From the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
Ocean acidification as a hearing aid for fish?
Study shows that effects of changing ocean pH may result in increase in the hearing sensitivity of fish
MIAMI – April 18, 2013 – Ocean acidification, which occurs as CO2 is absorbed by the world’s oceans, is known to negatively impact a wide variety of marine animals ranging from massive corals to microscopic plankton. However, there is much less information about how fish may be impacted by acidification, should carbon emissions continue to rise as a result of human activities.
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science researcher Sean Bignami, along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists Ian Enochs, Derek Manzello, and UM Professors Su Sponaugle and Robert Cowen, report stunning new insight into the potential effects of acidification on the sensory function of larval cobia (Rachycentron canandum). Cobia are large tropical fish that are highly mobile as they mature and are popular among recreational anglers.
============================================================
VIDEO: In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Miami researcher Sean Bignami, along with NOAA scientists Ian Enochs, Derek Manzello, and UM professors Su Sponaugle and Robert Cowen, report stunning new insight into the potential effects of acidification on the sensory function of larval cobia. The team was the first to utilize 3-D X-rays (micro-CT scans) similar to what a patient might receive at a hospital, to determine that fish raised in low-pH seawater, simulating future conditions, have larger and more dense otoliths (ear stones) than those from higher-pH seawater. Otoliths are distinct calcium carbonate structures within the inner ear of fishes that are used for hearing and balance. The changes resulted in up to a 58 percent increase in otolith mass, and when tested in a mathematical model of otolith function, showed a potential increase in hearing sensitivity and up to a 50 percent increase in hearing range. These findings indicate the potential for significant impact on a key sensory system in fish, with important implications for larval fish recruitment and fisheries replenishment.
==============================================================
Bignami and the team utilized 3D X-rays (micro-CT scans) similar to what a patient might receive at a hospital to determine that fish raised in low-pH seawater, simulating future conditions, have larger and more dense otoliths (ear stones) than those from higher-pH seawater. Otoliths are distinct calcium carbonate structures within the inner ear of fishes that are used for hearing and balance. The changes resulted in up to a 58-percent increase in otolith mass, and when tested in a mathematical model of otolith function, showed a potential increase in hearing sensitivity and up to a 50-percent increase in hearing range.
 |
||||
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
  IMAGE: This is micro-CT imagery of a cobia larva head that has been filtered to view the entire skull (top image) and the more dense otolith (ear stone) structures (bottom image)….
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
||||
“Increased hearing sensitivity could improve a fish’s ability to use sound for navigation, predator avoidance, and communication. However, it could also increase their sensitivity to common background noises, which may disrupt the detection of more useful auditory information,” said Bignami, who recently completed his PhD in Marine Biology and Fisheries at UM.
The study, a collaboration between UM and NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, is the first to use micro-CT technology to examine otoliths while still inside the heads of the larval fish.
“This effect of ocean acidification represents a significant change to a key sensory system in fish. Although the ultimate ecological consequences still need to be determined, there is the potential for serious impact on important processes such as larval fish recruitment and fisheries replenishment in this species and perhaps other critical fisheries,” Bignami added.
Article: Bignami S, Enochs I, Manzello D, Sponaugle S, Cowen RK (2013) Ocean acidification alters the otoliths of a pan-tropical fish species with implications for sensory function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.1301365110
Oh my giddy aunt. The eco-taliban are clearly lining up ocean acidification as the next great unifying scare in the Left’s incessant desire to control behaviour.
Best they learn that a reduction in alkalinity does not produce or even imply an increase in acidity. It’s as wrong as saying that becoming slightly less obese makes one slightly more anorexic. This distinction needs to be rammed down the throat of any eco-pimping journalist who is clueless or lazy enough to chant this mantra.
It’s a daft choice for a scare anyway, being diminished, as it would, by the post-tipping point thermal melt down caused by killer plant food z zz zzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Thud.
More wonderful news! All we need to do is increase CO2 6-fold and we can cure deafness in fish!
Is there anything CO2 can’t do?? It makes plants grow, impedes cyclogenesis, reduces winter deaths, and makes deaf fish such a 20th century problem. If we didn’t already emit CO2, we’d have to invent it.
The best part is we didn’t even need the Deaf Fish Tax, or the creation of the UNODF to build global consensus.
is this a wind up or as us Aussies call it a piss take – Doctor Bignami is making a big mane for himself
Take a fool, take another fool add one fool and what do you get a big fool aka bignami.
