It is a well known fact that baby fish will often float with ocean currents, following them wherever they may take them. But just how far from ‘home’ do they usually travel? DEENR professor and EOAS member Dr. Malin Pinsky along with some of his colleagues think they’ve found the answer.
In their recent paper published in Current Biology (see link for full article text), Malin and his colleagues found how common and easily measured population genetic patterns called “isolation by distance” can measure the fish larval dispersion distances. Their conclusion? Simply put, from point of dispersal, the larvae can typically travel about 20km from their point of origin.
Congratulations to Dr. Pinsky and his colleagues (Serge Planes, Geoff Jones, Simon Thorrold, Pablo Saenz-Agudelo, Michael Berumen, Michael Bode, among others) on this publication!
Clownfish Photo Credit: Simon Thorrold