Juvenile Damselfish Evicted As Reef Warms

Discussion in 'Environmental' started by Matt Rogers, Nov 6, 2009.

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  1. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
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    A new study by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) indicates that Juvenile Damselfish are being pushed out of shelter exposing them to predators by larger Damsels in the battle to survive on bleaching reefs. The study suggests that these juveniles are 4 times more likely to die than the ones on healthy reefs. Making matters worse, Damsels, like most fish, reach the end of their larval stage during the hottest time of the year when corals are most inclined to bleach. You can read the entire research article in the link below.

    [​IMG]
    Damselfish - credit: ARC Centre of Excellence

    “We knew that coral bleaching events were causing an increase in fish deaths, but this is the first study to reveal the behavioral mechanism that is driving this mortality,” he says.
    “On healthy coral, juvenile damselfish of all sizes have an equal chance of dying, but on bleached coral, it’s every fish for themselves and death rates are much higher among the runts,” he adds.
    “The results were surprising, as these damselfish are known to use a broad range of habitats. They are found living on dead coral, rubble and live coral so we didn’t think that coral bleaching would have such a dramatic affect on their mortality. We would expect even more striking impacts on fishes that have a closer association with live coral. ”


    Source: UWT
    Read full article on the ARC study here:
    PLoS ONE: Behaviourally Mediated Phenotypic Selection in a Disturbed Coral Reef Environment



     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2009