--- title: Baby Coral and Fish Know When a Reef Has Gone Bad description: Juvenile coral and fish in the Pacific are able to distinguish healthy reefs from degraded ones based on chemical signals in the water. canonical: https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/ author: Stephanie Burnett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-22T08:05:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:48:12.843Z article:section: Science og:title: Baby Coral and Fish Can Tell Good Reefs From Bad og:description: Understanding how they do that provides clues on how to attract life back to reefs that are damaged from overfishing. og:url: https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9302883691f22d3e/6986a080adae442e76544a43/ap080605158478.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3504 og:image:height: 1971 og:image:alt: World Without Corals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Baby Coral and Fish Can Tell Good Reefs From Bad twitter:description: Understanding how they do that provides clues on how to attract life back to reefs that are damaged from overfishing. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9302883691f22d3e/6986a080adae442e76544a43/ap080605158478.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Juvenile Coral and Fish Know When a Reef Has Gone Bad > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=c26c932e-cdbd-473b-9e5c-ca1367c95f0b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Stephanie Burnett](https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Aug 22, 2014 8:05 AM UTC  In this June 5, 2008 photo, fish gather on a coral reef in the Dry Tortugas National Park in Dry Tortugas, Fla. Numerous studies predict corals are headed toward extinction worldwide, some 50 percent of the Caribbean's corals are already dead, largely because of climate change, overfishing and pollution. In this June 5, 2008 photo, fish gather on a coral reef in the Dry Tortugas National Park in Dry Tortugas, Fla. Numerous studies predict corals are headed toward extinction worldwide, some 50 percent of the Caribbean's corals are already dead, largely because of climate change, overfishing and pollution. Wilfredo Lee—ASSOCIATED PRESS by [Stephanie Burnett](https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Aug 22, 2014 8:05 AM UTC Baby coral and fish in the Pacific are able to detect both good and bad reefs, according to a Fiji-based study [reported by the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28880216). The study found that sea animals avoid reefs that do not give off the right chemical signals, because the failure to do so indicates that a reef is degraded. According to the research, [published](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6199/879) in _Science_, when young coral and fish are presented with water samples taken from healthy reefs, and from reefs in overfished areas that are choked with seaweed, the sea creatures overwhelmingly choose the former. Scientists say this could be a sign that simply designating a marine area as a protected zone may not be enough to help damaged reefs recover. The seaweed that has sprung up there may have to be removed as well. “If you’re setting up a marine protected area to seed recruitment into a degraded habitat, that recruitment may not happen if young fish and coral are not recognizing the degraded area as habitat,” [said](http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/08/21/marine-protected-areas-might-not-be-enough-help-overfished-reefs-recover) Danielle Dixson of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the study’s prime author. Once seaweed is removed, then damaged areas may start to see improvements, the BBC reports. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28880216)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/"},"headline":"Juvenile Coral and Fish Know When a Reef Has Gone Bad","datePublished":"2014-08-22T08:05:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:48:12.843Z","description":"Too much seaweed and they're out of there","url":"https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/","keywords":["Environment","fish"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9302883691f22d3e/6986a080adae442e76544a43/ap080605158478.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Burnett","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9302883691f22d3e/6986a080adae442e76544a43/ap080605158478.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Without Corals","caption":"World Without Corals","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—ASSOCIATED PRESS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3157121/coral-fish-seaweed-reef-research-danielle-dixson-georgia-institute-of-technology-fiji/","name":"Juvenile Coral and Fish Know When a Reef Has Gone Bad"}}]}] ```