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Science 26 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5935, p. 1683
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169806
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Brevia

Elevated CO2 Enhances Otolith Growth in Young Fish

David M. Checkley, Jr.,* Andrew G. Dickson, Motomitsu Takahashi,{dagger} J. Adam Radich, Nadine Eisenkolb,{ddagger} Rebecca Asch

A large fraction of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by human activity enters the sea, causing ocean acidification. We show that otoliths (aragonite ear bones) of young fish grown under high CO2 (low pH) conditions are larger than normal, contrary to expectation. We hypothesize that CO2 moves freely through the epithelium around the otoliths in young fish, accelerating otolith growth while the local pH is controlled. This is the converse of the effect commonly reported for structural biominerals.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, 1551-8, Taira-machi, Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki 851-2213, Japan.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dcheckley{at}ucsd.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)