The Smell of Home Sweet Home
Australian and U.S. researchers have recently discovered something remarkable about fish that could have major implications on the way coral reefs are managed. Baby fish just millimeters long can find their way home through kilometers of open sea by using their sense of smell. The research team found that the tiny fish were able to sniff out the “unique chemical signature” emitted by their coral reef homes.
The director of the study, Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, explains that many coral fish species are swept from their home by ocean currents within days of hatching.
“Ordinarily you’d expect them to be thoroughly mixed up and this would mean the population of one reef would be pretty much the same, genetically, as another,” he said. “But this is not the case.”
Kingsford said there are major genetic differences between fish of the same species on nearby reefs, with diversity between the same fish species driving evolution on a reef.
Researchers theorize that the scent is imprinted on them either when they are an egg inside their mothers, as a fertilized egg, a newly hatched fry loose in the stream or while being brooded in their parent’s mouth.
Mother Nature continues to amaze.... And human activity continues to destroy.
Coral reefs support an extraordinary biodiversity, but these precious areas are increasingly threatened by overfishing, pollution, coastal development and global warming. Experts warn that they could be doomed in just a few decades unless drastic action is taken.
Print this page
Save & Share It
