Yikes!
DENVER – When Colorado biologist John Woodling and a team of researchers pulled fish from the South Platte River near Denver and from Boulder Creek two years ago, they found deformities they had never seen before.
Some of the fish had male as well as female sex tissue.
The fish, white suckers native to Colorado, were swimming in the waters downstream of the Denver area’s largest sewage plants.
The team also found that females far outnumbered males in these wastewater soups.
“This is the first thing that I’ve seen as a scientist that really scared me,” said Woodling, 58, a retired fisheries biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife who now works with the University of Colorado.
The discovery of the freak fish has sent chills through the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency. When they learned of Woodling’s initial find, officials quickly approved a $100,000 grant so his team could expand its investigation.
