Luminous lab fish on the run in Brazil

A new study shows that prohibited fish are common in rivers in the forests of the Atlantic Ocean. Biologists worry that it will disturb the natural fauna of already sensitive rainforests, reports Science Radio.

– This is dangerous, Jan Vitol, an ecologist at Paraná University in Curitiba, tells the scientific journal to know.

Vitol, who was not part of the study, believes that the environmental impact of fish is difficult to predict, but that genes from escaping may mix with native fish, which could have disastrous effects and possibly make them more visible. Predators.

Gnee of jellyfish

Scientists have used zebrafish, or Danio rerio as they are also called, for decades and the luminous variant was developed in the late 1990s by adding genes from blue, green and coral luminous jellyfish. This was then done purely for research purposes, but in the 2000s it was discovered that the fish could be ideal for aquariums and was marketed as Glofish.

However, today it is banned in parts of the United States and Brazil as well, precisely because of fear of the potential impact on the ecosystem.

multiply quickly

In 2014, a lone Glofish was discovered in a channel near a fish farm in Florida, but it did not multiply. In 2015, several Glofish were found in the Paraíba do Sul River in Brazil and seemed to be more suitable for the fish that managed to reproduce without problems and which are today found in many rivers in the area.

The fish also appears to reproduce at a faster rate than ordinary zebrafish, which come from Asia.

But despite a ban in Brazil, fish continue to be raised and sold as pets, increasing the risk of their spread in the wild.