Could Prozac muscle out mussels?
Toxicity tests with gravid female adult eastern elliptio (Elliptio complanata) mussels and a range of fluoxetine concentrations from Prozac evaluated the potential for fluoxetine to cause pre−mature release (spontaneous parturition) of glochidia and the viability of the glochidia that were released. The investigators found that fluoxetine does indeed cause the pre−mature release of non−viable and viable larvae (glochidia) in native freshwater mussels in less than 48 hours of exposure. The ecological effects of an ill−timed release of larval mussels or gametes caused by environmental fluoxetine exposure could be potentially devastating to localized mussel populations. Likewise, the inability of a female mussel to attract her obligate fish host through reduced or non−existent mantle flap (fish lure) display behavior such that she would not be able to successfully infest a fish with glochidia could also result in total reproductive failure and devastate local mussel populations. Because the mode of action of fluoxetine is to alter behavior through neuroendrocrine pathways, this scenario is biologically plausible and warrants further investigation.
Source: North Carolina State University (www.ncsu.edu)
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