Biologists from Monash University in Australia and the University of Tuscia in Italy have conducted a study on how long-term exposure to pharmaceutical pollutants is affecting the behavior of fish.
Unfortunately, the exposure did not lead to the fish becoming happier and more well-adjusted and instead hurt their ability to reproduce, per a write-up from Monash on Phys.org.
What's happening?
The five-year-long study focused on how wild-caught guppies would react to long-term Prozac exposure. The scientists found that the guppies' bodies changed significantly, including reducing their sperm velocity, which made them less able to reproduce successfully.
The Prozac also reportedly made the fish less able to assess risks.
"The disruption of behavioral plasticity and the altered correlations between critical traits could undermine fish populations' ability to adapt to environmental challenges, threatening their long-term survival," said the senior author of the study, Professor Bob Wong, of the School of Biological Sciences.
Why are pharmaceutical pollutants important?
As the pharmaceutical industry grows around the world, so too does the amount of pollutants that end up in our oceans and rivers.
"Pharmaceutical pollutants are widespread in aquatic ecosystems globally," the study's authors wrote in their analysis, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Other studies seem to concur with this assessment. One such study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, noted that "pharmaceuticals constitute a significant class of aquatic contaminants and can seriously threaten the health of non-target organisms," adding that, "No strict legal regulations on the consumption and release of pharmaceuticals into water bodies have been implemented on a global scale."
What's being done about pharmaceutical pollutants?
The study referenced above focused on the use of macro- or micro-algae for the removal or biotransformation of pollutants, calling it a cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique for pollutant removal.
More broadly, though, as the study pointed out, there are no strict legal regulations on the amount of pharmaceuticals that can be released into bodies of water. While this issue could likely be helped by simply having more robust wastewater and waste management infrastructure, it certainly seems like something that governments could be looking into more specifically. When one species declines, it can throw off nature's protective balance, which is a significant concern for marine ecosystems as billions of people worldwide depend on seafood.
"The findings highlight the need to address pharmaceutical pollution and implement stricter regulations to protect aquatic life from this threat," the Monash write-up argues.
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