U.S. Gov't Grows Giant Mutant Trout

An anonymous reader writes "USDA scientists are genetically engineering trout that have three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. Trout with three chromosome grow faster because they are unable to reproduce, and energy from the food they eat is shifted from reproduction to growth. No word on whether said trout produce more fish fingers than their non-Frankenstein brothers."

Comments

Where are my sharks with freakin' laser beams?

[Pacifix]

First you give me sea bass, mutated sea bass and now these? I asked for sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads, people!

Re:Where are my sharks with freakin' laser beams?

[nocomment]

good one. I thought of blinky.

Hmm...

[joeslugg]

Seems fishy to me.
Why go through this sort of effort to make bigger trout?
Why not just farm-raise fish of a larger species (like catfish)?

Can I get the goverment to make a genetically-altered giant version
of all my other favorite foods too? (e.g. Twinkies)

Is this a good use of our tax dollars?

Re:Hmm...

[PitaBred]

Mmm, gotta love RTFMing.
a) Make bigger trout to have bigger fillets, because that's what the consumer wants
b) Catfish doesn't taste like trout. People want trout.
c) Twinkies growing on trees... mmmmm.... oh, wait
d) I'd say it's a lot better than many uses of our tax dollars, but that's just MHO.

Re:Hmm...

[TripMaster Monkey]

Can I get the goverment to make a genetically-altered giant version
of all my other favorite foods too? (e.g. Twinkies)

I don't know...have they finished sequencing the Twinkie genome yet? ^_^

Bandersnatch!

[jhoger]

Not only should we have giant genetically engineered food animals, but we should make them smart, just to tell God and anyone else who the new boss is.

Huh?

[JoeD]

Energy is shifted from reproduction to growth?

Polyploid organisms are bigger because their cells are bigger, not because their energy is transferred.

They also say that because the triploid trout can't reproduce, there is no danger to existing stocks, but they seem to have forgotten the fertile tetraploid trout used to produce them.

Interesting factiod: the same technique used to produce the triploid trout is used to produce the triploid seedless watermelons in your supermarket.

not the first time USDA has fooled with ma nature

[museumpeace]

a few years back the ecologists and biologist were very worried about a spate of population declines and muliple cases of hideous mutations in frog species. we had lots of 3-legged frogs in places around the US when the French were the only ones who'd want that. UV from depleted ozone, pesticide polution...all sorts of theories were advanced. Turns out ONE of the problems was desease or parasites introduced into ponds and rivers when the Forest Service and restocked fisheries with trout they'd farmed in tanks.

These are already being planted

[nyrk]

Nothing really new to see here. These fish are already being planted in lakes in Washington State. They are called triplods. They are usually planted in heavily fished lakes for sport fishermen to catch. I guess not many slashdotters are sport fishermen.

Re:Advantage?

[bar-agent]

You take normal trout eggs, which are very plentiful, run them through a process, and grow giant trout, which you eat. You'd have eaten them anyway if they were normal, though I don't know whether the normal trout would have been collected before or after reproducing.

If normal trout are collected before reproducing, then the situation with the giant trout would result in no net change in trout population over the situation with normal trout. And in that case, the only concern is whether the extra money you get from giant trout covers the cost of the process.