The most threatened reef fish are also the ones that are most overlooked by both scientists and the general public, according to a team of researchers.
For a study published today (17 July) they measured the level of human interest in 2,408 species of marine reef fish and found that the attention of the scientific community was attracted more by the commercial than the ecological value of the species.
The scientific team is led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), described as Europe’s biggest fundamental science agency.
The reported bias of scientists in their attitude to reef fish was found to contrast sharply with the focus of the public, which was influenced primarily by the aesthetic characteristics of certain popular species such as red lionfish (Pterois volitans) or colourful mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus).
The blenny (Blenniidae) and goby (Gobiidae) fish families largely swim under the radar both of scientists and members of the public, say the researchers – divers perhaps excepted. Yet, as cleanerfish, they play a key role in the functioning of reefs. Though small, they are essential to the transfer of energy and matter from tiny prey to bigger consumers on reefs, a process called trophodynamics.
The researchers drew their conclusions from data compiled from scientific databases, social media and Wikipedia page view statistics for the different fish species. They found that, though the 2,408 species studied accumulated more than 17 million views on Wikipedia, more than 50% of those views were for only 7% of the species, and 20% of the views for only 1%.
In addition, nearly 50% of the scientific publications for the fish studied concerned a subset of only 1% of the species.
“The research team’s work brings to light a bias that directly threatens the conservation of marine reef fish, a bias of such magnitude that it compels them to sound the alarm,” says CRNS.
Stressing the importance of aligning human interest in biodiversity with conservation needs and priorities for healthy ecosystems, the team suggests that one way forward would be to launch campaigns to raise public awareness of threatened and neglected species.
They also recommend the establishing of research programmes that take into account all ecosystem components, for a global conservation strategy that is no longer driven by commercial imperatives. The study is published in Science Advances.
The incredible regenerating sea worm
If one day humans are able to regrow amputated or damaged limbs, the research will have started with how such regeneration already takes place in nature – and CNRS scientists reckon they have just achieved a new breakthrough as a result of close investigation of the humble sea worm’s tail.
Platynereis dumerilii, an Annelid or segmented worm, is only a few centimetres long but has the ability to regenerate entire parts of its body after an injury or amputation – and does so in only a few days.
By focusing on the mechanisms involved on regrowing its tail, the research team observed that the worm’s gut cells played a part in regenerating its intestine as well as other tissues such as muscle and epidermis.
Even more surprisingly, they found that this ability varied according to the cells’ location – and the closer they were to the worm’s posterior, the greater the variety of cell types they could rebuild.
The scientists monitored the outcome of gut and proliferative cells that formed nearest the amputated end of the worm using different markers, especially fluorescent beads ingested by the worms. They now want to determine whether cells other than those found in the gut also play a role in regeneration. The study is published this month in Development.
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