Fish Species Feminizing In S. Alberta - 85% Of Dace Downstream From Wastewater Site Female

[hatrack]

Chemicals are likely to blame for the feminization of fish in two southern Alberta rivers, say researchers at the University of Calgary. The scientists analyzed water in the Red Deer and Oldman rivers south of Calgary, studying the effects of about two dozen contaminants on a common minnow, the longnose dace.

In almost every population they studied, males had elevated levels of a protein normally only found in females producing eggs. "Most notably, we saw a significant increase in a specific protein marker for the presence of compounds with estrogen-like activity in areas downstream — south of Fort Macleod and Lethbridge," said study co-author Hamid Habibi, director of the Institute of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Calgary.

Compounds detected in the water included synthetic estrogens, which are commonly present in birth control pills and hormone therapy drugs. The contaminants could be naturally occurring, or they could be left over from inadequate wastewater treatment systems, Habibi said.

The study also revealed that females make up 85 per cent of the minnow population downstream from Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. Upstream of those communities, only 55 per cent of the population is female — a more normal sex ratio, Habibi said. This could indicate that chemicals in the river are causing the fish to change sex, he said. "If these animals are exposed at very early stages, in fact there is evidence it could alter the sex development. The estrogenetic compound in fish could make a male fish develop into a female fish."

EDIT

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/29/calgary-fish-rivers-sex-hormones-research.html