Taking seriously the explanations on shrinking fish in a warming world

As climate change continues to warm and deoxygenate ocean water, the size of fish, aquatic molluscs and crustaceans is showing a concerning reduction pattern. This pattern manifests a life history in which the animals exposed to rising temperatures grow fast when they are young but mature at smaller sizes than before and their final body sizes are also smaller than they used to be.

Measuring Baltic herring. Photo by Aleksey Kusnetsov, Wikimedia Commons.

Two dominant theoretical proposals explain the impact of increasing temperatures on the growth and overall performance of fishes and other aquatic animals: H.-O. Pörtner’s Oxygen- and Capacity-Limited Thermal Tolerance (OCLTT) and the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), originally developed by Daniel Pauly.

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The contribution by Müller and Pauly welcomes the increased interest in the GOLT but also calls for better evaluations of its central tenets.

“In times of rapid climate change, it is crucial to adequately test theories whose explanatory scope is wide enough to address unprecedented challenges on a general level,” Dr. Pauly said.

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About Joann Glorioso

Events Coordinator / Communications & Public Relations Officer

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