Coral Trout Could Face The Heat From Global Warming

More evidence to show that climate change  is wreaking havoc on the globe – coral trout, a valuable fishery species, could be under long-term threat. Australian scientists are basing their conclusion on the basis of behavioural changes found in small changes  such as damselfish.James Cook University’s Professor Philip Munday recently discovered that ocean acidification  specifically declines in pH caused by the addition of carbon dioxide (CO2), led to significant behavioural changes in damselfish and anemone fish, which left them open to predation.
Researchers from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and JCU had already found that many coral reef fishes  would be vulnerable to environmental and habitat changes due to climate change .
“Coral reefs are extremely vulnerable to sustained and ongoing climate change, mainly because of the temperature sensitivities of reef-building corals,” the project’s chief investigator, JCU’s Dr Morgan Pratchett said.
"But climate change not only threatens the corals that build reefs, but the animals that live on coral reefs, including many different fishes.”
Professor Munday said increased ocean acidification interfered with the ability of small prey fishes to distinguish potential predators through smell.
“The effects of ocean acidification on the behaviour of reef fishes are much more striking than any of us had thought possible,” he said.
Dr Pratchett said the evidence showed it was high time for greater understanding of how climate change impacted on fisheries species, such as coral trout.