Pink Salmon's Food Source at Risk from Ocean Acidication (Fish Radio)
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Fish Radio with Laine Welch] July 29, 2015
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Pink salmon diets take a direct hit. More after this
Argue all you want about climate change – even a Toys R Us chemistry set will prove that the oceans are more acidic. Recent reports cited dissolving oyster larvae that are devastating west Coast shellfish growers. A new federal study reveals its first findings on how corrosive oceans are affecting sea life – and it points to big trouble for pink salmon. NOAA recently announced the first evidence that the high acid content in the Pacific Ocean is dissolving the shells of tiny free-swimming snails called pteropods.
"You might say, who cares about pteropods? Well, it happens to be a primary food source for juvenile pink salmon. So you take away the pteropods and you take away the pink salmon."
Mark Green is a marine scientist at St. Joseph's College in Maine. The tiny snails comprise 45% of the diet of pink salmon; they also are a food source for herring and mackerel...
To Read Full Story Login Below.