Or are we the fools for allowing this garbage.
Is anyone listening cos the fish ain’t 🙂
well, if’n that don’t dissolve an aural calculus…..land sakes, Dr. Trenberth, ah found the missin’ heat!
Big Trev says:
April 19, 2013 at 12:55 am
Well, are you sure about that? Remember now, we don’t want to get into a pi$$ing content with either end of the imminent-ending professor, nor into a mane-calling contest here in pubic on Anthony’s WIWT about which end of the horse he is trying to emulate, simulate, ejaculate, prostate or stimulate! .
After all, as isn’t he making a bigger horse’s end for himself all by his own efforts?
Just to point out that ‘Andrew’ ie, moi, who posted at 12:43 am, is not the same ‘Andrew’ who posted at 12:50 am.
Andrews: 12:43 or 12:50, hard to tell you two apart in your stiffupperlippery.
This study was clearly funded by Big Sportsfishing. It provides yet another excuse for The One That Got Away, viz. “The darn thing heard my bait and line falling through the water, and took evasive action.”
Still coming out with this crap! Ocean pH in surface waters varies between 7.6 amd 8.4 and they complain at a change from 8.2 to 8.0 or whatever. Any measured change was firmly within the alkali range. This is NOT acidic. Waters round black smokers have a pH of around 4.5 which is acidic but harbours many species of crustacean and mollusc unaware of their danger from that acid water.
Stacey says:
April 19, 2013 at 1:12 am
If you foolishly fold a fool’s paper often enough into ever larger and larger triangles, can you end up with professor’s biganami figures?
As Alice in Wonderland might have put it: ‘A thing can hardly become more acidic unless it is an acid to begin with’. – See the Mad Hatter’s tea-party and ‘Have some more wine’.
I love all the “could” in the article.
Boolean logic = if – then – else. Warmist logic = if – but – maybe.
I think hearing aids for deaf fish is a very nice idea. If we can help the poor things, why not?
I once ‘heard’ that ocean acidification makes fish DEAF as reported by the BBC’s Richard Black on 31 May 2011. He was reporting on a paper published in Biology Letters. The paper even refers to a loss of smell.
Is there anything carbon dioxide can’t do? Palm face. ;O)
By the way the Oceans are still alkaline.
Looks like the Government will be able to suspend the ‘Hearing Aids for Fish’ Programme quite soon.
Tangentially related, the other day I was listening to an NPR story about a guy doing an experiment on coral in Australia. He posits that ocean acidification is reducing growth rates of the coral, and was about to pump a neutralizer into the “walled in area” he described as a “bathtub” that was protecting the coral. His measurements for base ocean acidity he took from the water that sloshed over the wall.
At which pt I start wondering… “so, basically to ‘protect’ the coral they walled it in and have reduced the amount of fresh seawater that the coral has access to… over time, the coral may have sucked most of the calcium out of the tub and now can only build as fast as new calcium gets added to the pool?”
If arrangements like this are what the coral danger projections are based on, I’m not sure their methodology is flawless…
They’ve finally found their amplification signal!
Both research reports may be right. Excess CO2 made the fish deaf, and increased the size of the stones in their ears. That is what an “otolith” is – see the video that Sean made. Otoliths are likely to increase deafness. Improves balance, yes, but imagine having large stones rolling around in your inner ear! Reminds me of a story of an Irish researcher,who trained spiders to react to his voice. Eventually when he shouted “Walk” they would walk, and when he shouted “Stop” they would stop. Next he glued their legs together, and when he shouted “Walk” they did nothing. “This result,” he said, “confirms that spiders have their ears in their legs.”. QED. Are you certain that the original publication date was not 1 April?
One sea bass to another: ‘Quick, we’re outta here – I heard the two fisherman in that boat saying they want a nice sea bass for supper…’
The Fish Whisperer?
“…stunning new insight into the potential effects of acidification on the sensory function of larval cobia”.
—————————–
I’m stunned I tells yah, stunned!!!
Well, this is terrible news, but I can’t figure out why, I just know it is. Did the acid clean the fishes’ ears? How will we be able to sneak up on the fish. Will we all starve!
Oh, it’s a computer model?
Never mind.
(Next, you’ll tell me taxpayer money was used to pay for this nonsense!)
Are we taxpayers paying for this?