Coral Reef-cam: Study Shows Which Fish Clean Up Reefs

In the green buffet under the sea, some fish prefer to nibble on seaweeds that emit chemicals toxic to precious corals, making for happy corals and even happier fish. Using underwater video cameras to record fish feeding on South Pacific coral reefs, scientist Mark Hay and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology discovered that just four species of herbivorous fish were primarily responsible for removing common and potentially harmful seaweeds on reefs -- and that each type of seaweed is eaten by a different fish species. The research demonstrates that particular species, and certain mixes of species, are potentially critical to the health of reef systems.