There have been a number of similar reports ... no doubt various pollution issues are adversely affecting all lifeforms.

Sonar

Prozac pollution' in water making fish hyper-sexual and too chilled to care about predators

A new study shows the 'disturbing impact' on fish from the psychoactive drugs, which enter the waterways via human users' urine, altering reproductive behaviour, anxiety levels and anti-predator responses

ByTim HanlonNews Reporter

Australia’s Monsah University has published their research in Biology Today that shows solitary fish are not affected and the antidepressant drugs only affect shoals.

Fish in groups under the influence of the drugs did not forage for food as aggressively as normal while a previous study had also found that male fish taking Prozac spent more time going after females.

It comes after pollution causing climate change is also claiming to put fish and chips at risk.

Dr Jake Martin, of the university’s school of Biological Sciences, said: “Our research found that the antidepressant pollutant fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) did not alter behaviour of solitary fish.

“But in a group setting, fluoxetine exposure disrupted the frequency of aggressive interactions and food consumption.”

He added: “The results are significant because they suggest that behavioural tests in social isolation may not accurately predict the environmental risk of chemical pollutants for group-living species.”

Fluoxetine finds its way into fresh water through urine as water treatment systems cannot filter it out.

Another study by King’s College London reportedly said that cocaine contamination in the River Thames was making eels hyperactive.

The Monsah University scientists in their latest study on the impact of Prozac only used female fish so as to take out of the equation the impact of sexual activity.

This is because previous research by the team has shown that when exposed to fluoxetine, male fish end up spending much more time pursuing females for sex than normal.

A report last year on Prozac pollution said that its impact could last three generations by blunting the stress responses in future embryos.

The study, from the University of Ottowa, also showed how zebrafish didn't explore their tank as much when they were treated with Prozac.

There are claims that climate change could lead to extinction in decades as global warming leaves the Earth “uninhabitable”.

Source:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/prozac-pollution-water-making-fish-20877012