Bearded Goby Helps to Salvage a Dead Ocean Zone

Namibia

Researchers have found a “super fish” which is actually able to not only survive, but thrive in a previously thought uninhabitable region off of Africa’s south-west coast, which also happens to be infested by jellyfish.

This “super fish” is actually helping to keep the local ecosystem going, and is single handedly helping to preserve an important fishery as well.

One of the ecosystems off the coast of Namibia, the Beguela ecosystem, was at one point is history chock full of sardines. However, overfishing of the area, and various other environmental factors have caused the population of sardines to take a nose dive, and the ecosystem became overrun with algal blooms and jellyfish swarms.

The algae has almost consumed the entire oxygen supply of the water, and the waters closer to the surface are full of jellyfish and algae.

It has been discovered that bearded gobies are making their home at the very bottom, and they are the only vertebrate to do so. The stomach contents were examined, and revealed that these bearded fish eat the dead algae which falls from the surface, and they also eat the jellyfish! This astounding discovery was made by Anne Utne-Palm, of the University of Bergen, Norway and several of her collegues.

The team of researchers also discovered that the gobies are able to survive for hours in water with extremely low oxygen levels by lowering their metabolic rate, and when they run low they pop back to the surface for more oxygen!

What a Fish!