Fish are also losing their color as coral reefs turn white

    Fish are also losing their color as coral reefs turn white

    The decline of the world's reef corals, affected by mass bleaching due to rising temperatures, would also have caused some fish to lose color. These are just some of the consequences of global warming

    Not only corals towards total bleaching, but also less colored fish. This is what awaits us in the coming years due to the climate crisis which, with the disproportionate increase in global temperatures, is irreversibly altering the ecosystems of the entire planet, pushing them more and more towards a point of no return.





    Just recently aerial surveys by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authorities showed that in the 2300km coral reefs expand, many areas were completely devoid of coral, confirming that the fourth mass coral bleaching event occurred after the last three recorded following the heatwaves of 2016,2017 and 2020.

    According to a new study published in Global Change Biology, a team of researchers from James Cook University led by marine ecologist Chris Hemingson showed the consequences of mass coral bleaching on all reef species, whose bright and untangling colors in the future may be just a memory.

    As these complex corals become rarer, fish communities may become more opaque on future coral reefs affected by climate change. "

    the research team reported.

    Experts have examined the different colors of coral reef fish that triumph around Orpheus Island in the Coral Sea, and have associated them with the types of habitats in which the fish live. The researchers used the data collected in the last 27 years of studies, specifying that, although the colors of the fish species correspond to some functions such as camouflage to defend themselves from attacks by predators, their coloring is closely linked and dependent on the coral reefs they inhabit. 

    The colors of the different habitats were then compared with those still little affected by climate change, in which corals thrive undisturbed and confirmed that in the areas with the greatest presence of algae and dead corals, the intensity and range of color of the fish swimming in or near the reef is much more subdued, assuming a more uniform aspect, almost confusing between one species and another. 


    However, this concerns only some fish populations that are forcibly adapting to the sudden change of their environment in order to survive. Other species, such as the green-colored goby, have declined significantly since the first bleaching event that affected the Orpheus Island reef in 1998.


    We should therefore get used to the idea of ​​observing more faded, dull and pale colored fish in coral reefs in the years to come that will no longer be as colorful as they used to be.

    Fonte: Global Change Biology

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    Read also:

    • If temperatures continue to rise, coral bleaching will destroy all of the planet's reefs
    • Corals in the Mediterranean are disappearing, the devastating effects of the climate crisis on our seabed
    • The Great Barrier Reef has lost more than 50% of its corals due to climate change
    • The Great Barrier Reef risks losing World Heritage status forever (and climate change is to blame)

     



     

     

     

     

     

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