Crabs in Prozac ‘suicide’

Rx in water a hazard

Sea creatures have a big reason to be crabby about antidepressants in the water: It kills them.

Oregon shore crabs that get their claws on Prozac are more likely to be eaten by predators or die in battles among themselves, a new study claims.

Crabs that ingested trace amounts of the drug’s active ingredient — which often ends up flushed into oceans — become blindly fearless f ighters and foragers, according to Portland State University researchers.

The pill-popping sea creatures gathered grub more often with no fear of predators, according to the study, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution on Sept. 30.

They also began foraging during the day, when they would normally be in hiding, making them more likely to become another animal’s dinner, according to the study.

Unlike depressed humans, the meds didn’t bring the crabs out of their shells — it only made them combative. They got into more fights with other crabs, often with deadly outcomes, according to the study.

For the study, researchers gave fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, to crabs in a laboratory setting.

The study is depressing news for crustaceans living in drug-polluted water, said Elise Granek, a PSU professor who led the study. “The changes we observed in their behaviors may mean that crabs living in harbors and estuaries contaminated with fluoxetine are at greater risk of predation and mortality,” said Granek.

“Exposure to [Prozac] made crabs more aggressive,” the study concludes.

“This fills an important data gap, highlighting how intra- and interspecific behaviors are altered by exposure to . . . pharmaceuticals.”

The chemicals from medications, including Prozac, often end up in the ocean after being flushed from homes or medical facilities.