Climate change paves the way for a new inter-ocean fish interchange

For over 150 years, Indo-Pacific species have been colonizing the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, with increasing ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Using an ensemble of species distribution models and ten invasive fish species as a case study, we demonstrate that warming conditions are now weakening the climatic barriers that historically prevented these species from expanding further and moving into the Atlantic Ocean. On the basis of our analysis, we discuss the prospect for studying an underappreciated large-scale process: namely, the evolution of a novel unidirectional faunal interchange between two distant oceans.

Automated summary

This article discusses the colonization of Indo-Pacific species in the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, and the weakening of climatic barriers due to warming conditions that allow these species to move further into the Atlantic Ocean.