![]() Most of the 11 million saltwater fish sold in the U.S. The researchers will present these results later this month at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Hawaii. This confirms that only wild-caught fish had been exposed to cyanide. (In other words, these fish were never in the wild.) None of those fish excreted thiocyanate. The pair also obtained some fish from companies that breed fish in captivity. The green chromis, another popular (though less movie-famous) fish, tested positive for the chemical at an even higher rate. These included many of the blue tangs - or Dorys. More than half of the fish had been exposed to cyanide, the lab tests showed. Ali Altug Kirisoglu/istockphotoThe pair sent their samples off to an independent laboratory. But tests show that many of them were captured from the wild with cyanide. The green chromis is a popular fish for saltwater aquariums. Then they collected samples of the water in which each fish had been swimming. They purchased 89 fish from shops in California, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. Recently, the pair wanted to get an idea of how many of the fish sold in pet stores may have been caught using cyanide. This conservation group works to protect fish and coral reefs from the aquarium trade. Experts can detect residues of the thiocyanate in the water.ĭowns works with Rene Umberger. The fish will excrete the new chemical in its urine. But after being exposed to the poison, a fish’s body turns it into another chemical. “You have to be a fish pathologist” to see the signs, Downs says. There is no way for someone purchasing a fish in a pet store to tell if the animal had been exposed to cyanide. (That’s a term for waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.) As many as 30 million fish may be caught this way every year, Downs says. But “this practice happens all through the Indo-Pacific,” says Downs. And animals caught this way are not supposed to be allowed into the United States for sale. There are laws that should prevent divers from using the cyanide-stun method to capture fish. “If you survive, you’re messed up for the rest of your life,” Downs says. ![]() Even the fish caught for sale in pet shops may die within a few weeks or months after the cyanide treatment. Non-targeted fish and other organisms left behind also can die. Coral exposed to cyanide can bleach and die. It then can be captured and later sold.īut cyanide is deadly. The poison quickly stuns the fish, Downs explains. Or someone may pump larger quantities down from a boat. A diver simply adds a pellet of cyanide to a bottle and squirts a bit on a target fish. He directs the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Clifford, Va. A surprisingly large number of those fish are captured using cyanide, new research shows.įor those who supply pet-shop fish, cyanide is “cheap and easy” wayto catch them, notes Craig Downs. So every blue tang that is sold in a shop has to come from the wild. But no one has been able to do this successfully for blue tangs. That has taken pressure off wild populations of the fish. hansgertbroeder/istockphotoToday, it is possible to buy a clownfish that has been bred in captivity. Today, it is possible to buy clownfish that have been bred in captivity. Now there are worries that a new movie out this week, Finding Dory, may have a similar effect on Dory’s species, the blue tang. People purchased so many Nemos that some wild communities of the fish plummeted in number. Owing to the movie’s popularity, many parents bought kids their own Nemo. Many kids fell in love with orange-and-white clownfish after watching the 2003 classic Finding Nemo. pets may have been caught with a deadly poison - cyanide. And more than half of the saltwater fish sold as U.S. The aquarium industry has been harvesting fish as pets. But even without families trying to bring home the types of fish portrayed in these films, coral-reef species are in trouble. The popularity of animated kids’ movies - Finding Nemo and its new sequel, Finding Dory - could spell doom for many coral reef communities, a new study warns.
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