May 10, 2019 โ When Chris Taylor presses play, footage of blue wrasse and greater amberjack fills the screen. The fish whirl and spin against a vivid backdrop of corals, sponges, and algae. When Taylor, an ecologist at NOAAโs National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Beaufort, North Carolina, asks visitors to the Centers where they think the video was taken, heโs not surprised to hear the Florida Keys or the Caribbean. But the guesses are invariably wrong.
โThese highly structured reefs are right off our coast,โ Taylor says. โThere are all of these brightly colored fishes that defy expectations.โ
A new study in Nature Communications Biology by Taylor and Avery Paxton, a marine ecologist who divides her time between NOAA and the Duke University Marine Laboratory, shows artificial deepwater reefs off the coast of North Carolina increased the number of tropical and subtropical fishes at the northern edge of their ranges. These findings have important implications for fishes in warming waters. As ocean temperatures rise, artificial reefs may facilitate the movement of these species towards the poles, where they may be able to find a habitat that is more suitable in the future.