ABSTRACT
The genetic manipulation of underwater life represents a quantum leap forward in humans' use of aquatic biodiversity. Every year, scientists discover new ways and new reasons to transfer genes not only between different fish species, but also between much more distantly related organisms. The creators of the Super Salmon, a transgenic Atlantic salmon that contains the genes of an Arctic flounder and grows several times faster than wild stocks, have applied for US Food and Drug Administration approval to market their invention to American consumers (Moore, 2000). Fish genes have been transferred to fruits to make them more frost resistant (Specter, 2000), and insect genes have been inserted into fish in an effort to increase disease resistance (Fletcher et al, 1999). In 2003, an American company secured regulatory approval to market the GloFish – a vivid, artificially fluorescent ornamental fish created by injecting the eggs of zebra fish with a sea anemone gene (Gong et al, 2003).
