According to a new study, the Clownfish, a small orange and white species famous for Finding Nemo films, shrunk to increase their ability to survive sea heat.
While working at the Papua New Guard Protection Center, a team led by the University of Newcastle, England, led by 134 clowns fish in five months per marine heat wave in 2023, according to a statement published on Wednesday.
The study, Melissa Verseeg, a doctoral student at the University of Newcastle, measured the length of each fish each month, and took water temperature every 4-6 days.
The fish were found to shrink to respond to higher water temperatures. – Morgan Bennett-Smith
Verstegas found that the fish would rise shorter as the temperature rises. The first time it is found that coral reef fish shrink when environmental conditions change.
“I was very surprised by the conclusions,” Verseeg said on Thursday, adding that the clown fish showed “incredible plasticity of growth.”
“We see that they have a great ability to respond to what the environment is throwing,” she said.
This is especially true as marine heat waves are becoming more common when climate changes are intensified with a serious effect on coral reefs and other sea life.
Of the 134 clownes studied, 100 became shorter, the team found, and this contraction increased their ability to survive the heat stress by up to 78%.
Senior Study author Theresa Rueger, a Maritime ecologist at the University of Newcastle, said CNN that contraction is not necessarily a good thing because small fish multiply less, which can be bad for residents.
Contraction improved survival during sea heat waves. – Morgan Bennett-Smith
“However, our study also found that because they can shrink and have this high plasticity of growth, they are better at surviving through the waves of the sea,” she said.
“It can be a very positive thing that they have such capacity and can adapt to their circumstances.”
Few other animals, including marine iguans, who are able to reabsor a bone material, can also shrink to become smaller during environmental stress, Verseeg said in a statement.
The team also found that clown fish that shrunk at the same time as their breeding partner was more likely to survive.
This is because they explained the balance between a woman, which is greater, both more dominant and male.
If a woman begins to shrink, the male will also shrink to prevent social conflict and reduce the possibility of confrontation she will always lose.
This is important because the clowns fish are symbiotically with two of the two species of sea anemones – heteractis Magnifica and the stichodactyla gigantea.
Anemones protect clowns fish that are “bad swimmers,” said Rueger.
“If they leave anemon, they have very little time before they are eaten, frankly,” she added, which means that it is important for them not to fight with their partner and risk it to be taken to the open sea.
The symbiotic relationship with their home anemone is another reason why clowns fish are so charming, Verseeg said.
“They don’t move, that’s where they are. For time you can just follow them. They are uniquely tagged and they are quite easy to catch,” she said.
“You know for sure what you are facing and you can really follow them for a long time, which is unique,” Verseeg added.
The team goes on to investigate this ability to grow and shrink mechanisms, taking into account environmental conditions, as well as whether other fish species can do so.
“If individual shrinkage was widespread and would be among different species of fish, it could provide a reliable alternative hypothesis of why many fish species (of) are decreasing,” the Rueger report said.
The study was published in Science Advances.
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