News Animals

Invasive rabbitfish team up to raze algal forests

Warming in Mediterranean allows two tropical fish to expand range

marbled spinefoot rabbitfish

HERE FOR THE FOOD  The marbled spinefoot is one of two rabbitfish species invading warming temperate waters in the Mediterranean and eating up native seaweed forests.

stephan kerkhofs/Shutterstock

By Kate Baggaley

- More than 2 years ago

Voracious tropical fish are working together to strip the Mediterranean seafloor of its algae forests. As climate change heats the sea basin, two rabbitfish species have invaded warming temperate waters to chomp both the adult and juvenile forms of algae, decimating the population, reports a study September 23 in the Journal of Ecology.