Another Consequence of Carbon Dioxide in the Oceans: Sick Fish

It’s well known that carbon dioxide emissions don’t stay in the air—they also enter into our waterways, including rivers, lakes, and streams, as well as oceans. For the creatures that live there, this is bad news.

According to a recent study, the levels of CO2 in waterways will soon be high enough to cause severe neurological problems for fish—impairing their ability to hear, smell, and survive, by staying away from predators. Fish in water with elevated CO2 levels, studied by the researchers, had abnormal behaviour, lost some of their natural instincts, and acted confused.

Fish with higher oxygen needs will be most affected. Of course, because of the complex relationships between species, the effects of this change will surely affect many other organisms. Ocean acidification, also caused by oceans’ CO2 uptake, will harm the skeletons of creatures such as shellfish.

According to the researchers, 2.3 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions enter the world's oceans every year because of humans.

Do your part to reduce your CO2 emissions by making a daily changes.