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Beach Chair Birding

September 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

While enjoying the pleasures of beach chair conftiness when you add a the seat covers for wedding, it would be a real shame to overlook the wide variety of coastal birds that can be observed from a comfortable lean. I know, I know those seagulls may be obstructing your view, but if you head out at the right time of day or year, and if you look closely enough, you’ll find a wide variety of different birds to study and learn about.

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
 This little beauty is found all over the world, as long as there are beaches nearby. Its harlequin pattern makes it beautiful in and out of breeding season, but the patterns that emerge when this bird is breeding are unforgettable. So, I’m afraid, is its call, which is rattling most of the time and quite obnoxious when it transforms into the alarm-call.

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)
These fun, freckled shorebirds are most often found in North and South America, although one will occasionally make his way into Europe. They not much for flying, usually choosing to foraging for their food and building their nests on the ground, but they can put on a show, catching insects in mid-flight.

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliated)
I’ve always found Oystercatchers to be sort of silly looking, but like most birds they’re beautiful in their own way. Their long, thick, orange beak is perfect for breaking open mollusks, which is how they got their very descriptive name. They’re most likely to be found along the Atlantic coast of the US and the Pacific coasts of South and Central America.

American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher

American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
This particular avocet is a member of the stilt family, and it’s thin, gray legs earned it the nickname ‘blue shanks.’ It is most likely to be found on the North American Pacific coast, but it will move inland as far as the mid-west during its breeding season. They’re migratory, making their way down into Mexico during the winter, and they’re also quite social, forming breeding colonies with dozens of pairs, and then grouping into huge flocks when the season is over.

American Avocet

American Avocet

Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana)
I saved this for last to reward you for reading all the way through. I’ve been a birder for many, many years, and I find pleasure in just about every aspect of it, but sometimes the names we give to the creatures around us just make me smile.

The Wandering Tattler is a somewhat plain-looking bird without much pattern on its back at all, just dull gray wings. Their breast is covered by a scaly pattern, but otherwise they’re what we used to call ‘Plain Jane.’ They migrate from Alaska to Australia, so depending on the time of year they can be found along the costs of North and South America.

Wandering Tattler

Wandering Tattler

They are wading birds and feed mostly on crustaceans and marine worms, but during mating season they’ve been known to expand their diets to include a variety of insects. They may be plain in color, but their foraging process more than makes up for it. They have a tendency to bob in and out of the water, giving the Oystercatchers a run for their money when it comes to silliness.

Ernie Allison is a freelance writer for PerkyPet, which makes high quality bird feeders to bring a little more nature to your backyard.

If you’re interested in guest posting for Beach Chair Scientist, please email info@beachchairscientist.com for more information.

Filed Under: Birds Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

12 bite-sized shark posts (holding the hokey here)

August 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ok, maybe not so much in the title. Did you know sharks have roamed the earth for 400 million years and have been instrumental in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems?  They’re amazing creatures and in case you’re actually interested in learning about sharks (instead of becoming frightened by them while watching Shark Week), here are 12 of the most popular posts about sharks on BCS from the past five years.

  1. What I know about whale sharks (March 2013)
  2. CITES recognizes marine species (March 2013)
  3. Myth debunked: Delaware Bay not an annual pit stop for all shark species (September 2012)
  4. Sink your teeth into this: 20 facts about shark teeth (August 2012)
  5. 10 fish you don’t see during Shark Week (August 2012)
  6. What is shark finning? (February 2012)
  7. 5 most dangerous shark species (June 2010)
  8. The sixth sense (August 2009)
  9. What do sand sharks eat? (February 2009)
  10. What are the rarest shark species? (February 2009)
  11. Do sharks have bones? (January 2009)
  12. What is the biggest fish in the sea? (November 2008)

Also, feel free to email any questions to info@beachchairscientist.com if you have additional questions!

