Frying Fish

Given the noise about the genetically enhanced super salmon, this fits in just fine. And of all places it comes from Sports Illustrated...and from over 45 years ago.

Howard Loeb was the senior aquatic biologist at the New York State Conservation Department Fish Laboratory in Livingston Manor, and instead of algae flakes, he's been feeding fish LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. This is the nexus of the treatment of the mentally disturbed and commercial fishing.

Melting fishheads is just one of the things Loeb calls "the fun stuff—the thing that nobody knows anything about." He devised an electric pond-shocker that conservation workers use to obtain fish samples. His work on selective poison baits for carp extended far beyond his home state. And he's creating longer-lasting dyes for marking trout. But let's get back to that carp problem.

Dr. Harold A. Abramson, Director of Psychiatric Research at South Oaks Psychiatric Hospital in Amityville, N.Y., read of Loeb's work on carp poisons, and he offered LSD as a suggestion. The good doctor started experimenting with the drug himself and supported it as a possible tool to combat schizophrenia. Abramson chose was the Siamese fighting fish for his studies because it was plentiful, cheap, almost as sensitive to LSD as humans. When the drug was released into tank water, the fish surfaced and appeared as if in a stupor. Depending on the dosage, the fish would stay that way for hours - and sometimes days, before resuming normal behavior.

Loeb, who had the whole outdoors to test in, took great interest. With the help of pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly, Loeb has tested some 40 drug compounds on carp, goldfish, golden and common shiners, blacknose dace, yellow perch, pumpkinseed sun-fish, white suckers, bullheads, brook trout and brown trout. With the exception of the trout and the bullheads—which swim to the surface—the fish pop up to the top of the water, swim backward and often go into a stupor. Oddly, the carp become noticeably lighter in color when dosed. When transferred to a fresh tank, affected fish appear intoxicated up to several hours, then become darker in color and start to respond by sight to people and approaching nets.

"My idea in experimenting with these drugs," says Loeb, "is to find out which ones bring the fish up the best with a modest dose and then become nontoxic the quickest." What, you don't want to trip balls eating your fish sticks? He also discovered that he can tell if test water is still affected by putting it under ultraviolet light - if the water shows blue it is usually toxic contaminated. "What I actually envision is the chemical harvesting of commercial fish," he added. "I can see the day when you back your freezer truck up to the dock and the fish just march right out of the water and fillet themselves."

Whoa, looks like someone was drinking from the wrong water tank.