By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
– Mon Sep 14, 5:54 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become.
The findings come from the U.S. Geological Survey in its first comprehensive examination of intersex fish in America, a problem linked to women's birth control pills and other hormone treatments that seep into rivers. Sporadic reports of feminized fish have been reported for a few years.
The agency looked at past data from nine river basins — covering about two-thirds of the country — and found that about 6 percent of the nearly 1,500 male fish had a bit of female in them. The study looked at 16 different species, with most not affected.
But the fish most feminized are two of the most sought-after freshwater sportfish: the largemouth and smallmouth, which are part of the black bass family. Those two species were also the most examined with nearly 500 black bass tallied.
"It's widespread," said USGS biologist Jo Ellen Hinck. She is the lead author of the study, published online this month in Aquatic Toxicology. She said 44 percent of the sites where black bass were tested had at least one male with egg cells growing inside.
Past studies have linked the problem to endocrine-disrupting hormones, such as estrogen from women's medicines. While the fish can still reproduce, studies have shown they don't reproduce as well, Hinck said.
Intersex fish are also seen as a general warning about what some experts see as a wider problem of endocrine disruptors in the environment.
The egg cells growing in the male fish's gonads can only be seen with a microscope after the fish has been caught and dissected.
The study used data from 1995 to 2004, when the government stopped funding the research. The only river basin examined that didn't show any problems was Alaska's Yukon River Basin.
The Southeast, especially the Pee Dee River Basin in North and South Carolina, had the highest rates of feminization. In Bucksport, S.C., 10 of 11 largemouth bass examined were intersex. In parts of the Mississippi River in Minnesota and the Yampa River in Colorado, 70 percent of the smallmouth bass had female signs.
Hinck said black bass seem to be more prone to the problem, but researchers don't know why. She also found one common carp that was female with bits of male testes growing inside.
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34 comments:
First of all what?! Male fish who lay eggs; I thought only female fish laid eggs. Just the phrase "feminized fish" is mind boggling. As i started reading I was curious of how the male fish were being feminized. Then I read about the estrogen from the women's medicines. Problems linked to women's birth control pills and hormone treatments should not be seeping into rivers; apparently it really is affecting fish especially the fish from the Pee Dee River Basin. These endocrine disruptors in the environment cause male fish to reproduce and have a bit of female in them. Scientist's sureys are CRUEL because the male fish has to be caught and dissected so the eggs in its gonads can be seen through a microscope. I'm sure many surveys have been conducted and too many black bass from American basins have been murdered. People who will learn about feminized bass will be as confused as I am, and will most likely want to research it further.
Well first off i think that the government should keep funding the scientific research because this could lead to discovery in how male testosterons work in human bodies by testing them on animals like the fish. It is very interesting to see how a male's testosterons change with a simple birth control pills, it might even help cure those side effects of steroid abuse. But if a male bass can have those effects can other fish be affected as well, maybe its just the bass that carry a specific gene that helps the mutation occur????????????
I thought that these types of problems occurred in humans only. We may use these types of fish to prevent humans from further sex problems. If they examine what may stop the male bass from having female bits of reproductive system, then this may eventually help with a lower rate of controversial sex problems going on in female tournaments. I also believe that the government should keep funding for further scientific research.
As you can see now even male fish lay eggs. I think that scientist should keep looking into this area because many new and helpful discoveries for human nature can be made. This world is made up of much surprising surprises as you can see. This may even help us thee teenagers from the 21st century with the sex intercourse. Birth control pills is what now every girl wants and if the government keep funding this research many helpful things can be discovered and help us in a way with the abortion problem with teenagers.
It is quite interesting how such a thing as estrogen in women's medicine can cause this sort of change in the male fish population. It brings to mind the question whether this fish are still male or would they now be considered female, like that female athlete with male hormones. I mean they are genetically male yet they have female attributes. Anyways how exactly do the birth control pills change the fish’s endocrine hormones? They don’t really explain the process they just say that that is what causes it. I guess they do not wish to display such information, why I do not know. I do know one thing we need to make sure that women’s medicines don’t end up in bodies of water. Because if we don’t then the fish won’t be able to reproduce much any longer and then those people that like to eat fish won’t be able to eat it any longer. And wouldn't the mixture of male and female hormones in the fish have negative consequences on those that do eat them?
