Most people would prefer to sit and sip lemonade rather than exercise on a hot day, new research suggests reef fish feel the same way.
Fish rely on swimming for essential life activities such as eating and mating, but warm water could slow them down, a James Cook University news release reported.
"Global warming may reduce the swimming ability of many fish species, and have major impacts on their ability to grow and reproduce," Doctor Jacob Johansen of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said.
The researchers found warming oceans could be causing larger fish species to spend more time lounging on the ocean floor, and less time swimming. If the water is too warm the lethargic fish tend to swim much more slowly than they normally would even when they do choose to move around.
"The loss of swimming performance and reduced ability to maintain important activities, like moving to a spawning site to reproduce, could have major implications for the future distribution and abundance of these species," Johansen said.
"[Slower swimming] may directly influence where we will find these species in the future and how many we are able to fish sustainably," Professor Morgan Pratchett said.
The team made the discovery while looking at the impact global warming had on coral trout, an important fish species in commercial importing. The researchers believe the fish may be able to eventually adapt to the ocean's rising temperature.
"Populations from the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef were a little better than southern populations at tolerating these conditions," Johansen said.
"Coral trout is one of the most important fisheries in the South-East Pacific. If we want to keep this fishery in the future, it is critical that we understand how global warming may impact the species. This will allow us to develop management plans that will help to keep the species, and its fisheries, healthy," he said.
