Tuesday February 20, 2024
PhysOrg —
A team of international and North Queensland researchers from James Cook University have found the link between fishes and corals may not be as strong as scientists had always assumed. The study is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Lead author, JCU Ph.D. candidate Pooventhran Muruga, examined more than 4,600 reports on the relationship between fishes and corals.
“Undeniably, coral reefs serve as a key habitat for reef fishes, providing both shelter and food. It is therefore no surprise that for more than four decades there has been a widespread consensus that reef fishes are associated with reef-building corals,” Muruga said.
“But on closer inspection of the literature, we found a large variability within and across fishes and locations and globally there were only weak associations between fishes and corals.”