Filed Under: Conservation, Sharks

A Ray of Hope in a Sea of Chum

August 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives
Discovery brings SHARK WEEK viewers on a search for a massive killer Great White shark responsible for a rash of fatalities off the coast of South Africa. One controversial scientist believes that the shark responsible could be Megalodon, a 60-foot relative of the Great White that is one of the largest and most powerful predators in history. Our oceans remain 95% unexplored, and this massive prehistoric predator has always been shrouded in secrecy, but after a rash of newly discovered evidence, authorities are forced to investigate and hunt for the predator long thought to be extinct. A crew of scientists and shark experts examine evidence and fearlessly seek answers to the many questions surrounding one of the last great mysteries of the deep ocean while creating the largest chum slick in history. (http://bit.ly/SharkWeek2013-programming) 

That’s the way Shark Week feels to me these days, like a big, multi-platform chum slick…a greasy, fetid soup of fear and fascination that titillates more that it educates. Is that over the top? Yeah, probably, but then it will fit right into a line-up that includes titles like: I Escaped Jaws, Great White Serial Killer, and Sharkpocalypse. In all honesty, most of these shows will not be nearly as bad as their titles suggest. My primary beef is (and continues to be) the lack of shark diversity during Shark Week.

But hark, what’s that? A bioluminescent beacon of light from the deep? On Thursday, August 8, Discovery’s feature program is Alien Sharks of the Deep. Reading that title out loud makes it sound worse than the rest…like an early draft of the robo-monster blockbuster Pacific Rim. But no, this program appears to explore the weird, wonderful, and diverse sharks of the oceanic abyss. Could this restore my faith in the potential that is Shark Week? Think of some of the possibilities:

 Goblin sharks: Goblins have been known as tenguzame, after tengu, a fantastical creature of Japanese mythology often depicted with an elongated nose or beak. Goblins are fantastical in their own right, with long, blade-like rostrums and slingshot protrusible jaws that have to be seen to be believed.

070209-goblin-shark_big

Goblin shark

 Taillight and lantern sharks: Many deepsea sharks are bioluminescent, creating light with specialized organs called photophores. Many of these sharks use their photophores to hide in the downwelling light by erasing their shadows through counterillumination. Tailight sharks also secrete a blue luminescent fluid from their, um, ‘tail end.’ Since the species is known from only two specimens and has never been seen alive, no one knows exactly what this fluid is for.

 Megamouth: Not to be confused with Megalodon. In fact, the two couldn’t be less alike. Large Megalodon teeth may be 5-7 inches long (about the size of your hand), megamouth teeth 5-7 millimeters (half the size of your pinkie fingernail). Whereas Megalodon likely fed on whales and other large marine mammals and turtles, megamouth is a plankton specialist. There have been only 55 confirmed sightings of megamouth sharks since 1976, and only a handful of these have been examined by scientists.   

Megamouth-shark

Megamouth shark

 Frilled sharks: Frilled sharks are a freak show. They hardly look like sharks at all. Well, they do, just more like sharks from hundreds of millions of years ago. The long, eel-like body, terminal mouth, unusual teeth, fins, and other anatomical features are all distinctly ancient. 

Frilled-shark-showing-specially-adapted-teeth

Frilled shark

 Rough sharks: Rough sharks are another group that breaks the stereotypical shark mold—small and hunchbacked, with large spiny dorsal fins. They may be fairly common in the deep waters where they’re found, but still, we know very little.

Rough shark. Photo Joanna Franke

Rough shark. Photo Joanna Franke

 Six- and sevengills: Cow sharks are another group with distinctly ancient features. Many have seen sevengills in public aquariums, but the larger sixgill sharks don’t do as well on display. Sixgills are broad, ponderous creatures, with large specimens more than 16 feet long and as big around as a Volkswagen (as one diver describes them). These normally deepwater denizens have been occasionally spotted right under pier at the Seattle Aquarium. Puget Sound’s deep, glacier-etched profile provides a unique opportunity to observe and study these sharks without the need for research vessels or submersibles. 

Bluntnose six-gill shark

Bluntnose six-gill shark

 Cookiecutters: Interested in learning about a glowing foot-long shark that feeds on whales, tunas, swordfish, and squid? So are scientists, as they don’t seem to agree on how this small, slow-swimming shark seems to manage it. While they might not have the physique for the feat, they have the oral equipment. Fleshy lips and a strong tongue create a suction grip that buys time for the cookiecutter’s large, triangular lower teeth to cut a plug from its unsuspecting victim. 

