• Clownfish Get High on CO2
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[img]http://www.newscientist.com/img/misc/ns_logo.jpg[/img] [release] [b]Carbon dioxide encourages risky behaviour in clownfish[/b] Carbon dioxide in the ocean acts like alcohol on fish, leaving them less able to judge risks and prone to losing their senses. The intoxication adds to the threats that global warming and ocean acidification pose to marine ecosystems. Around [url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08526]2.3 billion tonnes[/url] of human-caused CO2 emissions dissolve into the world's oceans every year, turning the water more acidic. [url=http://www.jcu.edu.au/mtb/staff/az/JCUDEV_016582.html]Philip Munday[/url] and colleagues at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, have previously found that if you put reef fish into water with more CO2 than normal in it – similar to the levels expected in oceans by the end of the century – they become bolder and attracted to odours they would normally avoid, including those of predators and unfavourable habitats. Munday and his colleague [url=http://www.mn.uio.no/imbv/english/people/aca/gorann/]Göran Nilsson[/url] at the University of Oslo, Norway, have now discovered that CO2 leads to riskier behaviour by interfering with a neurotransmitter receptor called GABA-A. The pair reared clownfish ([i][url=http://eol.org/pages/222383/overview]Amphiprion percula[/url][/i]) larvae in seawater with normal (450 microatmospheres) and elevated (900 microatmospheres) CO2 levels. When they reached adulthood, the fish were given a choice between a water stream containing the odour of common predators such as the rock cod ([i][url=]Cephalopholis cyanostigma[/url][/i]) or a stream lacking predatory odours. Those reared in high levels of CO2 swam towards rock cod's scent around 90 per cent of the time, whereas those that had enjoyed normal levels of CO2 avoided the predator's scent more than 90 per cent of the time. [b]Sobriety restored[/b] Treating the clownfish bred under CO2-rich conditions with gabazine, a chemical that blocks the GABA-A receptor, helped them to regain their senses, though: fish treated this way swam towards the predatory smell only 12 per cent of the time. "The fact that we could use a specific blocker for the GABA-A receptors to reverse the behavioural alterations proves that this receptor is involved in the CO2 effects," says Nilsson. In a second test, using juvenile damselfish ([i][url=http://eol.org/pages/223539/overview]Neopomacentrus azysron[/url][/i]) from Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef, the team found that high levels of CO2 destroyed their natural tendency to turn left or right in certain situations – a crucial factor in shoaling. A bath with gabazine restored this "handedness". [b]Exciting effect[/b] The GABA-A receptor sits on dendrites, the wiry projections of a neuron that detect chemical signals from other neurons. When the neurotransmitter GABA binds to its receptor, the receptor opens and a flood of negatively charged chloride and bicarbonate ions rush into the cell and prevent it from firing. This means that GABA has an inhibitory effect on the neuron. When CO2 accumulates in the fish, it alters the distribution of ions. Now, when the receptor opens, chloride and bicarbonate ions escape out of the cell, exciting the neuron instead. "This would have strong effects on the function of neural circuits in the brain," says Nilsson, and may make ultimately make the fish behave in a way that increases its likelihood of being eaten. The influence of CO2 "is likely to be far broader than just applying to the two species that were considered in this study", says [url=http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/staff_profiles/fisheries__and__aquaculture/wild_fisheries/fowler,_dr_anthony]Anthony Fowler[/url], a fish ecologist at the South Australian Research and Development Institute in Adelaide, who was not involved in the study. Most animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, have GABA-A receptors, he says. Nilsson and Munday suspect that water-breathing animals, such as fish and crustaceans, are especially at risk. These creatures generally have lower blood CO2 levels than air-breathers, so it is more difficult for them to cope with the acid boost. [/release] [img]http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn21355/dn21355-1_300.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21355-carbon-dioxide-encourages-risky-behaviour-in-clownfish.html]Source[/url]
Clownfish are coolest fish.
Nemo doesn't need weed, he got CO2
I think these scientists need to stop clowning around.
[img]http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn21355/dn21355-1_300.jpg[/img] FREE AS A BIRD
pascals? naw fuck that let's measure everything in atmosphere right down to microatmospheres
Clownfish are so cool. In any population there is only one male and one female. Everyone else is a sexually immature male. When the female dies, the male becomes the female, and the next dominant immature male becomes mature. It ensures there is always someone to make babies with as long as you got two fish.
[QUOTE=Contag;34240940]pascals? naw fuck that let's measure everything in atmosphere right down to microatmospheres[/QUOTE] Nah, SI all up this bitch
[QUOTE=OvB;34241098]Clownfish are so cool. In any population there is only one male and one female. Everyone else is a sexually immature male. When the female dies, the male becomes the female, and the next dominant immature male becomes mature. It ensures there is always someone to make babies with as long as you got two fish.[/QUOTE] Do you have wikipedia in your brain or something?
