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Salmon Gives Birth To Trout.

Posted by timothy on from the paper-contains-facts dept.

mishmash writes "Researchers in Japan have created trout whose fathers were salmon, 'they implanted tissue from trout embryos into salmon embryos; and when the salmon became adults and mated, they produced trout.' Jurrassic Park just came a step closer. The story is also at Nature, where the scientists actually discuss using the technology for reviving extinct species."

21 comments

  1. Had to say it.... by macdaddy357 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...There's something fishy about this!

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    How ya like dat?
    1. Re:Had to say it.... by saden1 · · Score: 1

      It would be interesting to know what Kilgore Trout thinks about all of this.

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      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  2. Good thing salmon die at spawning then by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Funny
    or there would be a lot of explaining to do by the moms.

    Anyway wouldn't it be smarter the other way around? Last time I checked the menu salmon sells for a hell of lot less then trout.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  3. Sounds like a Far Side comic. by Spudley · · Score: 2, Funny

    This sounds like something out of a Far Side comic. Gary Larson would have had a field day with this. I can picture it already...

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    (Spudley Strikes Again!)
  4. Sturgeon Farmers will watch this by scupper · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Outfits like Sturgeon AquaFarms and Stolt Sea Farm will be watching this. I know US Sturgeon farmers have been pushing for a ban on Caspian Sea Beluga Sturgeon, and I think they are an endangered species. If there's going to be VC pushed into funding more cross species embryo research, I'd bet sturgeon farmers will be at the front of the line.

    Excerpt from BBC piece:
    "The obvious one is the sturgeon, which only become reproductively mature around the age of ten," he said, "so perhaps you could have them reared by another species which develops much faster."
  5. Summary is DUMB, sensationalistic by nusratt · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Jurrassic Park just came a step closer."

    Oh, really?
    The Nature article clearly says at the beginning:
    "The technique involves cells called primordial germ cells (PGCs), which are found in embryos."
    And later:
    "theoretically, even if a species **goes** extinct, we can transplant the cells into a closely related species."

    Where is John Hammond (JPark founder) going to get dino *embryos*?

    And, OTOH, if the "some day" merely refers to using DNA (versus PGCs), then how is this news?

    1. Re:Summary is DUMB, sensationalistic by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      I think that was possibly an allusion to the Jarkov Mammoth found in '99? Sounds like the scientists are getting slightly annoyed with all the cloning questions, tho.

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      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
  6. Ah, yes by 0x0d0a · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!"

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    May we never see th
  7. I for one welcome... by ghost. · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Ahh forget it.

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    Bush is a cylon.
  8. Salmon do not give birth by bill_of_wrongs · · Score: 2, Informative

    they lay eggs like most other fish.

  9. Mammoth by memco · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Perhaps they can finally do http://www.exn.ca/mammoth/Cloning.cfmsomething similar with the mammoth? It'll be interesting to see how this technique develops.

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    Get me a meat pie floater!
  10. They're the same species! by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 3, Informative

    Salmon and Trout are the same species, just different subspecies. Is this really surprising? (In fact, Steelhead Salmon is the exact same fish as Rainbow Trout. The only difference is that Steelhead swim to the ocean, Rainbow Trout stay in rivers. Really. http://www.aps.uoguelph.ca/~ontaqua/name.html

    This is about as surprising as a Calico cat giving birth to a Siamese cat. Extremely unusual, but not a huge deal.

    Oh, I see. The story talks about DIFFERENT species. Well, then call them by their full names. Just saying "salmon" and "trout" doesn't say much.

    News Flash: Retriever gives birth to Terrier! :-p

    --
    Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
    The purpose of that site was not known.
    1. Re:They're the same species! by belmolis · · Score: 4, Informative

      According to the Nature article, the trout concerned is Oncorhynchus mykiss. The salmon is Oncorhynchus masou. Same genus, different species.

    2. Re:They're the same species! by PSandusky · · Score: 1

      They're not different subspecies at all. They're the same genera, but the trivial names are different. They are, in fact, different species. A subspecies would have an extra trivial name -- for example, Tursiops truncatus gilli. The differences between the species and subspecies would then be the differences between Tursiops truncatus and T. truncatus gilli. (Species name, at least the way I learned it, is the combination of the genus and trivial names; hence, Tursiops truncatus is the species name for the bottlenose dolphin, and truncatus isn't.)

      So, no, it's nothing like a Calico giving birth to a Siamese. Sorry.

      And as for referring to the species by their full names, well, this is Slashdot. The original article doesn't get posted here, but the general gist of it does. There is a link to the original article, is there not? It should list the full names. Glancing at that should take as long as... well, as long as wanking about not seeing the full scientific names in the Slashdot article.

      --
      "What's the use in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?" --Fourth Doctor, "Robot"
    3. Re:They're the same species! by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 1

      Yeah, my rant was more about not noting the difference in the article. (Hence the second part of my post.) I'm just not a fan of ambiguously misleading information on the front page. (Oh, wait, this is Slashdot, I should know better.)

      --
      Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
      The purpose of that site was not known.
    4. Re:They're the same species! by sydres · · Score: 1

      actually steelhead don't necessarily swim to the ocean they also swim to large lakes like they do here in western new york they are called onodroumous they are only steelheads because they lack the rainbow pigments of river run rainbows they are fun to catch. they are also in the same family as the pikes (muskies, northerns, pickerels) soft finned fish, with big teeth. sorry that was borderline off topic

  11. Oh man oh man by tachyonmkg · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't wait until they make pigs that give birth to bald eagles or humpback whales that shoot pandas out of their vaginas.

  12. Lucy... by sprior · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You got some splaining to do....

    1. Re:Lucy... by sprior · · Score: 1

      Someone obviously didn't get the reference! Normally an unexpected birth would have the mother with a lot of explaining to do to the surprised father - hence the I Love Lucy reference...