Several years ago, the glowing green Zebra Danio made its appearance onto the freshwater aquarium scene. It was received with mixed emotion, as the fish glowed with unnatural colors and raised many concerns about genetic engineering. Despite the concerns, the fish were still quite popular among the freshwater enthusiasts, eventually causing more colors to be created. As popularity grew, the producers of the GloFish turned their attention to another species, the Whiteskirt Tetra. This new Electric Green Tetra, seen in the Fincasters video above, utilizes the same technology as the Danio. In a nutshell, specific genes from glowing jellyfish have been injected into fish embryos, causing the grown up fish to permanently glow. On top of that, the GloFish pass on this glowing trait to their offspring, requiring no further intervention by scientists.
Seeing as how popular these fish have become in the freshwater realm, we’re curious as to what kind of implications they will have on saltwater fish. We suspect that the fish saltwater species to get the GloFish genes will be clownfish. The clownfish are easy to breed, are readily available, and are already a crowd favorite. So, will glowing clownfish be the next big hit?
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