Photograph by Reuters/Tokyo Sea Life Park/Handout

Cookie cutter shark. Photograph by Reuters/Tokyo Sea Life Park/Handout

 Cats and dogs: The deepsea is really the realm of dogfish and catsharks…dozens of species, some with names alone that inspire curiosity. Don’t you want to know more about lollipop catsharks, mosaic gulper sharks, birdbeak dogfish, spatulasnout catsharks, velvet bellies, demon catsharks, frog sharks, pajama sharks, pocket sharks, and pygmy ribbontail catsharks? Me too.

 I’m excited for Alien Sharks in a way I haven’t been for Shark Week programming in a very long time. Wednesday night I’ll have trouble sleeping with visions of lanternsharks dancing in my head. There is soooo much more to sharks than white sharks and tigers and bulls (oh my). How can we encourage more programming that highlights this fascinating diversity? We can watch.

 That’s my call to action. Watch Alien Sharks of the Deep on August 8, 10:00/9:00 central. Ask your friends to watch. Throw an Alien Sharks party. Dress up like an Alien Shark for work. Live tweet #AlienSharks like the second coming of Sharknado (you can follow and tweet at me @jimwharton). Show Discovery your love for Alien Sharks and beg them for more. Be as pathetic as you like. Let’s send a message that it’s a big wide world of sharks out there and we want to see more of it…and we’ll be happy to swim through an ocean of chum to get there.

Filed Under: Conservation, Marine Science, Sharks

Test your knowledge: Marine mammals

July 24, 2013 by 4 Comments

SeasideNaturalistCoverIt’s time for another “Test your knowledge” quiz. This time it’s brought to you by page 211 of one of my favorite books, Seaside Naturalist (written and illustrated by Deborah Coulombe). Here’s a true/false quiz all about those marine mammals we all know and love … well, take the quiz and see how well you know them. First 3 people to submit all correct answers below as comments (before I post the correct answers in a week) will get a free DVD of Ocean Frontiers.

1. Whales sweat profusely while diving.
2. The blue whale is the largest animal ever known on Earth.
3. Whales can drown.
4. Whales can be told apart by the way they spout.
5. Whales never sleep.
6. Baby whales are born tail first.
7. When whales breach, they jump completely out of the water.
8. Whales spout by blowing water out of their blowhole.
9. In Japan, dogs eat whales meat.
10. Manatee are the only vegetarian marine mammals.

Know anyone that might want to share a passion a marine science, environmental education, or ocean conservation by writing for Beach Chair Scientist? Guest posting is always welcome!

Filed Under: Marine Mammals, Marine Science, Random Fun!

12 truths about diamondback terrapins (please, see #8)

June 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
  1. Each diamondback terrapin is a work of art. Their skin color ranges from pale to dark gray, or even black. The underside of their shell (plastron) ranges from yellow to green, or even black. But, those variations aren’t the reason for its name. If have the opportunity, be sure to check out the mesmerizing diamond-shaped growth rings on top of their shell (carapace).
  2. normal_ian-symbol-malaclemys-centrata_iandotumcesdoteduDiamondback terrapins are native to the eastern and southern United States (just like me)! They are distributed from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Corpus Christi, Texas.
  3. Diamondback terrapins have feet just like Ashton Kutcher. Their feet are robustly webbed, enabling them to be strong swimmers – which they need to be since they live in coastal areas with fluctuating tidal changes.
  4. There is only one terrapin native to the United States that lives exclusively in brackish saltwater marshes and bays … you guessed it, the Diamondback terrapin!
  5. Diamondback terrapins have a mid-life crisis at 20. They can live upwards to 40 years.
  6. Female diamondback terrapins are gladiators compared to the males. The shell of the females will reach up to 12 inches while the males typically reach 6 inches.
  7. Diamondback terrapins feast on meat. That’s right … they’ve only accidentally ingested vegetation (just like my 2yo).  They prefer to dine on blue crabs, snails, mussels, clams, barnacles, or whatever else in common in their range. They are pretty industrious in their ability to crush shells with their uber strong upper and lower jaw.
  8. Female diamondback terrapins might live in the marsh, but they prefer to lay their nests (2 to 3 a year with up to 20 eggs a clutch) on the sand beach from May to July. This is why you’ll often see female terrapins tentatively crossing causeways linking mainland and barrier islands. Please drive the speed limit and slow down (stop!) for nesting female diamondback terrapins. This is the most important fact in this list.
  9. Diamondback terrapins take time to meditate. Ok, well, they remain dormant and slow their metabolism down when they hibernate during the winter by burrowing in the mud of the marshes.
  10. Female terrapins like it hot. A higher temperature of the nest produces more females.
  11. After hatching, young terrapins take their time adapting to life. Some remain in the nest during the winter although the majority enters the nearest body of water.
  12. Habitat loss, boat/car strikes, nest predation (1 to 3% of the eggs laid produce a hatchling), and crab pots are all threats of diamondback terrapins.

