By Margot Higgins Ornamental shrimp may look attractive in aquariums, but harvesting them in the wild can have damaging effects on coral reef environments. If that were done, we could use that information to develop an industry that would produce tank-reared animals for the aquarium trade. More than 90 million tropical fish are purchased worldwide each year. Because of that demand and the methods used to collect tropical fish, scientists estimate that by the year 2020 many coral reefs in Southeast Asia will no longer exist.
Collectors often inject cyanide into reefs in order to stun the fish that dwell there.
While many of those fish are easily obtained from crevices and other hiding places, large numbers do not survive the ordeal. Often reefs are torn up to get at those fish that are out of reach. By controlling water temperature and light, Holt can recreate in the lab conditions that are ideal for spawning. But once the fish spawn, providing food for the fish larvae poses another challenge. For the first few days of life, fish require a diet of live food that is tiny enough for the almost microscopic size to eat.