This is the findings of a new study in Global Change Biology by the University of British Columbia. The reason for this future decline in size stems from the fact that fish are cold-blooded animals, and are thus unable to regulate their body temperatures.

“When their waters get warmer, their metabolism accelerates and they need more oxygen to sustain their body functions,” said co-author William Cheung, associate professor at the Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries and director of science for the Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) discovered that some fish have learnt to stay within marine reserves where they are safe from fishing, demonstrating the importance of such facilities. They made the discovery after modelling the movements of skipjack and bluefin tuna and great white sharks in the ocean.

Researchers from the Smithsonian’s Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) have discovered a new scorpionfish species off the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Inhabiting depths between 95 m and 160 metres, it is the deepest-living member of its genus found in the western Atlantic Ocean. “The 50-300 m tropical ocean zone is poorly studied -- too deep for conventional SCUBA and too shallow to be of much interest to really deep-diving submersibles,” said DROP lead scientist Dr. Carole C. Baldwin.

A new study has revealed butterflyfish are particularly fussy about their food and shelter needs, avoiding corals that have come in contact with seaweed. Conducted by the University of Delaware, the study is the first to critically evaluate how coral-seaweed interactions will impact coral associated reef fishes, a key component of coral reef resilience.

For the first time, Canadian researchers have tracked an adult female eel from Nova Scotia to the northern edge of the Sargasso Sea with a satellite tracker, a 45-day journey of 2,400 kilometres. For a century, scientists have been baffled as to how baby eels appear in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda when adults have only been found in faraway places like Canada's St. Lawrence River.

Haemoglobin (Hb) is one of the most well-studied proteins to date and is key to blood oxygen (O₂) transport in nearly all vertebrates and some invertebrates, as it increases the total O₂ that can be transported in the blood and optimizes tissue O₂ delivery.

Adding to the list of deep-sea creatures, a Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography researcher recently found a never-before seen species from the deep waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The three females specimens found ranged in size from 30-95 mm in length. Looking at a photo of the fish, one quickly understands how anglerfishes get their common name.