GloFish

[ryansfish5g]

Just found this through Slashdot.org

GLOWING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FISH:
The GloFish webpage

available for sale in january 2004....

Thoughts?

 

[teknikz]

ppl are gonna frown upon this because the fish have been meddled with genetically......i can see that they are gonna sell tho because they are unusual and they catch ur eye

 

[Brattina88]

"Does the fluorescence harm the fish?

No. The fish are as healthy as other zebra fish in every way. Scientists breed them by adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish eggs before they hatch. The fish is born with this unique color, and maintains the color throughout its life. The color is also passed on to their offspring."

This is... idunno... strange... Why can't people just leave fish the way they are? I don't think that they should mess with genetics but they probably will get some business because they're colorful an' all.

 

[juliethegr8t]

I've heard these guys are gonna cost $17.50 a fish, and they're already for sale in Asia. One lady who had them for sale in her fish shop hadn't sold any in the month or so she'd had them up. AAAnnnnnd these guys need it to be very very dark to see a faint glow, so that isn't very impressive. Egh, anyways, genetically modified pets on the market?! I already have enough problem with the food!!

 

[david27]

I think we've all got feeling one way or the other on hybrids and dyed fish but this I feel is pushing things to far .

I to have read about these fish, If i recall correctly they either lose the glow or die quite early.

There are better fish to spend $17.50 on IMO. I think we are better sticking to what nature gives us without having to resort to "fashionable" fish, where will end, probably with "oh red is so last year you must have some purple ones"

David

 

[akhtar]

its a zebra danio with a florecent gene, sounds weird,

cool thoguh, i wanna see one in action, but im unhappy in a way too

 

[ryansfish5g]

I've been thinking about this, can't decide if it's right or not yet.

Here are some more things to think about:

Don't they genetically engineer fruits and vegetables to make them larger?
or cows to produce more milk?

So in the future what if this spread to dogs or humans....we would have a regular Gattaca...

It will start like this....

Oh, well I want a dog with a longer tail....I want a dog with short ears.....and then someone will make a flourescent dog....

Then people will start making dogs live longer....

Then they will turn to humans....no more birth defects....people will start being admitted to colleges based on the quality of there genetically engineered genes....

I could go on and on....

Also, keep in mind this fish was originally created to help us, it turns green in polluted water or something....

There should be some kind of legal body regulating this, but then the politics begin.


Anyone else have a rant for us?

 

[fishyme]

I've heard of the GloFishes too, but I'm a little wary on going with ANY genetically engineered fish. I don't agree with playing god with genetics, and I don't want to add any money into the pockets of those who do that. My tank is natural, and natural fish is what I want to express IMO.

FishyMe

10 Gallon Tank
3 Red Phantom Tetras
2 Head and Tail light Tetras
1 common pleko
1 green catfish

 

[AttackKoala]

Seems to me there aren't really any ethical problems with genetically engineering fish. After all, people have been breeding fancy strains of guppies, and even danios for many years. This is just a fad, some people will by the fish as a novelty and then it will fade away. By the way, anyone who gets one. Let me know what it's like!

 

[lizard]

I don't know what I think about them selling these as pets. However, I'm not as concerned with that right nwo (I have three papers to write this weekend). I did want to respond to a comment from someone though.

I to have read about these fish, If i recall correctly they either lose the glow or die quite early.

From what I read on the website given in the original post of this thread, the GloFish do *not* lose their color over time, nor do they die early. The color is not a dye. It comes from a gene. I expected the fish to be green, as there is a Green Fluorescent Protein that is often (sometimes?) used to make critters that are fluorescent green. I had to do some research on it for a Cell Biology project last year. The "color-engineered" organisms are used to study genetics and similar topics. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is used as a "gene marker" in genetic studies and studies in similar fields and comes from a species of jellyfish.

If you go to Google or another search engine and do a search for Green Fluorescent Protein, you can get more info on the topic.

This page has some good, general info on GFP: http/www.rcsb.org/pdb/molecules/pdb42_1.html

A few other links:
http/www-bioc.rice.edu/Bioch/Phillips/Pa...ers/gfpbio.html

http/www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/

If you have other questions, feel free to ask me. I won't guarantee that I'll know the answer, but I may know where to find 'em or who to ask.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[ryansfish5g]

This reminds me of an experiment I did in high school. We took bacteria and put the GFP from jellyfish, the green flourescent protein, into their genes. After they started to multiply we took a blacklight to them, they all glowed except the control group.

I find it very strange that the government is letting stuff like this go on. Someone could seriously mess up the eco-system by playing God like this.

Nonetheless, if it's legal, I might buy one of these fish to check it out. Then maybe I will have another opinion on the subject.

 

[lizard]

This reminds me of an experiment I did in high school. We took bacteria and put the GFP from jellyfish, the green flourescent protein, into their genes. After they started to multiply we took a blacklight to them, they all glowed except the control group.

I think we did a similar experiment in Cell Bio last year. It was pretty neat.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[Kinhan]

I thikn my shark would love to eat these glowing fishys

 

[rsz]

i don't like them i like zebra danios the way they are - they're so pretty that way. why make a bright red 'glowing' danio when what we have is nice enough. i'm against dying fish altogether, but i dont think i like changing the genes much either

also, how would they help with the environment? the website doesn't say .

i'd rather spend the money on real danios (think how many natural ones you could buy). it would cost a lot to make a school of glowing ones too, so most people wouldn't buy enough, meaning that the danios would be unhappy

 

[fishenergy]

I wouldn't suggest buying these fish ever. By buying them, you are just contributing to the cause. Nature is best left alone. I know that dyed fish lose their color and have a shorter life span due to stress and mishandling, some even end up blind(makes me sick to think about it). At any rate, messing with genetics, dying, ect.... are very unhealthy for the fish and very disgusting IMO