













This study was published in Science.

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By quiksilvr on 2/18/2011 4:32:18 PM , Rating: 3
Oh, the delicious irony.

By GuinnessKMF on 2/18/2011 5:56:34 PM , Rating: 4
What's the big deal, Tomcod exposed to lots of PCB, becomes resistant but filled with PCB, now the Bass that eat it are exposed to lots of PCB ... they'll become resistant to it and be filled with it, then we humans eat the Bass, exposed to lots of PCB, and then ultimately WE become resistant to PCB. It's Win-Win-Win.

I don't see anything that could go wrong.

By vol7ron on 2/18/2011 5:59:18 PM , Rating: 5

adapting to a cleaner environment? what? you mean... they'll live.

The only adaptation they'll need is called "life." It's an ecosystem where they have to eat and not be eaten... i think they'll manage.

By GuinnessKMF on 2/18/2011 9:09:50 PM , Rating: 5
It's like when someone cleans up your room for you, and now you have no idea where your USB memory stick is because they didn't leave it in that pile behind your keyboard.

By RedemptionAD on 2/19/2011 5:49:33 PM , Rating: 2
They are living fine now. Seems they made a genetic trade to stop what was killing them before to a weakness to something that wasn't killing them yet. Not sure what the human bodies resistance to said chemical is but we adapt well and its filtered through another fish if we don't eat the resistant fish directly.
"Life will find a way."- Jurassic Park.

By interstitial on 2/21/2011 8:47:21 AM , Rating: 2
Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. The effect of being eaten by another fish actually concentrates the pollutant in most cases. That's why mercury concentrations are very low in the ocean but many species of tuna (a high level predator) contain worryingly high levels of it.

By JediJeb on 2/23/2011 6:35:02 PM , Rating: 2
What is rarely ever said though is that most of the toxic chemicals like PCBs collect in the liver and gonadal tissues which humans don't normally eat, unless the processors are just grinding the whole fish up and selling it that way. We had samples in the lab that were supposedly contaminated with PCBs but the meat of the fish had non detectable or barely detectable but not quantifiable levels while the livers did have high levels. If you ground the whole fish up and made the sample that way it was considered high, if you core sampled the meat it was low. It all matters how you look at the sample what you will find.

By YashBudini on 2/18/2011 10:55:53 PM , Rating: 5
It's Win-Win-Win.

Well then you eat them.

By GuinnessKMF on 2/19/2011 10:45:34 AM , Rating: 2
Mmmm, delicious Win.

By Silver2k7 on 2/19/2011 2:49:58 PM , Rating: 2
"GuinnessKMF" wow exactly what I thought :D



By Kiffberet on 2/21/2011 8:56:05 AM , Rating: 2
I'm assuming there's a bit of sarcasm in there, but with these international posts, it's difficult to tell...

Anyway, the only way the fish 'become resistant' to PCB is because all the fish that weren't resistant died. So the Bass that are resistant will also die, but those that survive will pass on their genes and the next generation will be more resistant. This goes on until humans eat the bass and start getting ill and dying. A few generations down the line and after soaring rates of cancer and other nasty diseases humans will also be resistant.

Not really a win-win-win scenario.

A real WIN scenario would be to hunt down the corporation polluting the river and stopping them!

Granted, they'll probably go set up in but at least the river will be cleaner...

By IGx89 on 2/19/2011 12:30:19 PM , Rating: 2
Sounds more like a de-evolutionary change than anything. It's like aliens all of a sudden attacked us with mind-melting sound waves (ah, Fringe) and the deaf were all who survived :/

RE: Devolution?
By Gzus666 on 2/19/2011 7:54:54 PM , Rating: 2
There is no such thing as "de-evolution", stop making things up. People like you make it hard for science to progress as all the scientists have to waste their time explaining it to dullards like yourself so they can continue to get funding.

RE: Devolution?
By Kurz on 2/20/2011 9:05:13 AM , Rating: 2
Information is always gained when it comes to genetics.

Horrible diet!
By Mumrik on 2/18/2011 7:53:31 PM , Rating: 5
Those poor fish really shouldn't be eating Printed Circuit Boards.

Change or No Change over time?
By JediJeb on 2/21/2011 6:53:15 PM , Rating: 2

Is there evidence that this fish had the missing proteins before the pollution was introduced to the environment, or have they been missing them all along? If this fish has been missing the proteins since they came into existence then there was no evolutionary process forced by the pollution. Only if you have proof that the pollution killed off the species before it made a change can you say for sure that there was some form of evolution taking place. I'm not saying evolution doesn't take place, but to assume it is the reason without data to prove this species was not different from other species before the pollution was introduced is flawed science.

Without genetic studies of these fish from 50-100 years ago to compare the current genetics to, how can the conclusion be made?

By Strunf on 2/22/2011 8:14:40 AM , Rating: 2
And I thought evolution was all about "developing" ways to insure your survival in hostile environments.

I don't see the problem, it's not like in the past earth stood still waiting for us to evolve, evolution again is all about getting the edge and the faster the better. If mammals had take their time after the dinosaurs maybe we would be ruled by birds or insects today.

Thanks GE!
By texbrazos on 2/22/2011 1:04:12 PM , Rating: 2
Thanks GE! They ought to be responsible for cleaning all the PCB's from the water no matter how long it takes.

