Sex-changing Fish: Caused By Contamination Or Nature?

摘要

The Los Angeles Times brought a startling discovery to the public's attention in 2005: during a small monitoring survey off the coast of Southern California, scientists found male flatfish with female characteristics. The intersex fish were found in the vicinity of thernthree massive wastewater outfalls that dump treated sewage effluent into the Pacific Ocean and serve the booming metropolis of Los Angeles and adjacent Orange County. As a result, the scientists hypothesized that the discharges-almost 4 billion gallons a day from more than 10 million people-were disrupting the endocrine systems of the fish.