"Mutant Fish in The Susquehanna River"

"In Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, one of the longest in the northeast, male smallmouth bass are sprouting female egg cells in their testes. According to a United States Geological Survey report released in June, these intersex fish appear in water — both in this river and two others in the state — that has become saturated with estrogenic compounds, natural and artificial hormones in animal manure and, to a smaller degree, sewage.

Most troubling, biologists say, is that many of these bass, and scores of others, have visible signs of disease — black splotches on their skin and grotesque open sores.

'We do think some of the same feminization chemicals are causing immunosuppression,' said Vicki Blazer, a fish biologist for the USGS who helped write the report. 'And that disease is having an effect on the population.'"

Nate Schweber reports for Aljazeera America August 15, 2014.