In Baltic Sea, Scientists Find Direct Link Between Warming Waters, Falling Fish Stocks - NS

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A direct link between rising sea temperatures and a declining fish population has been established for the first time. The decade-long study of a North Sea fish species shows how small ocean temperature changes can drastically affect a marine organism’s oxygen supply.

Previous research on the effect of warming on fish stocks have used statistical correlations only, says Hans Pörtner at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. This study is the first evidence to link climate changes to physiological effects in a fish species, he claims.

For over a decade, Pörtner and colleagues followed the declining fortunes of the eelpout fish (Zoarces viviparous), which lives on the bed of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Used to a chilly environment, the fish exist within a narrow band of sea temperatures.

As well as counting population numbers, the researchers also studied the physiological effect of temperature change on the fish in the laboratory.

EDIT

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn10887-chilled-out-baltic-fish-feel-the-heat.html