Coastal animals around the world are spending more time in or around waters with too little oxygen

By Cecile LeBlanc

Web edition: May 30, 2012

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The explosive growth of phytoplankton, like one shown here, can trigger dead zones.

Credit: NOAA MESA Project

Take a deep breath and hold it for 30 seconds. Now you know what it's like for fish in a coastal dead zone, a place where there's little or no oxygen in the water, says Robert Diaz. He's a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point. You can catch your breath after 30 seconds. But in a dead zone animals can't.

Visit the new Science News for Kids website and read the full story: Suffocating waters