by Becky Oskin, Senior Writer | December 12, 2014 06:12am ET
A sex-changing California fish is growing
bigger and gobbling up more sea urchins after a decade of being protected from fishing, a new study finds.
bigger and gobbling up more sea urchins after a decade of being protected from fishing, a new study finds.
In the Channel Islands offshore Southern California, the sheephead fish population has bounced back from overfishing since marine protected areas were established around the islands in 2002. Biologists are finding more large males and more egg-producing (larger) females.
And the bigger fish have bigger mouths, which is all the better for breakfasting on the rampant, kelp-destroying populations of sea urchins in the region. An 8-inch (20 centimeters) sheephead fish has a diet that is only 2 percent urchin, whereas an 18-inch (45 cm) sheephead munches on so many urchins that they make up 30 to 40 percent of its diet, according to the study, published Dec. 10 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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