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
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS