Six years on, a prolonged ocean heat wave known as the Blob has altered the makeup of marine life off the coast of California, new research shows.
Six years on, a prolonged ocean heat wave known as the Blob has altered the makeup of marine life off the coast of California, new research shows.
The Blob, a large mass of unusually warm waters in the northeast Pacific, lasted from 2013 to 2017. The heat wave drew tropical fish further north. After the Blob dissipated, many of these creatures returned home, but a few have stuck around, according to surveys of protected areas along the California coast.
Large numbers of slender, orange señorita fish have colonized the central coast, Joshua Smith, of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, told Hakai. California has also seen a surge of sea urchins and blue rockfish. Other species, such as ocean whitefish and California sheephead, which could be found off Southern California before the Blob, are now far more abundant.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
Tropical señorita fish, like this one, colonized waters off the coast of central California during a prolonged ocean heat wave known as the Blob. (Photo Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium)
