Dilute Concentrations of a Psychiatric Drug Alter Behavior of Fish from Natural Populations

Unintended Recipients of Antidepressants Pharmaceuticals are used to treat a wide variety of ailments and conditions in humans. However, many animal species share physiologies, receptors, and pathways that may be acted upon by pharmaceutical compounds. Increasingly, pharmaceuticals are being found in natural aquatic systems. Such pharmaceutical pollution can cause mortality and alter development and reproduction of aquatic animals. Brodin et al. (p. 814 ) report that excreted drugs may also have far more subtle, yet eventually significant, impacts in natural systems. Benzodiazepines, which reduce anxiety in humans, alter social and foraging behavior in fish. European perch exposed to oxazepam were bolder, more active, less social and fed more rapidly.