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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/30/these-fish-started-life-as-boys-now-scientists-arent-sure-what-sex-they-are/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/30/these-fish-started-life-as-boys-now-scientists-arent-sure-what-sex-they-are/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span lang="EN">For male smallmouth bass, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/24/sex-changes-in-snails-might-be-triggered-by-a-simple-touch/">
sex change</a> is increasingly not an option. In the chemical-laced Chesapeake Bay watershed and in rivers up through New England, it comes with the territory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">Based on the latest U.S. Geological Survey on intersex fish, 85 percent of male smallmouth bass in waters in and around national wildlife refuges in the Northeast have developed "characteristics of the opposite sex." That's in addition to
90 percent of the species in some West Virginia waters and 50 percent to 100 percent in the southern stretch of the Potomac River. All of the affected fish had eggs where their testes should be, according to previous studies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="interstitial-link"><i><span lang="EN">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/11/02/one-of-europes-oldest-trees-is-changing-its-sex/">One of Europe’s oldest trees is changing its sex</a>]
</span></i><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">Why this is happening remains a mystery, says the lead author of a new study, despite the problem being detected more than a decade ago. “It is not clear what the specific cause of intersex is in these fish,” said Luke Iwanowicz, a USGS research
biologist. “This study was designed to identify locations that may warrant further investigation."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">The strongest suspicion focuses on what is poured down the drains of homes, businesses and farms every day. Scientists are worried that prescription drugs such as birth control and mood-control pharmaceuticals, flushed down toilets, and chemical
pesticides such as atrazine, washed off farms by rain, have turned creeks, streams and rivers into chemical soups that disrupt the endocrines of marine life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="interstitial-link"><i><span lang="EN">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/03/30/fish-dont-want-birth-control-but-scientists-say-they-get-it-from-your-pill/">How birth control pills are also altering the sex lives
of fish</a>] </span></i><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">These substances throw off functions that regulate hormones and the reproductive system, said USGS biologist Vicki Blazer, a co-author of the latest study and lead author of numerous earlier reports. At one polluted site Blazer examined in
the Susquehanna River near Hershey, Pa., two years ago, 100 percent of the male smallmouth bass sampled had eggs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">The surprising thing found in the most recent survey, Iwanowicz said, is that the bass are being sexually transformed in more pristine waters at national wildlife refuges managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency's 560 refuges
-- 71 in the Northeast -- provide a sanctuary for 1,000 fish species, 700 bird species and about 200 species of mammals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">Smallmouth bass are "like the canary in the coal mine," Iwanowicz said. "In the case of this specific study, we’re getting a better handle on how widespread [the problem] is. We’re seeing this signal at national wildlife refuges, … evidence
that in areas that are managed for animal health, stuff is going on behind the scenes."</span><a name="e1875a3d0b"></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:FranklinITCProLight">
</span><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">Among the 20 refuges included in the study were Blackwater and Patuxent in Maryland, Mason Neck and Rappahannock River Valley in Virginia, Great Swamp in New Jersey, Cherry Valley in Pennsylvania and Moosehorn in Maine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">"These effects have been observed in other organisms, including mammals," said Don Tillitt, another co-author who is a research toxicologist at the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in Missouri. "The mechanism occurs in the epi-genome,
around the genome. Not the genes, but how those genes are expressed."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">A USGS study released in March found that male fish exposed to a synthetic hormone called 17a-ethinylestradiol, or EE2, produced offspring that struggled to fertilize eggs. And their grandchildren suffered a 30 percent decrease in their fertilization
rate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="interstitial-link"><i><span lang="EN">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/bays-intersex-fish-mystery-remains-unsolved/2013/03/17/7f368734-8746-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html">Here's how the chemical industry blocks
science that could determine why fish are changing sex</a>] </span></i><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">The problem extends well beyond the Chesapeake Bay region that includes the District, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. The USGS, which found intersex bass in the Columbia, Colorado and Mississippi river
basins in 2009, calls it a "global issue" given changes that have been identified in locations worldwide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">The previous study also determined that the chemical BPA, used widely in plastics, had a similar effect on the small Japanese medaka fish. Marine scientists track the medaka because it reproduces so quickly that researchers can see results
of subsequent generations faster than slow-reproducing species such as smallmouth bass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN">Intersex changes in male fish have been recorded in 37 species so far, though scientists have yet to identify a single chemical responsible for the transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laurie Tenace<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Environmental Specialist<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Waste Reduction Section<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Florida Department of Environmental Protection<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2600 Blair Stone Road, MS4555<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tallahassee, FL 32399<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us">Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">850.245.8759<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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