Celebrate Life Below Water. Eat Blue

Fish Adapt to Ocean Acidification by Modifying Gene Expression

A study released last week by the University of Hong Kong proposes an evolutionary mechanism in natural fish populations that has the potential to adapt to ocean acidification.

Human-driven climate change is challenging the scientific community to understand how marine species might adapt to predicted environmental conditions including hypoxia, ocean warming, and ocean acidification.

“To survive in a reduced pH environment, marine organisms have to adjust their physiology which, at the molecular level, is achieved by modifying the expression of genes. The study of such changes in gene expression can aid in revealing the adaptive mechanisms of life under predicted future ocean acidification conditions.”