This is just wack, thats like well i guess you can compare it to the female runner or man. Ah! Well anyways i thought this was very WACK! Thats like saying a rooster laid some eggs or a man giving birth, not counting the man that had a sex change. Anyways, if they know that something may be wrong with the water why not try to well purify it or something to stop this nonsense? This article is well sounds like one that is for the people that work with rivers so they can actually do something. However, if people were to step foot into those rivers primarily men could the men be capable of having eggs as well even if our living system is completely different?
I really don't understand what it is that is changing humans and now animals to something they aren't. Another thing is that how is it that this occur with birth control pills? All this is kind of confusing but i think the government should keep funding for this type of research. This can lead to a way of discovering other things that have not yet been heard of...
Based on my reading i learned that some male fishes, such as bass, are turning out to have eggs in them. This is ironic because female fishes are suppose to have the eggs and scientists are calling these types of fishes with these phenomenal characteristics
"feminized fish". In my opinion i think that the "feminized fish" are going to get worse if we don't find a reason for why this is happening to them. I wonder if the reason for the Alaska's Yukon River Basin not having these feminim characteristics is do to the type of weather its havbitat is in. This article wil affect the bass family in the future because it may change the way they are and the way they live.
So apparently male bass can lay eggs too, and that's not the way they where born. Birth control pills that have leaped into the rivers are now affecting many bass. About 6 percent of the nearly 1,500 male fish have a bit of female in the, and that is not of nature at all. I think people need to start taking care of our rivers, and what is thrown into them since it seems to be harming the fish. More research should be conducted though to see if there could be any connections from this to humans. This topic is going help a lot in the future since now there is even humans who have parts of the opposite gender. This can help in identifying some of its causes.
OMG!CAPITALIZED! How can male fish have egg cells within them if that wasn't or isn't their original way of life? If this is what "technology" and advance in science is doing then this isn't so advanced, it's going to end up sending us to the very beginnig. We are going to have to find or create new things to eat just to survive! First they tell us to be careful with our environment but they forget that the things being created to "benefit" us are actually harming us. Wow.... I learned sooo much and my parents were speachless!:) This was a very mind blowing article. Sooo cool!
Male fish having eggs in them? Thats just not right! Learning the fact that the male/female fish is increasing is tragic. This transformation is more than likey due to the fact that us humans caused it, with our chemicals and what not. I feel the likly hood of women becoming obsolete...we're screwed. If this is happening to fish then it might happen to the humans over time if we're not careful. In the near future i hope someone can prevent this from happening and learn from our mistakes. Also if this is caused by a chemical plant we have no one else to blame but our selfs.
This article is really impressive. How could estrogen from women's control pills affect the sextual organs of this male fish. I am really left out with curiousity due to the fact that they actually do not explain how. I think that first of all, if they already realized the event which are affecting this fish, they should find a way of preventing the change of them which maybe is causing damage to them. Also, I think that this study is not a very great study after all because in order to due the study, they have to kill and dissect this fish which in the long way, it might have a great effect in them.
Its pretty crazy to know that male fish are swimming around with eggs inside of them. The really sad thing is that human activity is responsible for this. I dont think people realized that our activity could have such a dramatic effect on wildlife. With so many fish being affected the government should really step in to help fix the problem.
First of all, Male fish that have eggs in their reproductive organs?, thats out of left field, i thought that only happened with the female fishes. Second, ive never heard of intersexual fish or intersexual anything for that matter. Its something completely unheard of! Can this occur with any animal for that matter?
After reading this my mind went all over the place. My view point is that womens birth control, as well as other medicines should not be thrown into a place where they will lead to a river or any other place that sustains life other than human. It obviously has affected fish that are obtaining these medicines from the river.
