Exposure to degraded coral habitat depresses oxygen uptake rate during exercise of a juvenile reef fish

Coral reef ecosystems are currently under unprecedented stress due to anthropogenic induced climate change. Such stress causes coral habitats to degrade, which has been found to negatively impact the behaviour of some reef fishes. However, it is unknown whether the same chemical stresses from degraded habitats that impacts fish behaviour also impacts energy supporting swimming performance traits of fishes during the pelagic-to-reef life-history bottleneck. Here, we exposed newly settled juvenile Ambon damselfishes (Pomacentrus amboinensis) to either water that had passed over healthy or degraded coral for 24 h. Fishes were then swum at an ecologically relevant swimming speed for 200 min, and oxygen uptake rates were measured periodically. In general, fish swimming in water from degraded coral depressed oxygen uptake rates by 21%, which suggests that degraded habitats can have strong effects on fish physiology during this ecologically-critical time window.

Automated summary

Exposure to water from degraded coral was found to depress oxygen uptake rates by 21% in newly settled juvenile Ambon damselfishes, indicating that degraded habitats can have strong effects on fish physiology during this ecologically-critical time window.