THE FISH AREN’T ALRIGHT
The effects of illicit substance use have reached new highs or, more appropriately, new depths. While this drug-fueled epidemic historically affects humans, we’re starting to see the after-effects as it begins to wreak havoc amongst other species, throwing the ecosystem into all-out chaos. Weirdly enough, early signs of trouble appeared in the form of meth-addicted fish.
Our story starts beneath the surface of the Czech Republic’s freshwater streams where brown trout (Salmo trutta) live and, up until recently, prosper. Unfortunately for the fish, those wild streams act as a dumping ground for water treatment plants that (unsuccessfully) filter out human waste and recycle the “purified” water back into our ecosystem. Due to a lack of foresight, these treatment plants are unequipped to cleanse the water of drugs such as meth before reintroducing it to the trout’s backyard. As a result, we’ve got meth fish by the boatload.
Pavel Horký and his colleagues of the Czech University of Life Sciences caught wind of the potential ramifications of the methamphetamine waste currently polluting the natural water source. So, naturally, they took a bunch of fish and got them hooked on meth to see what would happen.
HOW DOES METH EFFECT FISH?
With 120 trout in hand, Horký and his team set off to find the answer to “what happens to meth-addicted fish?”
Mirroring the experiments to reality, the Czech fish scientists split the hundred-plus brown trout into two 350 liter tanks, one filled with uncontaminated water and the other with water laced with methamphetamine levels that matched the polluted streams.
Eight weeks later, the scientists-turned-fishermen removed the meth from the laced tank to observe the effects of meth withdrawal in fish. All of the trout were then fed into new tanks constructed with a stream of water flowing across the enclosure. The stream in the meth-addicted trout’s tank, however, introduced methamphetamines into the pure water source.
Lo and behold, the control fish showed no preference in location while within the sterile tank while the meth-exposed fish camped out inside the drugged stream. Our bonafide fish scientists also found that the trout with exposure to methamphetamines were less active, lowering their chances of survival and reproduction.
“Drug reward cravings by fish could overshadow natural rewards like foraging or mating,” says Horký. “Such contamination could change the functioning of whole ecosystems.”
LIKE SHOOTING (METH) FISH IN A BARREL
Normally I’d say who cares, it’s just some fish, but that would rob me of the chance to type out “meth fish” over and over.
Admittedly, this shit show sounds like a major upset for all the pescatarians out there, not to mention the potential butterfly effect issue that has the potential to disrupt life on Earth as we know it.
Guess we’ll find out.