Hopefull after people read this they will understand that dumping medicines or other trash into the river systems can cause strange effects on fish. If someone drops a bottle of beer into the ocean and a fish eats the beer bottle and is caught by fishermen, that beer drinking fish might just end up on your plate(this is just a lighter example of what could happen when a cycle like this happens)
Mal fish producing female hormones is quite unbelievable yet research has proven the some facts. It's quite interesting that somehow everything is being cycled because estrogen from birth control pills is getting into the rivers.This is mind disturbing its so contradictory how mutation has a major role in this situation. These male fish are producing egg cells in their sex organs which there is a chemical reaction occuring between the pills and the fish.Somehow, there has to be a connection between these two.If scientist keep the research, pretty soon this is going to be very useful for something else or maybe for a virus.The question I have is that,"Will eating these type a fish have an impact on us?"Well if the fish are being infected, can we? I'm not sure but it is possible and to think of such thing is quite shocking.
The feminizing of fish is quite new to me. My first thought was that it was like a seahorse that carries its offspring instead of the female. The black bass are the most affected by the estrogen and hormone pills that go into the rivers therefore decreasing their chances of successfully reproducing the normal number of offsprings. There has to be something in the bass that are not in any other species of fish that are giving them female like parts in their sex organs. If the feminization increases in fish, then the future generation of fish is going to decrease the number of eggs reproduced.
i learned that fish can become feminized. and it is only large and smallmouth bass who are affected. and i learned what feminized means. i think this is weird. and that these fish are messed up. this topic will make the future think more about how to stop this, and why it is happening
Male fish that have eggs?! This raises a lot of questions. For example, are we also susceptible to this? What does that also say about how healthy our water is? Since we drink freshwater and the black bass is a freshwater fish, I believe we may be at a small risk. I also have another question, can these males fertilize their own eggs, and can they also give birth like females? I know that these fish can still reproduce but it is difficult. This is a pretty odd topic, that raises a lot of questions as well as eyebrows.
I believe that scientist should study these fishes so they can better understand the human reproduction system. Its always better to test on animals since human life is much more valuable than that of fishes. Their is still lots to be discovered out there and i do not think that we have even scratched the surface. Studying these fishes can help in a big way with humans that have problems that deal with sexual organs and all that controversy.
It is ridiculous how the male fish are laying eggs, wasn't that just the female fish. That just goes to show how well the enviroment is being protected by people, maybe people should get together and try to do something to try to clean the rivers and get rid of all the toxons that are causing all these mutations with the fish. Imagine what it could do to humans if that stuff got into the air we breath, that would be bad, not just bad for us but the ecosystem as well.
JOJO: Wow this is crazy!! who'd ever think that someday males would carry eggs? And guess what.. it's our fault. Sure today's advancement in medicine and technology can benefit us in some ways but does everyone realize the real danger these "advancenents" cause? If we continue down this path of disrupting the natural essence of life, just like the hormone treatments seeping into rivers, something foreign is eventually going to become airborne, causing the same to us. We need to watch out. Seriously.
Since the funding to the research to the program was cut, it is not really a smart thing to jump to conclusions that humans are ultimately the cause of the problem. Sure you could argue about the different chemicals in the water that have come from products produced by humans turned the fish the way they are, but there are still many things we don't know about the world around us. This could just be a result of some sort of natural change in an animal. For example, some species of fish and animals will still produce offspring if there is a lack of the opposite sex to mate with. All i'm saying is that further research should be done before jumping to conclusions.
Well I've come to learn very interesting words such as "intersex fish" woahh...What?I seriously had no idea that male fish can become feminized it just doesn't make sense.Not only is this occurring but researchers have come to "conclusions" or so they say that the birthe control pills that have been thrown in the river have been the probable cause of this situacion.Well I'm quite shaky if to agree or not with the assumptions of the researchers and the whole estrogen in the women's medicine affecting the endocrine-disrupting hormones it makes sense but whay not go further into the research ? Shouldnt this be of their concern? So why stop funding it? I still dont completely agree on the whole probable cause of the birth control pills being the reason why this is occurring. Nevertheless, people should try to be more clean or treat the environment as it shall be treated it can probaly affect it us later in the future in a positive or negative way. It just all depends on what way we decide, once again. :)
I believe that our government should keep funding the scientific research on how the study of fishes better explain the male reproduction system; because this could explain more since male fishes have eggs. Considering that there is a lot to discover in the human body and how it works...
