Noisy boats over the Great Barrier Reef are cutting fish lives short

Noisy boats over the Great Barrier Reef are cutting fish lives short

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Source: newscientist

5/20/2022

Credit: Dr Sophie Nedelec

Some young fish that live in coral reefs exposed to motorboat sounds have stunted growth and may be half as likely to survive as fish on quieter reefs, probably because the noise pollution changes the way their parents care for them.

Spiny chromis (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) are fish that fan water over their eggs, creating streams of inflowing oxygen that helps the embryos grow.

But in reefs with motorboat noise, the parents fan their eggs less and seem more agitated – swimming around more and possibly exposing their hatchlings to more predator attacks – than those hearing only minor motor noises or none at all.

“Any kind of unexpected noise can cause a rise in the stress response. And I think that’s what’s going on here with the parenting behaviour,” says Sophie Nedelec at the University of Exeter in the UK.