ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
A new species of fish has been discovered in desert oases in the Outback, but many of the fish suffer from skin cancers scientists believe are caused by the Earth's thinning ozone layer.
The South Australian Research and Development Institute's freshwater fish researchers announced Tuesday that they had found the new fish, known as murgundas. A species of the purple-spotted gudgeon, the three-inch fish represents a valuable link in the desert's evolutionary chain.
Murgundas have lived in shallow oases in the middle of the sun-baked Outback for millions of years, but scientists only began hearing of them in the last five years.
When researchers confirmed their existence, they were astonished to find that 500 to 1,000 of the total population of 8,000 had melanomas - sun-induced skin cancers.
Bryan Pierce, the senior researcher for the institute, said Tuesday that the ozone hole that develops over Antarctica each year spreads as far as Australia. He believes the increased ultraviolet light under the ozone hole is causing melanomas in the fish, as well as increased skin cancer among human beings.
Two-thirds of all Australians will suffer from melanomas in their lifetime.
``All the evidence points at it being caused by this increased solar radiation,'' Pierce said, adding that the offspring of cancerous murgundas were normal, so the disease is not genetic.
In addition, some murgundas that live in a shadier portion of the desert freshwater stream do not develop cancers, more evidence that melanomas are caused by the sun.
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