This article made me realized that the scientists are giving us an example of how we are irresponsible and careless about our world... We should be taking care of our world!!! We are contaminating our water and is causing fishes to have malformations like the male black bass are creating egg in their system in which this is not right according to the laws of nature. This is a cause of how contamination in the water is affecting our environment in which is not only going to affect the plants or the animals but us humans too. We should get our act together and become smart how to solve this problems because we are destroying ourselves.
Wow, I really am freaking out about this. I just explained this article to my mother and we are both amazing and astonished on how these male fish, male as in not female, carry eggs and producing female hormones. It's crazy, how we are advancing scientifically, yet we are dismembering and demolishing the way our ecosystem works. I am utterly bewildered by the complexity of the situation. Estrogen from women's birth control pills finding their way into rivers is one thing, the fish are affected, but it is not a major problems, but what if this defect or problem was to seek into a sea, and then into a ocean. What would happen then? The female fish would then become useless in a sense; they would go on and carry their unfertilized eggs. Now, what would happen to the female fish? Would this develop a side effect to the fish and its usual lifestyle? Who knows, but what I do know, is this is complete cruelty to the fish and if this could happen to the fish, could this happen to us? Men carring fetuses, that's even crazy to imagine. The likelyhood of that development has very small percentages, but these defects can happen and no one knows how to detect them or how to approach them properly. Our world is becoming a strange and abrupt place and well I see no way of stopping this mass development. I am now very frightened and worried, but I have grown a bit more intrest in biology, which is a good thing. Questions, are popping up all over my head and they will be asked. This is still crazy, I don't know how to end this I'm freaking out. What I do know is we need to find a way to stop this, this is very serious and it can affect the lifestyles and the ecosystems for the coming generations.
“WOW”!!! That is pretty much all will come out of my mouth. I never really thought that anything like this would ever occur, considering the fact that studies have proven that women’s products are the main causes of this “mutation” in the fish, I guess you can say. In my point of view, I think that people should just put an end to birth control or any sort of substance that may lead to this defect. They should at least, make a proper disposal of these items. Hearing this news is not very easy, just for the fact that the cause of this defect is manmade, that is just saddening. The thing that breaks my heart is when they have to sacrifice an animal to use as a puppet doll in an experiment. But what is done is done, and we cannot change the past but, we may hopefully try to prevent this incident for future references.
endocrine disruptors in the environment!!!warning. Its amazing to see how many of our everyday produced products may have drastic effects on the enviorment. We as humans have the moral responsibilty of taking responsiblity for our actions and start testing these products we make and check what effects they might have. Now we are turning male fishes into female...whats next ima be giving birth..its just not right.
Its amazing how the fish were affected by the pills and harmone treatments, now that is pretty cool. I did not know fish could be feminized period. My opinion to this, is its very interesting, but i don't know, you may be messing with nature as well. It affects both, male's with female characteristics and females with male's, clearly playing with nature. If the issue continues, it may cause a change in the ecosystem. Will it cause problems to their enviroment?
Ana Armendariz 3rd pd.
Its scary that carless peple have access to different medicines that can be harmful to them as well as wildlife. Its actually very interesting but its also disturbing. I learned that in various parts of the world male fish are becoming feminized due to polution of womans birth control pills. I feel like this should be adressed quickly before all male fish are feminized.
Wow! First human men turning to women and now fish. What has the world come to? It's surprising how products that are meant help us harm our ecosystem. It is awful how the black bass has to mess up its sexuality because of our fault, mainly the ones that live in Pee Dee River. I just believe that it is just terrible and someone should do something about it. They should try to change the temperature in the lakes because maybe they can decrease the percentage of feminized fish just like in those lakes in Alaska. This article should influence the people near those rivers to try and not pollute as much around those areas. If we o this we might save these fish from reproducing differently. Eliud Gonzalez 1st pd
That was really interesting, to find the connection between the fish and medecine. I am curious though, how may of these fish who are "dissected" are not killed. I honestly remembered about the runner girl who ,too me, was being abused for the testostorone found in her. I learned that even though our body, structure, function, and/or actions between animals and humans can be very relative. Who could have thought of a male fish laying eggs? I really hope goverment does apply policies on these investigations because its possible that many may be in danger of dying.
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