Resources/additional information:
http://www.vims.edu/research/units/programs/sea_turtle/va_sea_turtles/terps.php
http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/diamondback-terrapin
http://www.defenders.org/diamondback-terrapin/basic-facts

 

Filed Under: Reptiles, Terrapins

What I know about whale sharks

March 31, 2013 by 3 Comments

Sure, you know that whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea (reaching up to 42 feet) and they sieve plankton for nourishment. Being that you’re clever and smart you must know these ten wicked facts about whales sharks, too – but, I’ll tell you again anyway.

  1. Whale-Shark-03Whales sharks have the thickest skin in the world – just about 10 centimeters thick!
  2. Whale sharks may have wide mouths for gulping plankton, but don’t worry – they can’t swallow a diver as their throats are exceptionally narrow in comparison to their mouths.
  3. Whale sharks don’t just eat plankton, they sometimes wait for fish to lay their eggs so they can eat those, too.
  4. In Vietnam, whale sharks are known as Ca ong, or “Sir Fish”.
  5. The whale shark was once worshiped in Vietnam, and along the coast you can still find ancient shrines along the coast.
  6. Whale sharks are covered with pale stripes and spots (see image).
  7. “What’s that bump?” Whale sharks attempt to get rid of skin parasites by rubbing themselves up against boats.
  8. Whales sharks are loners. They prefer to live, hunt, and travel alone.
  9. Most sharks live to be around 25 to 30 years old, however whales sharks and dogfish sharks can live to be 100 years or more!
  10. Whale sharks are thought to be able to give birth up to 300 pups at one time.
Filed Under: Fish, Sharks

3 truths on the fables about ‘dolphin-safe’ labels

March 20, 2013 by 2 Comments

It all started recently as my 2 year-old showed those tendencies towards becoming a picky eater. I embarked on a supermarket safari for proteins and soon enough I found myself in the canned tuna aisle. Have you been there lately? It’s a little overwhelming with all of the labels. I usually just go for the salmon for the additional omega-3s, but I had a feeling the toddler would turn that down. Also, I am all about rites of passage and isn’t canned tuna with mayonnaise on toast right up there with peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese? Given that I do care, especially with the recent findings of an Oceana report that states 1 in 3 fish are mislabeled,  the nerd in me had to navigate the meaning behind all those ‘eco-safe’ labels found on canned tuna.

Here’s some surprising truths behind the fables about the ‘dolphin-safe’ label you’ll need to know before baking your next casserole:

1) The U.S. wouldn’t sell anything that’s not ‘dolphin-safe’ – label or not. While it’s true that the U.S. has the most restrictive definition of what it means to be ‘dolphin-safe’ it’s also true that canned tuna is the #1 seafood import in the U.S. The internationally accepted definition of ‘dolphin-safe’ is “tuna caught in sets in which dolphins are not killed or seriously injured,” but the U.S. requires that “no tuna were caught on the trip in which such tuna were harvested using a purse seine net intentionally deployed on or to encircle dolphins, and that no dolphins were killed or seriously injured in the sets in which the tuna were caught.” Unfortunately, if we’re rarely eating tuna from the U.S. we can’t say how it’s caught.

2) ‘Dolphin-safe’ labels are designated by the government. I was shocked to realize that its independent observers (i.e., private organizations) making claims to what is ‘dolphin-safe’. But, then I remembered that tuna are an especially difficult species to manage given that they migrate all over the world. The good news on the horizon is that during his State of the Union address in January, President Obama mentioned the U.S. will begin negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union. What does this have to do with tuna fisheries? Well, apparently the talks for the FTA would include discussions on non-tariff barriers. Non-tariff barriers include “things like labels indicating a product’s country-of-origin, whether tuna is dolphin-safe, or whether your breakfast cereal has genetically-modified corn in it.” The need to be more consistent as to how we label tuna was also acknowledged by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO noted that, “while well-intentioned, the ‘dolphin-safe’ labels are deceptive to consumers and quite outdated”. Also, according to the Campaign for Eco-Safe Tuna, “There’s no denying that more than 98% of the tuna in the U.S. market today is sourced from unmonitored and untracked fisheries where thousands of dolphins are killed every year.” That’s a frightening statistic if you’re trying to make the right choice on what can of tuna to purchase.

