Issued: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 05:00:00 GMT
The metabolism of clownfish – or anemonefish – decreases when their sea ‘homes’ are damaged by climate change, according to a new study.
The research – led by an international team of scientists from the University of Glasgow and CRIOBE, and published today in
Functional Ecology – found that exposure to bleached coral reefs can have a negative effect on the physiology and growth of anemonefish.
The study found that anemonefish living in bleached anemones for longer than a month progressively decreased their metabolism, had less growth and modified their behavior to become less active.
Mass coral bleaching is the result of extreme heat waves caused by worldwide climate change. On tropical reefs, anemones are home to anemonefishes. When anemones bleach, they don’t just lose their color, but also the algae that live in their tissues that provide energy to anemones and also anemonefishes.