Respiratory stress response that stunts temperate fish also affects coral reef fish

In a recent paper in the journal Fishes, researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Sea Around Us initiative gathered additional evidence supporting the idea that fish become sexually active – and spawn for the first time – in response to growth-induced respiratory stress, which intensifies in warmer, low-oxygen environments. By assembling and analyzing data on the…

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Fish become ‘young’ again after spawning

Herring spawn. Photo by Moosealope, Flickr.

The physical relief that temperate fish like cod and Atlantic herring experience after they  allows them to breathe in more oxygen and develop a voracious appetite, all of which leads to a rapid increase in body weight. New research published in Environmental Biology of Fishes turns on its head the widespread notion that…

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Keep Growing – Fish’s growth is not reduced by spawning

Contrary to what is stated in biology textbooks, the growth of fish doesn’t slow down when and because they start spawning. In fact, their growth accelerates after they reproduce, according to a new article published in Science. The paper is a technical comment by Dr. Rainer Froese, senior scientist at the Geomar Helmholtz…

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