Word: parrotfish
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Once the coral reefs of the Caribbean all shimmered with life. Herds of iridescent parrotfish darted through forests of branching corals. Spiny lobsters lurked in crevices, while squid, spooked by shadows, dissolved into clouds of ink. But now many of these bustling underwater habitats are taking a beating--and the tropical storms that tore through the region in recent weeks are the least of their problems. "Reefs are tough," observes Clive Wilkinson, a biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. "You can hammer them with cyclones, and they'll bounce right back. What they can't bounce back from...
Large fish, it turns out, are among the most critical of all reef inhabitants, especially herbivores like parrotfish that eat seaweed. Fast-growing seaweed is always threatening to engulf the reefs, but it is usually kept in check by grazing fish. About a decade ago, a team of marine scientists conducted an experiment off the coast of Belize that proves this point. To keep fish out, the researchers surrounded a section of coral the size of a small pasture with a chicken-wire fence. Within 10 weeks, they found, the area inside the fence had been completely overgrown by seaweed...
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