leatherback_worldwildlifedotorg

Image (c) World Wildlife Fund

3) If it’s ‘dolphin-safe’ it must be safe for all marine life. Let’s cut to the chase here. Canned tuna that is troll or hook-and-line caught with fishing rod and reel combos is the best choice for a conscious consumer. Other methods of fishing for tuna (e.g., backdown technique, purse seines) have been shown to cause long-term stress to dolphins (leading to their eventual death), including heart and muscle lesions. You might also be disheartened to realize that sharks, billfish, birds, and sea turtles (see image) are often the unintended catch (known as ‘bycatch’) of fishing for tuna. The fish aggregating devices (FAD) commonly used to catch tuna are known as some as the most destructive fishing practices man has ever used.

Where does that leave me in the decision of what type of tuna to purchase for my family? As I mentioned, choosing hook and line (also known as ‘pole-caught’) canned tuna is the most sustainable choice. Fishing for tuna with hook and line 1) enables fish that are too small to be returned to the ocean, 2) practically eradicates any bycatch, and 3) ensures the ocean ecosystem to remain intact eliminating the potential loss of biodiversity. Be careful though since ‘line-caught’ can mean using a longline to catch tuna. However, this method produces ample bycatch as well.

Please feel free to comment below or email questions on this article to Ann McElhatton, Beach Chair Scientist, at info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Biodiversity, Bony Fishes, Fish, Marine Mammals, Ocean Conservation, People, Sea Turtles, Sharks

CITES recognizes important marine species

March 11, 2013 by 1 Comment

You might think that sharks are a predator that we want to eradicate, but that’s far from the truth of the matter. For a healthy ocean we need the top predator. For 5 species of sharks – oceanic whitetip, scalloped hammerhead (pictured below), great hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, and porbeagle sharks – there was some inspiring news during the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Proposals were adopted that would give them greater protection and provide them with less risk from overfishing (According to the Guardian, “Those fishing for oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and three species of hammerhead shark will now require strictly controlled permits to export the fins”) for these sharks. However, the move will need to be adopted completely by a final plenary session scheduled for Thursday. It’s a particularly significant move considering CITES meetings take place every three years and that CITES has not traditionally leaned towards protecting marine species due to the intense political and economic issues that are related to fisheries issues. According to the Washington Post, “Elizabeth Wilson, who manages the Pew Environment Group’s global shark campaign, said the broad array of countries backing the proposals this year helped produce success this time around”.

Globally,  sharks are in peril and overexploited due in major part to a voracious demand for shark fins, especially in Asian markets, since it’s the primary ingredient in shark fin soup (more affordable and more popular than ever at Asian weddings). While it might be a difficult culture shift for the expanding Asian middle class (a delegate at CITES stated, “It would be like telling the French not to have champagne at their wedding“), ultimately it’s what has to be done since shark populations have fallen to such low levels. As they saw off the coast of North Carolina once sharks were overfished rays thrived and then destroyed the lucrative bay scallop fishery. Here is another resource outlining the importance of sharks to the ocean ecosystem.

Scalloped hammerhead shark (sphyrna lewini)

Scalloped hammerhead shark (sphyrna lewini) from NatGeoTV

Filed Under: Fish, Ocean Conservation, People, Sharks, Skates and Rays

PBTs leach from our junk, build up in blubber of marine mammals

March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

bioaccumulation_ecokids.caIt’s a harsh reality, but even our choice of phone case or mattress may not be an easy one if we’re concerned with how we affect our environment. In this 5th installment of “We affect what goes in our watershed” (see posts on fertilizers, marine debris, petroleum, and pharmaceuticals), it’s all about PBTs (persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic) chemicals and how they are a silent threat to many marine mammals, and other top predators in the sea. These toxic threats get processed into their blubber and vital organs by way of bioaccumulation (see image). Susan Shaw, Director of Marine Environmental Research Institute, recently published that the bioaccumluation of North Atlantic harbor seals and noted that “at very high exposures PBTs can impair a mammal’s immune system, making it less capable of fighting off deadly diseases”.

