IT sounds crazy, but some shellfish are getting high on the anti-depressant drug Prozac - and it could make them more vulnerable to attack by predators.
Researchers from Portsmouth University have found that Prozac, which is also known as Flouxetine, is ending up in the outfall pipes around Britain and being flushed out waste water to the open sea where it is affecting the behaviour patterns of shrimp and prawns in particular.
The researchers, Alex Ford and Yasmin Guler at the University, collected specimens of shell fish to test how they behaved. The shrimp were exposed to the drug and found that afterwards they were more likely to swim towards the light instead of away from it. This meant they were more exposed to predators like fish and birds and cold account for a reduction in stocks. Prozac is widely used to treat people with depression and some serious mental illnesses. It acts a mood enhancer.
The research also throws up serious concerns about what chemicals and drugs human are being flush into the sea and how it can adversely affect marine life.
Alex Ford said that crustaceans were important to the food chain and if shrimps' natural behaviour is changed because of anti-depressant levels in the sea this could seriously affect the natural balance of the eco-system.. He thought that other fish are also likely to be at risk from anti-depressants, with more than 20 million prescriptions written out each year in England and Wales alone.Dr Ford said: 'There is a huge range of anti-depressants on the market and maybe at very low concentrations they don't have an effect."
More research into the effects of medicines and drugs flushed into the sea on fish and other marine life will be carried out this year
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