Glow-in-the-Dark Fish: Bright Idea or Environmental Threat?

By ⋅ September 5, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Electric Green Tetra Fish (Photo: Glofish.com)

Electric Green Tetra Fish (Photo: Glofish.com)

A Texas company has been selling genetically modified fluorescent zebra fish called ‘GloFish’ for nearly 10 years.

But now the company is offering a new kind of glow-in-the-dark fish.

And it’s got environmentalists concerned.

Science journalist Adrianne Appel has written an article about ‘GloFish’ in the Washington Post.

She speaks with anchor Lisa Mullins.

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Lisa Mullins: If you have an aquarium at home, you know just how cool it looks when you have something in the water that glows in the dark. It’s even better when what’s glowing in the dark is a fish. That’s why a Texas-based company called Yorktown Technologies has created a line of genetically modified fluorescent fish. These GloFish have been around for a few years now, but there is concern that one of the company’s fish, the Electric Green Tetra, could pose a serious environmental threat. Environmentalists worry that if one of the fluorescent tetras is ever released into the wild, it could threaten native fish species in Florida and elsewhere. Science journalist Adrianne Appel has written an article about this new GloFish in the Washington Post. Adrianne, first of all, this is the first genetically modified pet, is that right?

Adrianne Appel: Yes, the GloFish.

Mullins: What color do they glow?

Appel: A bright lemon green color.

Mullins: Sounds lovely. How do they get that? Can you explain how the fish are bred to glow this bright lemon green?

Appel: They’ve taken a gene from a fluorescent coral and inserted it in the DNA of what’s called a Black Tetra fish, which is a fish native to South America.

Mullins: They’re cute and look stunning but why would a fish like this have to be genetically modified when there are so many beautiful fish you see in aquariums anyway?

Appel: The aquarium fish industry in Florida alone brings in $70 million a year, and throughout the world it’s a big industry, multi-billion dollar. And the Black Tetra fish, which is the base fish, is an aquarium fish on the market right now. It sells for three dollars. But the modified Black Tetra fish, the GloFish, sells for about eleven or twelve dollars.

Mullins: Holy smokes, and that’s if you get just one.

Appel: Yes.

Mullins: And most people?

Appel: Most people will get a few, at least.

Mullins: So they can see them school.

Appel: Yes, exactly.

Mullins: So what is the concern that environmentalists have?

Appel: Environmentalists say we don’t really know what would happen if the fish, which inevitably they will be eaten by larger fish.

Mullins: This is for people, pet owners, who say okay, enough of the aquarium and they toss the fish down the toilet, which is what happens.

Appel: Yes, typically they toss them into fresh water in Florida, and that’s why there are now more that 25 species, non-native fresh water fish species, that live and thrive in Florida. So if this fish were eaten by a larger fish, we don’t know if it might harm the larger fish or somehow upset the ecosystem. If the larger fish likes this new little fish, maybe it will stop eating other fish.

Mullins: And what happens if it breeds with another fish?

Appel: If a GloFish, Black Tetra fish, were to reproduce with a Black Tetra, some of the offspring would have the glowing gene.

Mullins: Obviously it gets passed on.

Appel: For multiple generations. Eventually it would be bred out but according to the company the gene would be passed on for multiple generations. One of the concerns of environmentalists is that it could be a kind of aesthetic pollution. Imagine yourself in Florida, you’re enjoying yourself, out on a boat, on a canal, and maybe doing some fishing, or looking down in the water, and you see a bright, bright glowing fish, unnaturally glowing fish, and it’s the GloFish.

Mullins: Some people would say, great! It’s the GloFish! But others look askance and say what?

Appel: They would say this is pollution in my environment.

Mullins: Because it’s not natural?

Appel: Yes.

Mullins: We should say that genetically modified fish are not widely accepted as being safe, certainly not in other countries where they’ve been introduced.

Appel: No, they’re banned in Canada, and European Union nations banned genetically modified animals.

Mullins: On what grounds?

Appel: They take what’s called the precautionary principle, that we don’t know what may happen once a genetically modified animal is released into the wild, and that’s a concern, is that these will inevitably be released into the wild.

