Prozac Slows Fish Development

Meanwhile, University of Georgia researchers have found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—including fluoxetine and other common

antidepressants—delay both development in fish and metamorphosis in frogs. The affected animals eventually caught up with their drug-free peers, “but we know that in water, timing is everything,” noted aquatic toxicologist Marsha Black, who led the Georgia study. The timing of maturity is often linked to algal blooms or the filling of ephemeral ponds, for example, and delays can mean failure to reproduce.