Ocean deoxygenation linked to ancient mesopelagic fish decline
Pallacks, Sven (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Jannke, Helen A. (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
Lin, Chien-Hsiang (Academia Sinica (Taiwan))
Subhas, Adam V. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Galbraith, Eric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie (Freie Universität Berlin)
Friedrich, Oliver (Heidelberg University)
Bahr, André (University Heidelberg)
Koutsodendris, Andreas (University Heidelberg)
Pross, Jörg (University Heidelberg)
Norris, Richard (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	Mesopelagic fish are integral to ocean food webs and play an important role in carbon transport through their vertical migration behavior. Ocean deoxygenation caused by anthropogenic warming is expected to pose severe threats to mesopelagic fauna by enhancing physical stress and changing predator-prey relationships. In agreement with this expectation, our fish otolith record in a Mediterranean sediment core shows near absence of mesopelagic species during Sapropel deposition between ~7 and ~10 thousand years ago, concurrent with high surface productivity and low oxygenation of mid-depth waters. Instead, the otolith record is dominated by fish species adapted to epipelagic habitats, including European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and silvery lightfish (Maurolicus muelleri). Subsequent reoxygenation starting ~7 thousand years ago is accompanied by a three-fold increase in total otolith abundance. The large majority of these are mesopelagic lanternfish (Myctophidae) that dominate the otolith assemblage from the middle-Holocene to the present. Our findings corroborate expectations that future expansion of midwater deoxygenation could severely deplete mesopelagic fish communities over the coming centuries, with major impacts on marine fisheries, marine conservation, ocean food web structure, carbon storage and other marine ecosystem services.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación BES-2017-080730 Agencia Estatal de Investigación MDM-2015-0552-16-2 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-113526RB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00640 European Commission 101158830
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Communications earth & environment, Vol. 6 (July 2025) , art. 596, ISSN 2662-4435

DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02568-8

9 p, 2.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles