Coral-reef fishes can become more risk-averse at their poleward range limits

Moving makes reef fish more risk adverse

30 September 2022

Coral-reef fish tend to become more wary of predators when they move into traditionally cooler waters.

A warming climate is causing animals to move from their traditional habitats. In particular, tropical fish are extending their range by moving to waters that were more temperate in the past.

Species that are better at adapting their predator-avoidance tactics are thought to be more likely to survive in new environments.

Now, two researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia and a collaborator have investigated this hypothesis in coral-reef fish by seeing how they adapted their antipredator behaviours along 730 kilometres of the southeast coast of Australia.

They found that tropical fish can show more risk-averse behaviours — such as fleeing at longer distances and sheltering for longer — as they moved away from their traditional habitats.

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References

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 289, 20212676 (2022). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2676