Fish are losing their survival instinct — even becoming attracted to the smell of their predators — as the world’s oceans become more acidic because of climate change, new research has found.
The study of fish in coral reefs off the coast of Papua New Guinea — where the waters are naturally acidic — showed the animals’ behaviour became riskier.
“Fish will normally avoid the smell of a predator; that makes perfect sense,” said lead author Philip Munday from Australia’s James Cook University.
“But they start to become attracted to the smell of the predator. That’s incredible. They also swim further from shelter and they are more active, they swim around more. That’s riskier behaviour for them — they are more likely to be attacked by a predator.”…
Irish Examiner 15/04/2014 Read the article ‘Fish losing their survival instinct, research reveals‘
