Reference image of dead fish washed ashore during a golden algae toxic bloom. Photo credit: Michael Hooper, USGS.
Climate change-induced droughts and fish kills affect larger fish more severely than smaller individuals, according to new research.
In a paper published in Environmental Biology of Fishes, researchers from Leiden University, Sportvisserij Zuidwest Nederland and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia compared evidence from drought-induced fish kills in the Netherlands, fisheries management literature and multiple physiological studies. They confirmed that when water gets warmer and deoxygenated, larger and older individuals within a species tend to die in greater numbers than their smaller and younger counterparts.
“There is usually a discrepancy between the interpretation by the authors of some laboratory studies versus fieldwork experience when it comes to explaining whether and why larger fish are more vulnerable than smaller fish to warming and deoxygenated waters,” Dr. Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative, said.
Dead fish (mostly Menhaden) washed up on a beach in Texas after a bizarre phenomenon left them starved of oxygen in the water. Photo credit: Quintana Beach County Park
Thousands of dead Menhaden washed ashore on a beach along the Gulf Coast of south central U.S. state of Texas. Photo credit: People’s Daily, China.
Climate change-induced droughts and fish kills affect larger fish more severely than smaller individuals, according to new research.
In a paper published in Environmental Biology of Fishes, researchers from Leiden University, Sportvisserij Zuidwest Nederland and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia compared evidence from drought-induced fish kills in the Netherlands, fisheries management literature and multiple physiological studies. They confirmed that when water gets warmer and deoxygenated, larger and older individuals within a species tend to die in greater numbers than their smaller and younger counterparts.
“There is usually a discrepancy between the interpretation by the authors of some laboratory studies versus fieldwork experience when it comes to explaining whether and why larger fish are more vulnerable than smaller fish to warming and deoxygenated waters,” Dr. Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative, said.
