Summary
3 June 2011
Scientists in the UK have published a report suggesting acidic sea water could be turning fish deaf.
This could be very damaging to many fish species as they rely on their hearing for survival.
Reporter:
Janet Barrie
Tests were carried out on specially bred clownfish
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Report
Spectacular tropical clownfish who live around ocean coral reefs rely heavily on their hearing, say scientists. It helps them find a mate, forage for food, and crucially avoid predators lurking in the depths.
Scientists from the University of Bristol in England bred baby clownfish then exposed different groups of them to different levels of carbon dioxide in the water around them: one at today's levels, and the others at the levels the world's oceans are predicted to reach by 2050 and the year 2100.
They tested their hearing by piping in to each tank the sounds of the coral reef. Those in today's conditions swam away from the noise of predators. Those in the mocked-up waters of the future showed no response, suggesting they couldn't hear.
Scientists say the more carbon dioxide we emit, the more oceans absorb and the more acidic the water becomes, and that has potentially devastating consequences for fish.
What they don't know though is whether fish will be able to adapt and tolerate the changing waters.
Janet Barrie, 大象传媒
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Vocabulary
- forage for
search for
- predators
animals that hunt and eat other animals
- lurking
hiding and waiting to do something bad
- piping in
sending audio through wires and cables from one place to another
- mocked-up
artificially recreated, copied
- emit
release into the atmosphere
- absorb
take in
- potentially devastating conseqences
possibly very dangerous conditions
- to adapt
to change and be able to deal with different conditions
- tolerate
live in difficult conditions without being damaged
