Climatide

Bill Walsh/Oregon State University

A school of yellow tang off the shores of Hawaii. New research shows that juvenile yellow tang whose parents reside in marine protected areas near Hawaii's Big Island are colonizing unprotected areas tens to hundreds of kilometers distant.

Marine protected areas provide a safe haven for the fish living within their boundaries, but can they support the recovery of fish populations elsewhere in the ocean? New research published in the journal PLoS ONE says “yes.” The researchers conducted a genetic survey of over 1,000 yellow tang from nine reefs around Hawaii’s Big Island and found four parent-offspring pairs. All the offspring “were found between 15 and 184 kilometers to the north of their parents, suggesting that ocean currents played a substantial role in larval dispersal.” For more details, I recommend Julia Whitty’s elegant treatment of the subject.