Wastewater carrying traces of the antidepressant Prozac is disrupting the reproductive cycle of mollusks, threatening them with extinction, according a study presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The researchers explained that Prozac (fluoxetine) caused females to prematurely release their larvae, a case of bad timing that essentially dooms them. ‘The results from this study were quite alarming,’ said Rebecca Heltsley, from Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, S.C. ‘When larvae are released too early, they are not viable, which only contributes to the problems faced by struggling populations of native freshwater mussels.’ Mussels have the dubious distinction of being the most threatened animal group in North America. About 70 percent of the nearly 300 species of freshwater mussels native to the continent are extinct, endangered or declining, according to Heltsley. In some cases, native mussels have been crowded out by invasive species, while others have been devastated by increased sediment loads in rivers, habitat alteration or killed off by pollutants. ‘The presence of Prozac and similar drugs in U.S. rivers and streams has likely compounded the problem,’ Heltsley said. ‘It’s a big concern because freshwater mussels are such an imperiled group.’ To gauge […]