Something Fishy About Depression

Fish are taking antidepressants–at least they’re absorbing them in the water they’re swimming in. It turns out that fish exhibit abnormal behavior and lower levels of anxiety when exposed to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), which are common drugs used to treat depression. This has implications not only for the environment but for communities planning to begin wastewater reuse programs.

Environmental health scientist Bryan Brooks says, "This research is an important step in determining the long-term consequences of drugs taken up by fish in the environment and has direct implications for both survival and fitness of fish.

"Based on our observations, we hypothesize that fish exposed to (SSRIs) displayed reduced levels of anxiety and consequently were more willing to explore outside of their shelters during both light and dark conditions. Fish willing to spend more time away from shelters face greater predation risk, and their overall survival rate may be reduced."

We don’t know if WE can ingest enough antidepressants with the fish we eat to affect OUR personalities, but if they make fish too bold, there won’t be as many fish left to eat anyway.

We probably won’t serve fish at our Dreamland Festival, but we have great food, and we have a new policy: You can purchase a meal ticket that covers ALL your meals. But what we have that’s MOST important is the great information we feed you–about things we guarantee you’ve never heard about before (and NEW INFORMATION about some that you HAVE). So come see us in May–you’ll have a great time!