Holy Surrogate Momma Mackerel, Batman!
Scientist want to breed endangered TUNA using the MACKEREL!
Can it be done?
Howdy pescetarians, Trace here for DNews, fishing for science.
Five of the eight species of tuna are on the list of threatened species.
The Southern Bluefin are critically endangered, Atlantic Bluefin are endangered.
The Bigeye is vulnerable and the Yellowfin and Albacore are near threatened.
The World Wildlife Federation estimated in 2006 that bluefin tuna catches alone were
around 50,000 tons annually (45,000 metric tons); more 150-percent over the legal limit.
Aside from refraining from eating sushi and tuna steaks... or ending fishing altogether…
is there anything we can do?
At this point, according to the Pew Environment Group, companies and illegal fishing groups
have decimated the bluefin tuna by 96-percent.
Due to the high demand for bluefin tuna meat, prices have soared, with one fish selling
for 1 million British pounds last year.
One fish.
In an effort to solve the crisis, a Japanese marine biologist is going to try and use mackerel
to produce more tuna.
It sounds kinda fishy, but it's fairly straightforward.
Scientists will remove reproductive cells from male and female tuna, and implant them
into male and female mackerel.
The mackerel will then get busy…
// Sexy music // and after they lay the eggs the baby TUNA can have THEIR cells transplanted
into more mackerel continuing the great circle… of life!
According to Popular Science, the scientist, Goro Yoshizaki, believes by using this method,
they can create a quote "enduring supply of Pacific bluefin."
The process is basically in-vitro fertilization.
The baby tuna would be naturally born to a surrogate mackerel parent!
And the important part for these purposes is, it would be safe to eat!
Will this in-vitro fertilization help speed up the tuna, breeding process?
Maybe.
In the wild, tuna take five to eight years to reach full maturity.
And though a five-year-old female can produce five MILLION eggs, if the fish don't live
that long, they don't get to reproduce at all.
Regulations aren't stopping illegal fishing operations, and according to the World Wildlife
Federation fish catches have dropped 80-percent since the 1990s alone.
There just AREN'T ANY FISH TO CATCH.
And thanks to overfishing, when there ARE tuna to catch, nine out out ten of them caught
last year were too young to have bred; removing them from the population means they'll NEVER
GET TO BREED and they can't replace themselves as fast as we're sucking them out of the seas.
And that's just the beginning.
Tuna are an apex predator -- they're at the TOP of the food chain.
A tuna has to eat its weight in fish every ten days to stay alive.
If you do that math, one large tuna might consume 15,000 smaller fish in a year, according
to National Geographic.
So removing these apex predators could destroy the ecosystem and lead to its collapse.
Keep that in mind next time you go out for a bite.
Do you eat tuna?
Are you going to change your habits?
Tell us below, and subscribe for more DNews every day of the year.
Thanks for watching!