What are the sources of these toxins?

  • Mattresses, upholstery foam, and the plastic casings for electronics
  • From the air or washed down the drain from foam, plastic, or fabric slough off our beds, couches, curtains, and televisions
  • Leaked from manufacturing plants, runoff from cropland, or leach out of landfills.

Positive news is that manufacturers and importers agreed in 2010 to a phase-out of materials using these substances in 2010, declaring that sales will completely be irradiated at the end of 2013. In the meantime, here’s a list from the Environmental Working Group on how to reduce the exposure of the chemicals in your home, also I found a list of PBTfree products for home construction and cars from INFORM  that .

I guess the question is now, what are some things that we can do to remind our family, friends, and  neighbors that what we put in our drains and local waterway matters to the entire ocean ecosystem?

Filed Under: Environmental Education, Marine Mammals, Ocean Conservation, People

What’s in your medicine cabinet affects aquatic life

February 25, 2013 by 1 Comment

Yup, that’s right – what is in your medicine cabinet (e.g., anxiety medication, birth control) affects not only us, but animals in streams, lakes, and even the ocean. As the President’s Cancer Panel noted in a 2010 report, “Pharmaceuticals have become a considerable source of environmental contamination, this is why experts recommend the use of cbd hemp flowers. Drugs of all types enter the water supply when they are excreted or improperly disposed of; the health impact of the best delta-8 THC gummies for long-term exposure to varying mixtures of these compounds is unknown”. It might not seem like the most obvious connection. However, as the National Capital Poison Center points out there are many different ways our medications mutate. Here are just a few of the ways drugs enter the water supply:

  1. Drugs that are applied to the skin are washed down the drain.
  2. Drugs can be eliminated through our waste and are then flushed down the toilet (even more direct when it’s from a pet and it’s left on the side of the road).
  3. Healthcare facilities (e.g., mental, dental) that are not legally required to discard drugs as hazardous materials.
  4. There may be ‘straight-piping’ (direct release of untreated sewage into waterways) or overflow of stormwater that bypasses treatment facilities.

Why this matters is incredibly frightening and here are some examples of why:

  1. Anxious Perch: Researchers at the Umeå University in Sweden found that perch exposed to an anxiety medication, Oxazepam, departed from their normal behaviors of hunting in schools by becoming loners and more brave by hunting on their own. They also noticed that the fish seemed to eat more, therefore disturbing the balance of their habitat, this discovery was vital for clinical trial services for drug development. (February 2013)
  2. Suicidal Shrimp: Researchers are the University of Portmouth in the U.K. found that through pharmaceutical waste runoff shrimp had been exposed to antidepressants and it was causing an unusual amount of them to die off. (February 2012)
  3. Autistic Fathead Minnows: Researchers from the Idaho State University discovered “psychoactive medications in water affect the gene expression profiles of fathead minnows in a way that mimics the gene expression patterns associated with autism”. (June 2012)
  4. Fish Tissue Fiasco: Researchers from Baylor University studied fish tissue for human drugs and found drugs used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder, and depression.  (May 2009)
  5. Infertile and Hermaphroditic Fish: Mother Nature News wrote how birth control pills caused male fish to be less fertile and increased the number of hermaphroditic fish. (September 2009)
  6. and, finally – Did you know, according to the Associated Press, that drinking water of at least 51 million Americans carries low concentrations of many familiar drugs? (2008)
Don’t worry too much though. You’d have to eat tons of the fish affected by the drugs for it to amount to even one pill. But, if you are concerned about how to keep your waterway clean from pharmaceuticals it’s a good idea to never buy the giant bottle of pills (they’ll surely expire before you’ll use them and then you’ll have to toss it), return old drugs to your pharmacy because many often have take-back programs (i.e., don’t flush them down the toilet), ask your doctor for samples before you commit to a prescription that might not work, and clean up pet waste.
From National Geographic Magazine

From National Geographic Magazine

Have you heard of any other ways fish or aquatic life are affected by what we put in our waterways?

Filed Under: Crustaceans, Environmental Education, Fish, Ocean Conservation, People Tagged With: ,