Clownfish shrink their bodies to survive ocean heat waves

New research finds clownfish shrink their bodies to survive warming oceans. Scientists observed some of the orange-striped fish shrank during a heat wave off the coast of Papa New Guinea. Heat waves are becoming more common and intense underwater due to climate change. Though scientists don’t yet know how clownfish shrink, one idea is that they could be reabsorbing their own bone matter. It’s possible the smaller stature may help the clownfish save energy during a stressful scorch since smaller fish need less food. The fish grow back when their environment gets less stressful. The study was published Wednesday in Science Advances.

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