The Earth moves when fish have sex.
The Earth moves when fish have sex
A new study has revealed how romping fish boost the circulation of coastal waters and create turbulence. This spreads nutrients and oxygen which is pivotal to sustaining ecosystems.
Previous findings have shown that winds and tides contribute to the turbulence but little had been known about the impact made by animals.
However, the team monitored water turbulence in Ria de Pontevedra - in the Iberian Peninsula - for 15 days and found that it increased every night as anchovies gathered in the bay.
Dr. Bieito Fernandez Castro, who led the study, said: "We believe that biological mixing was intense in our observations because the bay is highly stratified - the temperature and other properties vary significantly at different depths.
"Previous studies have suggested that biological turbulence causes minimal mixing because the circular motions of water that the fish generate while swimming are too small.
"However, we have shown that closer to land, where the layers change over a much shorter distance, the anchovies are able to mix them together."