The tiny fish represents most of the food for the coral reefs

07. 06. 2019
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More than half of the fish food consumed in these ecosystems is hard-to-see species.

Fish are shy but very important

Small fishes such as the Blenny (Ecsenius stictus) spend so much time fleeing and hiding that they are hard to see for humans. However, these species are of great importance to coral reefs.

Nervous little fish that are rarely seen by divers could be unexpectedly important to coral reefs. The new study found that almost 60 percent fish meat, which feeds on larger fish and other predators on the cliffs, comes from tiny fish hiding in crevices and other hiding places.

It may seem that these tiny, so-called cryptobenthic fish are not much among all the fish around the cliffs, says Simon Brandl, an ecologist of coral reefs. However, the new analyzes show that these small species work similarly to fast-paced refreshment bowls. This is because these fish and their youngsters tend to stay close to home.

Children stay close to their parents

Unlike many larger reef fish species, the cryptobentic fish pups most often stay close to their parents' home reef. This follows from the findings of scientists based on the study of fish fry caught for decades in various places. Many of the young of larger reef fish make longer, dangerous journeys to more distant waters. The cryptobenic fish fry has a better chance of reaching adulthood, as it stays close to the reef and can quickly replace parents who served as a snack, the team writes.

Brandl of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada says:

“It's easy to overlook this crumb among all the bigger, more prominent reef fish. You might only notice them as small flashes of red, white, and yellow. "

We see these big fish at the bottom of the coral reefs

The large, appealing fish that the people on the coral reefs love (for example, Lambricari- Lutjanus kasmira) owe much to their little, hard-to-see colleagues, the study found.

In a previous study, his team found that the group consisted of 17 species of fish, including slimy and cephalopods. At least 10 percent are species about 5 cm in size, about the size of a little finger. But most of them are even smaller, says Brandl. Brandl and his colleagues came up with an idea of ​​the number of these fish during research on reefs in Australia, Belize and French Polynesia. The researchers fenced areas of the same size, applied clove oil to them, and then collected all the fish that had succumbed to its anesthetic effects in the fenced area. Using these and other data, the researchers created computer simulations of friction, larval return, and adult replacement. These shy fish also provide plenty of prey for larger and more conspicuous predators.

Hovering Goby (Bryaninops natans) uses corals as a shelter. Gobies are one of the families of cryptobenthic fish that help maintain the diversity of reefs, scientists say.

Diverse life at the bottom of coral reefs

Their role is "extremely important," said Deron Burkepile, a community ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "Unfortunately, small cryptobentic fish species are overlooked." A new study helps us understand how diverse lives can flourish on a seabed with coral reefs and nutrient deficiencies. The answer is examples of some species of animals, such as fungi and fish feeding on plankton, which can very effectively extract the necessary nutrients from the sea. The fish eat each other and their excretion ensures the availability of nutrients on the reefs.

According to Burkepil, climate change concerns are associated with the importance of cryptobent fish. For the survival of these tiny fish, corals are a must. Due to rising temperatures, the situation in these places is getting worse.

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