“Over four thousand species of fish live in or around coral reefs – and for many of them, their life depends critically on the health of the corals,” says lead author Dr Philip Munday.

“We have already seen episodes of mass die-off of corals as a result of warmer waters associated with global warming.  The problem for specialist coral fishes is that when the corals die, the fish have nowhere else to go.  Other kinds of fish live more independently, but depend on reefs for shelter in the juvenile stage of their life.”

As coral communities become less healthy, so too do the fish communities. A loss of diversity in corals due to bleaching and other impacts is also likely to lead to a loss in diversity among the coral fishes which inhabit them, the researchers say

 

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