Thursday, February 26, 2009

Transgenic Fish--A risk to fish populations everywhere



The animal scientist at Purdue University, Bill Muir, and biologist Rick Howard conducted a study to examine the risks and benefits from biotechnology, for example, genetically  modified fish.  They put Japanese fishes called medaka that had been genetically modified with a growth hormone from Atlantic Salmon into a tank with unmodified fish to see what happens.  They found that this experiment could potentially devastate the native populations of fish possibly to extinction.  When the unmodified fish look for a mate, they look for the largest fish rather than the fittest.  Therefore, they would pick the transgenic fish, who's offspring have a chance of not surviving because of the genetic change.  However, they say that this is all a part of testing biotechnology and are going to try to test the transgenic fish in a larger setting and with larger fish next time. 


www.scielo.br/img/ revistas/gmb/v30n1/08ft.jpg
news.uns.purdue/edu/ UNS/images/muir.trojan.jpeg

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