estrogen makes its way into sewage water and then the ocean through women's excretions.

Compounds that act like estrogen, found in certain industrial chemicals, have also been blamed for such changes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051114/sc_nm/environment_fish_dc_1

[mike_c]

1. before anyone goes off half cocked about this...

...and I don't want to minimize it, but if you don't know it already gender plasticity is often part of fish genomes. This report is an abnormal development to be sure, but don't view it from an anthopomorphic perspective. Switching genders is common in many fish (but mixing them up isn't).

[Canuckistanian]

2. See? Man and Fish can coexist peacefully!

It just f*cks up the fish, that's all.

[trotsky]

4. LMAO

Great response. :thumbsup:

[Cyrano]

3. Obviously a girly man fish.