Now if they had said carbon monoxide we might have gotten some of these idiots desperate to get high to kill themselves.
[QUOTE=Dysgalt;34241371]Do you have wikipedia in your brain or something?[/QUOTE] Some trivia just sticks.
[QUOTE=Dysgalt;34241371]Do you have wikipedia in your brain or something?[/QUOTE] He knows just as much about fish as I do lizards. That's a lot.
[QUOTE=OvB;34241098]Clownfish are so cool. In any population there is only one male and one female. Everyone else is a sexually immature male. When the female dies, the male becomes the female, and the next dominant immature male becomes mature. It ensures there is always someone to make babies with as long as you got two fish.[/QUOTE] homo fish....nice
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;34241324]Nah, SI all up this bitch[/QUOTE] Uh pascal [I]is[/I] a SI derived unit one atmosphere is defined in terms of pascals [editline]17th January 2012[/editline] even if you didn't already know that pascal was the SI unit, you'd be able to tell easily by converting it in other SI derived units for instance one pascal is one newton per square meter, whereas one atmosphere is 101325 newtons you can already tell by the conversion beauty that the SI system brings
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;34241415]He knows just as much about fish as I do lizards. That's a lot.[/QUOTE] Ye well Budgies glow in UV light and can talk, like to see your lizards or fish do that.
[QUOTE=OvB;34241098]Clownfish are so cool. In any population there is only one male and one female. Everyone else is a sexually immature male. When the female dies, the male becomes the female, and the next dominant immature male becomes mature. It ensures there is always someone to make babies with as long as you got two fish.[/QUOTE] trapfish
[QUOTE=Contag;34242211]Uh pascal [I]is[/I] a SI derived unit one atmosphere is defined in terms of pascals [editline]17th January 2012[/editline] even if you didn't already know that pascal was the SI unit, you'd be able to tell easily by converting it in other SI derived units for instance one pascal is one newton per square meter, whereas one atmosphere is 101325 newtons you can already tell by the conversion beauty that the SI system brings[/QUOTE] He was telling the person who suggested atmospheres that we were sticking with SI units and using pascals... You manage to say some stupid stuff in every thread. Also, interesting find on this story.
Inhale CO2 erryday. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NDqTK.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Squad;34243996]He was telling the person who suggested atmospheres that we were sticking with SI units and using pascals... You manage to say some stupid stuff in every thread. Also, interesting find on this story.[/QUOTE] He rated my post disagree you dumb fuck and who suggested atmospheres? I was the only one who commented on their silly use of a SI prefix with atmospheres? Bit rich coming from you mate try a bit harder next time, you come off as a dickhead
[QUOTE=Canary;34242421]Ye well Budgies glow in UV light and can talk, like to see your lizards or fish do that.[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/58MWY.jpg[/img] UV light is for people that can't glow naturally.
[QUOTE=OvB;34244459][img]http://i.imgur.com/58MWY.jpg[/img] UV light is for people that can't glow naturally.[/QUOTE] What is that? I found two lying on the sand at Virginia Beach during a hurricane a few years ago.
I guess the clownfish start [I]acting funny[/I] after inhaling that CO2.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34244519]What is that? I found two lying on the sand at Virginia Beach during a hurricane a few years ago.[/QUOTE] I honestly have no idea.
[QUOTE=OvB;34244459][img]http://i.imgur.com/58MWY.jpg[/img] UV light is for people that can't glow naturally.[/QUOTE] Yeah, those landies are such casuals.
America makes CO2 a Schedule I Controlled Substance, possession of CO2 is a felony punishable by up to 6 years in maximum security prison as well as forfeiture of your property and assets to the DEA, who may do with them as they see fit.
[QUOTE=BLOODGA$M;34245305]America makes CO2 a Schedule I Controlled Substance, possession of CO2 is a felony punishable by up to 6 years in maximum security prison as well as forfeiture of your property and assets to the DEA, who may do with it as they see fit.[/QUOTE] No more paintball.
[QUOTE=Contag;34242211]Uh pascal [I]is[/I] a SI derived unit one atmosphere is defined in terms of pascals [editline]17th January 2012[/editline] even if you didn't already know that pascal was the SI unit, you'd be able to tell easily by converting it in other SI derived units for instance one pascal is one newton per square meter, whereas one atmosphere is 101325 newtons you can already tell by the conversion beauty that the SI system brings[/QUOTE] SI units are defined by their use in calculations. You can't use a value in centimetres to calculate, say pressure in the example, you have to use the SI length which is metres in the case of pressure. You can hardly say that Pa = N·cm^-1
[QUOTE=Contag;34240940]pascals? naw fuck that let's measure everything in atmosphere right down to microatmospheres[/QUOTE] You realise that it's just another way of saying "parts per million", right?
Hmm, sorry to say I'll be sticking with N2O for the time being.
[QUOTE=krakadict;34241577]homo fish....nice[/QUOTE] They wear makeup, it's not that surprising.
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