Shocker! Male Fish Turn Female

MSNBC via netscape.cnn.com ^ | Nov. 22, 2004 | Tom Costello

[crushelits]

Gender-Bending Fish Switch Sexes

Male fish becoming female?

Researchers worry about estrogen and pollutants in the water.

BOULDER, Colo. - Researchers in Colorado have made a startling discovery. Fish, apparently male, are developing female sexual organs. Scientists believe it's the result of too much estrogen in the water and they're finding estrogen in rivers across the country.
In Colorado's rivers and streams, scientists are waist-deep in ritual of the season, using electric currents to stun native fish to the surface where they're measured and checked. But what they discovered in the white sucker fish has got even veteran scientists concerned.<>"I've done a lot of studies throughout my career which extends back to 1973," says research associate John Woodling. “This is the very first time that what I've found scared me."
"This fish has characteristics of both male and female," says Dr. David O. Norris of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

[pissant]

Just like when "men" move to big cities in the US. They morph into metrosexuals then into hissy queens like Mark Morford.

[TexasTransplant]

Sucker Fish?
They aren't Male, they are Metro-Sexual, (You must live in a Red State, Blue Staters aren't so Judgmental)

[ElkGroveDan]

I heard that's a problem in Boulder.

[MeanWestTexan]

Woman takes birth control pill.
Woman answers call of nature; urine contains estrogens.
Flush.
Fish swims therein.

Xeno-estrogens are a serious problem, IMHO. They survive a long time.

Much more serious than DDT, global warming, or any of the crud environmentalists normally complains about.

[TexasTransplant]

I just re-read the article, it is the "White" Sucker Fish, I guess that explains it.

[writer33]

We're doomed! Doomed I tell you!

[mattdono]

There's a RuPaul joke in here somewhere?

[sierrahome]

I knew cold water caused "shrinkage"...but this! Who Knew!

[Spok]

Sucker fish, eh? Doesn't sound like it was too male to begin with...I'm also quite certain there's a good Michael Jackson joke somewhere in this story...

[TexasTransplant]

First it was Jaws, now this!

Don't go near the water!

[decimon]

There's a RuPaul joke in here somewhere?

RoePaul.

[cripplecreek]

"Researchers in Colorado have made a startling discovery."


Why is it shocking? Anyone with a fair ammount of intrest in nature and science could have told them this a long time ago. It's fairly rare in fish but not unknown. In the lower animals it's even common.

[joesnuffy]

You think birth control hormones being peed in the water is bad
wait till Prosac and viagra levels catch up...

There will be fish you dont want in your boat....let alone your hip boots....

imo

[Renfield]

This behavior is well documented. Groupers, for example, start out as female, and when the reach a certain size, they become male.

[talleyman]

RoePaul.

LOL! (you did that on porpoise.)

[brbethke]

Yeah, but don't imagine for a moment that we'll actually deal with the problem. American Environazis are willing to ban DDT and condemn millions worldwide to chronic illness and early death caused by mosquito-borne illnesses, but tell American women that they'll have to give up birth-control pills and casual sex, and they'll string you up from the nearest lamp post.

[Americanchild]

This instance may be caused by estrogen in the water, but the tiny live-bearing Mosquito Fish can do this naturally! ( I used to keep them and have witnessed it) If there are not enough females around, the males will lose their gonipodium( i.e. penis) and grow to the size of the females. Shortly thereafter they can begin to bear young!

[bahblahbah]

Learn from fish. Don't smoke marijuana.

[Fiddlstix]

We're doomed! Doomed I tell you!