Mullins: Adrianne Appel’s article about the newest genetically modified GloFish, as beautiful as it is controversial, is on our website, TheWorld.org. You can also watch the GloFish glow on a video we’re presenting. Adrianne Appel, thank you.

Appel: Thank you very much.

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Discussion

12 comments for “Glow-in-the-Dark Fish: Bright Idea or Environmental Threat?”

  • http://seasidepress.org/ seasidepress

    what gives us the right? this is really disgusting! what an arrogant, self-righteous species we humans are!

    • Giant Sloar

      Because we can. What gives us the right to create fire? What gives us to go to the moon? What gives us the right to use any novel technology? It’s just like the myth of Prometheus says, playing god is the only thing our species is good at.

  • http://seasidepress.org/ seasidepress

    what gives us the right? this is really disgusting! what an arrogant, self-righteous species we humans are!

  • Gary G

    Now if we could only genetically modify humans to stop destroying the earth and killing each other and other life.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anastacia-Andrade/1568271258 Anastacia Andrade

      I concur. The problem is the research would have to come from our own pockets. These studies monies’ come from greedy banks, oil companies, and revolving- door politicians of the 1%.

  • Kevin Schuman

    I think the impact of genetic manipulation depends on *why* the species is being manipulated.

    This fish, glows in the dark, let’s think about that in the wild, it means it stands out heavily in a marine environment during the night. This is a heavy detriment, not a benefit.

    This is not the same as genetically modified corn to make it hardier, this is making something “cute” for pet value.

    While I have no absolute proof (Nor am I a fan of genetic manipulation) I firmly believe that such a fish would not last long in the wild whatsoever.

    I think it’s much ado about nothing frankly. There are larger issues getting far less attention.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anastacia-Andrade/1568271258 Anastacia Andrade

    The fish that eat this fish-if released like many unloved, pet slider turtles- will cause a bio change to the environment.These glow fish do not occur in nature because they contain DNA from a completely different species. If /WHEN the fish that usually eat this fish start eating CORAL DNA, how will that affect the fish that, in turn eat them, whom we eat? it is like the grass eating cow, now forced to eat CORN and COW FLESH, and their babies drinking tainted Blood-milk recipes. Those changes have already shown to affect us, Mad cow disease, e-coli in our VEGS, food allergies, high concentrations of herbicides and Nitrates from Monsanto. The family kitchen has become the contaminated lab. These fish DNA will persist for 3-4 generations in the wild, all the while, contaminating others that eat them. This IS SOMETHING. far from nothing.

    • Giant Sloar

      I don’t think it works that way. The zebra fish’s natural predators will not be effected by the consumption of coral DNA for the same reason that humans cannot acquire super powers by consuming spiders.

  • Giant Sloar

    Can someone explain why the possibility of these things escaping and breeding in the wild would be a greater threat to the environment than lab mice doing the same? Personally I see no difference, from what I know from this article, GlowFish and Lab mice are both exactly the same as their base organisms, only they have been modified with genes that would it make it harder for them to elude predators.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/7HTDG5PAFVTFWZUJPX37AMDNDA Lewis

    We should make Glo Humans!

  • Amelia Payne

    im pritty shure a preditor would not be effected by eating glofish also glow fish only glow under black light also i had some glowing zebra fish and some regular zebra fish the glowing ones died within 24 hours if they start giving fish traits that will let them have a advantage over other fish i will be concerned 

  • Melissa Liu

    ridiculous. there’s a gene inserted for the expression of a bioluminescent protein, the same protein that has been found in other bioluminescent fish. its not like the scientists are dumping mercury into the ocean and trying to hide their pollution. maybe by some misfortune the luminescent protein does end up being a kind of natural venom. I’d rather count on the fact that there are fish full full of radioactive elements (whose particles destroy genes and countless other compounds), oxidative compounds (also make it their job to break bonds apart and create chaos in living systems), and other pollutants (cough cough. mercury). 

    Let’s also not talk about how most of our vegetable produce today (cough cough corn) are mutants with double sets of DNA that other organisms have. Of course we accept that because we eat it, its a multi-billion dollar industry, and we have no choice. It’s not like the companies would tell us if there was anything minorly wrong with eating plants designed to produce their own pesticides.