Baby fish led astray by high CO2 in oceans

[Judi Lynn]

Date:
April 11, 2018
Source:
University of Adelaide
Summary:
Baby fish will find it harder to reach secure shelters in future acidified oceans -- putting fish populations at risk, new research has concluded.


Baby fish will find it harder to reach secure shelters in future acidified oceans -- putting fish populations at risk, new research from the University of Adelaide has concluded.

Published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, the researchers described how barramundi larvae in high CO2 conditions, predicted for the turn of the century, turn away from the ocean noises they would normally be attracted to. They are instead attracted to other sounds -- noises produced by the wrong sort of habitats and or 'white noise'.

"The oceans are far from silent environments; they harbor many noisy animals, for example snapping shrimps and whales and dolphins," says project leader Professor Ivan Nagelkerken, from the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.

"Oceanic larvae (hatchlings or baby fish) from quite a few species of fishes and invertebrates listen to sounds of coastal ecosystems. They use these sounds to guide them from the open ocean, where they hatch, to a sheltered home in shallow waters, where they can spend their juvenile and adult lives.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411090418.htm