On November 1, 1990 an episode of the Simpsons aired called “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish“.

In this episode Bart catches a 3 eyed fish in the river near the Nuclear Power Plant. A newspaper man snaps a picture and the fish makes headlines. After an inspection, Burns is pressured to clean up 342 violations at the plant. To avoid fixing the violations, Burns decides to run for Governor so that he can keep the plant running at status quo. Burns tells everyone that the fish is just an example of natural evolution. As things progress, Burns is very close to winning so his team talks him into doing a publicity stunt where he has dinner with a local family. The family is of course the Simpsons. When Mr. Burns is served the 3 eyed fish in front of all the media and rolling cameras, he decides to take a bite, but even he can’t hold it down and spits it out.

By the way, the fish is named “Blinky” and is often seen swimming in various bodies of water around Springfield.

Now, it would seem we have a real life episode of the Simpsons in Argentina. Fisherman Julián Zmutt claims to have pulled a 3 eyed fish out of a reservoir near a nuclear facility.

Coincidentally the the nuclear plant dumps it’s hot water directly into the reservoir and of course many locals believe the 3 eyed fish is directly related.

Here’s the whole sorted tale:

Three-Eyed Fish Caught Near Argentinian Nuclear Power Plant

In an episode of The Simpsons, nuclear power plant owner Mr. Burns tries to justify the existence of Blinky, a three-eyed fish caught in the local river, by saying it is the next step in evolution and not a horrible mutation. Strangely though, he refuses to eat Blinky when it is served to him — we’re not surprised. But while Blinky is the product of a fictional cartoon, this three-eyed fish caught nearby a nuclear facility in Argentina, is not.

Fishermen in Argentina are claiming that they have caught a three-eyed fish in a reservoir in the Córdoba province, and it just so happens that a nearby nuclear facility pumps its hot water directly into this body of water.

Unsurprisingly, the discovery of the three-eyed wolffish has prompted concerns about the levels of radiation in the reservoir and to what degree the local wildlife are affected. We’re no experts, but if they’re growing extra eyes – we’d say quite a bit.

Speaking to local press, fisherman Julián Zmutt said of his discovery: “We were fishing and we got the surprise of getting this rare specimen. As it was dark at that time we did not notice, but then you looked at him with a flashlight and saw that he had a third eye.”

Unsurprisingly, they didn’t eat the fish, but instead gave it to local scientists to see if the mutation is natural or caused (as many think) by the nuclear power plant.

While not as big a blow as the Fukushima disaster or even the Indian Point debacle, the discovery of the three-eyed fish, or ‘Blinkygate’ as we’ll call it, is set to raise a lot of eyebrows over the impact nuclear power plants are having on our local wildlife and, as a result, the food chain.

Source: Inhabitat

Coincidentally, this story is very close to the anniversary of that Simpsons episode. D’oh!

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