CO2 gas makes fish crazy

The amount of carbon dioxide that humans release into the atmosphere is increasing, affecting the brain and nervous system of marine fish, affecting their survival.

>>>Collecting CO2 from the air is not feasible

Professor Philip Munday, Research Center for Coral Reefs and James Cook University said: The concentration of carbon dioxide at the end of this century has increased to the extent that it will interfere with the ability to hear, smell, turn and scare away species. eat the meat of the fish under the sea.

'For years, our team has experimented with the effects of high concentrations of carbon dioxide dissolved in the fry of the coral reef fish and found it very clearly to cause a Large disorders to their central nervous system, causing their survival rate to be severely reduced , "Munday said.

The increased amount of CO2 affects the nervous system of fishes.

In another paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change , he and his colleagues for the first time reported levels of CO ₂ in seawater destroying key fish receptors, interfering with neurotransmission function, causing changes in behavior as well as their sensory abilities. The ability to identify odors decreases (if not paralyzed), they are more difficult to detect and approach the aggressive fish species to evade.

The team also tested their 'hearing' ability - determining the positioning in space, helping them return to a shelter in the coral reef that was affected. The answer is 'yes'. They often get lost and get hit on corals even in the middle of the day.

Another work shows that fish tend to lose their instincts turning left or right, making them silly to be caught by carnivorous fish.

'But it all makes us doubt that high levels of carbon dioxide have affected the entire central nervous system of fish,' concluded Professor Philip Munday. He thinks that animals that live in the water, mainly crustaceans and most fish, normally have low concentrations of CO ₂ in their blood, so when this concentration increases, they are very vulnerable.

According to figures, about 2.3 billion tons of CO ₂ that humans release annually dissolves in ocean water, causing changes in the chemical environment of the water, habitat of fish and other aquatic species. .

GS Munday said: 'We know ocean acidification destroys the crust of crustaceans, and the dissolved CO2 itself is now able to destroy the nervous system of fish'.

The study also showed that the high oxygen consumption species are the most affected and unfortunately, these are important fish species, the catch target of the seafood industry.