Celebrity fish dies at Chicago (Shedd) aquarium - Bubba the Grouper

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/24/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

CHICAGO - A huge Shedd Aquarium grouper that became an instant celebrity — and inspiration to cancer patients — after becoming the first fish in history to receive chemotherapy and bounce back from cancer has died.

Shedd officials estimate Bubba the Grouper was 24 when he died Tuesday.

The 154-pound "super grouper" was abandoned at the Chicago aquarium in 1987, left at the reception desk in a bucket. Shedd officials nursed the fish — then a she — to health and put her in a tank. Bubba changed gender in the mid-1990s, which is not uncommon for certain kinds of fish.

Bubba was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, and two years later, Shedd officials took the unprecedented step of administering chemotherapy.

Cancer survivors, particularly children, were inspired by Bubba's story of resilience, and he was a Shedd favorite, officials said.

"Bubba overcame some incredible odds over the years, and that's what made him so special to us," said George Parsons, director of the Shedd's Fish department.

"Every once in a while for the last three years we have been getting phone calls from kids with cancer or from their parents, wondering how he is doing," Parsons said. "It's going to be tough now, if I have to tell them he's no longer with us."

A preliminary animal autopsy shows Bubba had some age-related health issues and several abnormal growths.

[NormsRevenge]

Bubba: Super Grouper

His underbite was so prominent that you hardly noticed the sizable scar branded across his dappled forehead. But Bubba, the 154-pound Queensland grouper in the Wild Reef shark habitat, was a reminder of how far veterinary medicine — and Shedd Aquarium's staff, in particular — have come in treating a diseased animal.

In 2001 aquarists noticed pink, pimply growths that resembled a bacterial infection on Bubba's head. When antibiotics failed to nip their development, two biopsies were ordered over several months that eventually revealed a malignant tumor. In fall 2002, Shedd veterinarians and two guest veterinary oncologists performed surgery and administered chemotherapy-believed to be the first such chemo treatment for a fish.

[NormsRevenge]

Queensland grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) / Shedd, Patrice Ceisel

[paudio]

The article says the typical weight of this kind of fish is 400 lb, while Bubba only reached 154 lb when it died. S/he was on diet?

[steveegg]

Could've been either the cancer or the captivity (or both). IIRC, fish do adapt their size to their surroundings, and while the Shedd tanks are large, the Pacific Ocean is infinitely larger.

[Dilbert San Diego]

He changed his gender?

This should make the gay community happy, as this is a transgendered fish. This is evidence of sex change being a natural situation.

Sometimes they say there's evidence of homosexual dogs and monkeys and such so I think this ties in with find evidence of different sexual identities in the animal kingdom

[SuzyQue]

Dare I point out that fish ain't people?

[Charles Henrickson]

Shedd officials nursed the fish — then a she — to health and put her in a tank. Bubba changed gender in the mid-1990s. . . . Bubba had some age-related health issues and several abnormal growths.

Well, at least one.

[trumandogz]

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

[SuzyQue]

Maybe. If they're not too busy doing all that transgender stuff.

[Charles Henrickson]

.. Bubba the Grouper . . . Bubba the Groper

[freedumb2003]

However before they could stop them, the custodians took care of the remains

[jw777]

Slice em up. Grouper is delicious.

[martin_fierro]

Ich.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

ROFL

[Atlas Sneezed]

LOL!