COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — University of Maryland researchers are getting federal funds to study the concentration and effects of hormone pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin said Tuesday the $238,000 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey could help deepen understanding of the phenomenon of intersex fish. Those are fish with both male and female sexual characteristics that have been found in bay tributaries including the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers.

The study will focus on gestagens, which are natural and synthetic hormones introduced into the aquatic environment through paper mill effluent, wastewater treatment plant effluent and agricultural runoff.

The researchers will study the effects of the hormones on flathead minnows.

The watershed covers parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

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