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Antidepressants In the Water Are Making Shrimp Suicidal

Posted by samzenpus on from the crustacean-frustration dept.

Antidepressants may help a lot of people get up in the morning but new research shows they are making shrimp swim into that big bowl of cocktail sauce in the sky. Alex Ford, a marine biologist at the University of Portsmouth, found that shrimp exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine are 5 times more likely to swim towards light instead of away from it. Shrimp usually swim away from light as it is associated with birds or fishermen.

9 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. So BP is SAVING crustaceans? by ibsteve2u · · Score: 5, Funny

    By hiding the light with a nice thick layer of oil?

    --
    Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
    1. Re:So BP is SAVING crustaceans? by countSudoku() · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's not oil, that's Texas Tea Sauce! BTW, how do the new fearless-shrimp taste anyway? Would they now be attracted to cocktail sauce as well? We need an expensive study here!

      --
      This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
    2. Re:So BP is SAVING crustaceans? by hoggoth · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hello, I am Rajiv from LivePerson. I will be helping you today.

      I see you have posted an anti-Slashdot message and I have taken the liberty of downmodding all of your other posts.

      Thank you.

      --
      - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  2. going shrimping this weekend... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    with a some ground up anti-depressants and a flashlight. hope to catch some happy shrimp.

  3. Re:Hard to say, without delving deeper... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since you can't really put a shrimp on a shrink-couch and ask it about its feelings,

    Of course you can!

    it is very hard to say whether the shrimp are "suicidal" or whether their fear responses are being blunted.

    Ah well, that's true, since they aren't so big in the "answering" department.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  4. www.suicideshrimp.com by Skyshadow · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whereas some people see disturbing potential side effects of our best attempts to regulate brain chemistry, I see a business opportunity and a way to meet heavily-tattooed hot short girls.

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  5. Re:Bummer by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Eat some shrimp; you'll feel better.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  6. With apologies to Forest Gump by Lithdren · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's depressed shrimp, bipolar shrimp, schizophrenic shrimp, manic depressive shrimp, pyromaniac shrimp (particularly dangerous at the moment), dementia shrimp, autistic shrimp, megalomanic shirmp, obsessive-compulsive shrimp, sleep walking shrimp, voyeuristic shrimp, shrimp gumbo, shrimp cocktail, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich... That's, that's about it.

  7. Re:Hard to say, without delving deeper... by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's the point? Struggle in the plankton race just to end up in some human's scampi? You work and work and end up covered in cocktail sauce? That's it, goodbye cruel world!

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning