Glofish do not exist in nature. They were created in a laboratory. No, you are not seeing things. You may not read about it on the front page of USA Today. You may not hear about it on a television commercial break that ends with the words, “film at 11.” BUT… whether you realize it or not there have been over 660 patents issued on biogenetically engineered animals in the USA alone. And that number is increasing at an alarming rate every year. Transgenic animals are being patented like the never before seen, latest feature on a microwave oven or the next generation of digital music player. The difference is that here we are talking about living, breathing organisms rather than motherboards and microchips. There was no such thing as a glofish just a little over a decade ago. And just why would anyone want to make a fish glow in the first place? Believe it or not, the answer was not to strike it rich because every aquarium owner on the planet will feel the need to rush out and buy one. The Glofish was created to answer a higher calling. For Dr. Zhiyuan Gong and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore (NSU) the goal was quite simple, and perhaps even noble. The idea was to genetically engineer a fish that would glow when it came into contact with environmental toxins in any inland freshwater ecosystem. A fish that detects and by default identifies the manufacturing facilities and corporations that are poisoning our planet’s most valuable resource, how cool is that? Selective bioluminescence, this is indeed a lofty goal. How do you incorporate a biologically triggered light switch that automatically turns on in the presence of environmental contaminants? The logical answer is that you must first find a way make an animal glow. Only after the objective of bioluminescence is achieved, can you address the problem of biologically triggered selectivity. These are the obstacles Dr. Zhiyuan Gong and his colleagues decided to overcome in 1999. The first step was to select a fish. The geneticists chose the Brachydanio reri a rather small fish in the minnow family native to India. This species is more commonly known as a zebra danio or zebrafish because of it distinctive horizontal stripping. Zebrafish are raised on fish farms in Singapore for export so their eggs were readily available. The next step was to infuse a fertilized zebrafish egg with GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) and allow it to incorporate into the zebrafish’s genome. GFP is a gene found in crystal jellyfish that produces a bright green bioluminescence. The experiment was a success. A variant of GFP produced fluorescent yellow fish. Further experimentation with a gene found in sea coral resulted in bright red offspring. And thus the Glofish, although not yet officially named, was created. The creation of the world’s first florescent fish was bound to draw some attention. It did not take long for news of NUS’s success to reach the desks of entrepreneurs Alan Blake and Richard Crockett. They wasted no time in sewing up exclusive worldwide rights for the sell of Glofish. Yorktown Technologies of Austin, Texas then went to work commercially raising Glofish for the thriving aquarium trade industry. Fortunately for Blake and Crockett, fish farms for the production of zebra danios had been in existence in the southern parts of United States since as early as the 30s. It was not much of a leap to raise a species that is only a single gene removed. Glofish were slated to hit the market in late 2003. The question now becomes how should both national and regional governmental agencies react to the idea of a genetically engineered organism being unleashed on the general public? The European Union outright banned the sell of all genetically modified organisms within its member countries. The distribution or possession of Glofish is also prohibited in Canada, Australia, and Japan. Glofish are legal in 49 states in the U.S. The State of California issued the Environmental Quality Act to halt the sell of GloFish before they were even available to the public. Who would have thought something as benign as an ornamental aquarium fish would create such a stir? Ironically, fluorescing quickly became top sellers within the aquarium trade in most of Asia and in the U.S. Bioengineered transgenic manipulation aside, environmentalist have long expressed concern about the potential ecological ramifications of nonnative species being intentionally or even accidentally introduced to an established ecosystem. It is for this same reason that the sell or possession of piranha is illegal in most of the U.S. There are document case studies where the global availability of various species of aquarium fish has resulted in the introduction and proliferation of non-indigenous species. One such example is the plati fish (Xiphophorus maculates). The plati is native to southern Tamaulipas and northern Vera Cruz, states in northeastern Mexico. This species is particularly well suited for slower moving freshwater systems such as canals, ditches and warm springs. They have established significant populations in the United States in the canal systems of Tampa Bay and Gainesville, Florida. They have become naturalized in the state of Montana. They have also acclimated to the freshwaters of Columbia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Hong Kong ecologists report that these “illegal aliens” are creating an adverse impact on their aquatic ecosystems due to the plati’s prolific breading habits. The tilapia, a cichlid native to the Amazon River Basin, has been deemed a nuisance species in the southern US after populations sprang up from what was undoubtedly an aquarium trade related release into the wild. Do Glofish pose a threat? The end of World War II marked beginning of an explosion in the aquarium trade industry. There is only a single gene separating Glofish from their natural counterpart, zebra danio. Over 200 million of these fish have been imported and sold in the U.S. alone over the past half century. Zebrafish are incapable of surviving the temperate water conditions in all but the most southern states. To date, there has not been a single report of an established reproducing population in the wild anywhere in the United States. Since Glofish went on sale in 2003, scientists in various parts of the globe have successfully incorporated the fluorescing gene into rabbits, pigs, dogs and cats. The transition to mammals was undoubtedly inevitable. Given the rate of scientific progress perhaps it is understandable why many nations around the world decided it prudent to outright ban transgenic organisms for any purpose other than scientific research. That said; Glofish by their very nature are confined to a captive environment. If zebrafish, accidentally or intentionally introduced into the wild, posed a quantifiable ecological threat to the planet’s freshwater ecosystems that threat would have been apparent long before geneticists infused a fluorescing gene into their genome. Adding a fluorescent fish to your aquarium is a far cry from buying a glowing kitten or puppy dog for your kids. Half the dogs and cats in the neighborhood won’t be mysteriously glowing under a black light a year later.
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Owning a Glofish is illegal in most of the world. But why? What should you know about the first biogenetically engineered pet on the face of the planet? Are they a threat to the continued existence of mankind? How could such a little fish create such a big stink? Learn the facts and draw your own conclusion!
You never want to mix Glofish or any other smaller variety species with larger fish. A nano fish tank or wall mounted aquarium is more than enough room to house an entire family together. To discover more on commonly kept freshwater aquarium fish go to our fish buying guide.
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