Climate change is alarmingly devastating the Great Barrier Reef and in turn the food source of its exotic fish species! An environmental study has found that the fish’s food source is disappearing rapidly along with the changing climate, leaving the species to starve to death!
More than 30 per cent of the world’s coral reefs have already been bleached by rising sea temperatures. This astonishing phenomenon is found by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies’ five-year study.
As a result of this wiping out of the coral reefs, smaller fish that normally feed on live coral are dying off! This could eventually throw the fish food chain out of balance, consequently throwing local fishing and tourism operations out of gear soon.
As a consequence, the starving fish fail to breed and even to migrate to other thriving reefs! Upsettingly, if sea temperatures continue their warming patterns, the damage of the corals is predicted to double by 2030! CoECRS senior researcher Morgan Pratchett said,
Fish can be very territorial and it may be hard for refugee fish, which have lost their reef, to relocate elsewhere because the locals will try to keep them out.