Rising temperatures fish growth

Rising temperatures affect fish growth

Cross-sections of the left sagittal otolith from a six-year-old S. aurata individual caught in May 2002.

Grantham Supervisor Dylan Childs publishes on how rising temperatures affect the growth of fish. 

Accurate information on the growth rates of fish is crucial for fisheries stock assessment and management. And this is especially true in the light of rising temperatures caused by climate change. In his new paper Dr Childs looks at one way to assess fish growth, specifically seabream.

Results reported in the paper show that current rising summer temperatures do have a negative effect on the fish seabream’s annual growth.

Dylan, a population biologist, explains the importance of the paper:

‘We investigated how increasing summer temperatures affect the growth of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Our analysis indicates that warming will have a significant impact on S. aurata size-at-age, with important implications for stock assessment and management of this commercially important species.’

You can read Using an integral projection model to assess the effect of temperature on the growth of gilthead seabream Sparus here.

Want more on fish and sustainability? You might like Could fish be the future of agriculture?


Stay up to date with all our sustainability news – join our newsletter.