BENGALURU: Pollutants like microplastics present in the Krishna Raja Sagara reservoir (Mandya district) may be causing growth defects in fish, including skeletal deformities, in the Cauvery river, according to a study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on pollution in the dam and potential effects on fish.
Published in journal ‘Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety', the study was led by Upendra Nongthomba, professor of molecular reproduction, development and genetics. "I've long cherished going to KRS backwaters and having fried fish on the banks of Cauvery," Nongthomba said, adding he has been lately noticing physical deformities in some of them which got him to wonder if water quality had something to do with it.
