Fish affected by drugs in the water

AN AUSTRALIAN study of guppies has shown that pharmaceutical pollution could threaten species’ long-term survival.

The contamination of waterways with the antidepressant Prozac is affecting fish bodies and behaviours in ways that could threaten their  eventual survival, Janet Friend reports.

Prozac

The massive consumption of pharmaceuticals, such as Prozac, enters streams and rivers and even eventually canals via wastewater raising concerns about the effects on ecosystems and wildlife.

Prozac, is has been discovered, reduced the body condition and sperm vitality of male guppies over multiple generations.

3,600 wild guppies, that is an invasive species in Australia, were randomly assigned to tanks fitted with gravel and aquatic plants.

Over five years they dosed the tanks with different concentrations of Prozac, representing the amounts found in the natural environment.

Effects on make fish

It was discovered when they studied the effects on male fish behaviour, bodies and reproductive traits over multiple generations.

Even low exposure reduced the body condition of males in the population as a whole, not only for mating, but also for fighting with other males, and their overall survival.