Something Fishy Back at the study site, the cages are all in place. Now you need to fill them with the right kinds of fish. You start herding fish. It’s not as easy as
it sounds. T e fish don’t exactly want to be herded. You move them into a large net by chasing them with smaller hand nets. Some skill is needed. T ese fish are slippery. In the middle of your work, you suddenly
stop. You hear that same strange, popping noise you heard last night. You look around carefully. To your right, a few colorful shrimps are
standing on a sponge. As you watch, they snap their claws open and shut with a sharp pop! So that’s what was keeping you up last night. Back to work. You sweep up a few parrotfish
with your net. Your partner has netted some surgeonfish. Both eat algae. In one cage, you put only parrotfish. In a
second cage, you put only surgeonfish. In a third cage, you put a few of both.
Checking Your Work Over the next week, you watch the fish in the cages and record what happens. You and your partner discover that both fish eat the algae off the corals. T e parrotfish eat one kind of algae, and the surgeonfish eat another. T e cage with both types of fish has the least
algae. T e corals in that cage are the healthiest. T is is a valuable discovery. Reefs are healthiest if they have more than one kind of fish eating away the algae. Before you know it, your 10 days at Aquarius
are up. You and your partner will share what you’ve learned with other scientists. Sharing this knowledge is really important.
Even though we study our oceans, we know very little about them. Yet we do know how vital they are to all other life on Earth. As you reach the surface, a new team of
scientists prepares to go down in your place. Who knows what ocean secrets Aquarius will reveal to them?
WORDWISE
aquanaut: a diver trained to work underwater for scientifi c research
conservation: careful use and protection of natural resources
coral reef: a rock-like structure built by coral polyps
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