The world’s first-ever pink florescent Pterophyllum scalare, commonly known as the angelfish, were showcased in an exhibit on Wednesday prior to the Taiwan International Aquarium Expo, which opens today.
Lin Yu-ho (林育禾), president of Jy Lin Trading Co — the company that cooperated with National Ocean University and Academia Sinica on developing the fish — said this was the first time the world had seen a pink angelfish since the fish was discovered in the Amazon.
Despite the 32 colors developed worldwide for the angelfish, the fish lacked the cells to create any color resembling pink, Lin said, adding that the company had accomplished the endeavor after three years of research with the university and Academia Sinica.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Ocean University
Lin said the florescent proteins that would be able to display a “pinkish” color were discovered by National Kaohsiung Marine University associate professor Chen Ming-chyuan (陳鳴泉) on acropora corals growing near Taiwan.
National Ocean University assistant professor Gong Hong-yi (龔紘毅) discovered that the fish would be born pink if micro-transfusion methods were used to transfuse the protein into angelfish eggs.
The research group at Academia Sinica, which consisted of researcher Wu Chin-lieh (吳金洌) and associate research fellow Chen Chih-yi (陳志毅), collaborated to inject the proteins into the eggs.
The research team said that the micro-transfusion process had been very difficult due to the fragility of the angelfish eggs, adding that on average they had been able to successfully transfuse the proteins into only one egg per 10,000 at first.
The team said they were able to raise the success rate to 1 percent after three years of research.
Despite the first appearance causing quite an uproar, with one foreign buyer even offering NT$100,000 for one of the genetically modified fish, the company was forced to decline until the species passes safety assessments in field tests.
Jy Lin general manager Ou Mei-ju (歐梅如) said the only florescent fish currently on the market is the zebrafish, which mostly features green and pink colors.
However, Ou said the florescent colors of the zebrafish can only be observed at night, while the florescent lighting of the company’s angelfish can be seen even in broad daylight.
Additional reporting by Chen Yi-ching and Yu Chao-fu
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS