Scientists talk about finding another consequence of global warming. According to them, under the influence of warming, fish in the oceans are shrinking in size.
Researchers say they have tracked the size of about 600 different fish species annually for 11 years, and recorded a decline in fish size. On the basis of the constructed model, experts say that by 2050 the fish on the planet will be reduced in size by about a quarter under the influence of global warming.
The reasons for the decrease in the size of fish, according to scientists, are a decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the water and its replacement with carbon dioxide, as well as a decrease in the amount of food. The researchers' report says that the decline in fish size is a new negative factor that puts pressure on the ecosystem of the world's oceans, and this factor has not previously been taken into account in forecasts.
Earlier, experts said that changing temperatures in the world's oceans have a negative impact on the reproductive abilities of a number of fish, and it was also said that some fish species would not be able to withstand global warming due to the critical level of CO2 in the water, but so far no one predicted reduction in fish size in general.
At the University of British Columbia, where the corresponding report was compiled, they say that the falling level of oxygen in the ocean inevitably slows down the metabolism in the organisms of marine life, and from an evolutionary point of view, the reduction in body size is a way out of the situation. In addition, experts have calculated that at the current level of global warming, the habitat of all fish in the world's oceans will shift by about 36 kilometers per decade. Displacement also affects ocean food webs and can have unpredictable consequences.
“Let's just say that we are now talking about the fact that in the northern latitudes in the future there may be small tropical fish that will look for their usual habitat,” says William Chong, one of the authors of the study.
Based on preliminary experts, they say that the decrease in fish size is observed in all oceans, but it is most noticeable in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, which indirectly indicates the factor that these two oceans absorb the most greenhouse gases.