Sediment plumes caused by dredging and floods increase the mortality rate of clownfish living in the Great Barrier Reef, research shows.
A James Cook University study found even slightly elevated levels of sediment in the water significantly delayed the rate of development of the larvae that develop into the fish, made famous in the Disney film Finding Nemo.
In some cases the time it took for the larvae to develop into fish doubled from 11 days to 22.
Dr Amelia Wenger, from JCU's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, says this causes problems because clownfish are vulnerable during this pelagic larval stage.
"During this time they can be in open water away from the protection of the reef so if a fish is spending twice as long in this stage it means their risk from predators is greatly increased," she said.
"This in turn could significantly reduce the numbers of larvae competent to settle on reefs and could have a major effect on adult populations."
Sediment plumes could have a similar impact on other fish species as most have a pelagic larval development stage similar to clownfish.
Dr Wenger and her team hope to carry out further research to determine whether this is the case.
As part of the study, the first to look at the potential impacts dredge sediment plumes have on salt water fish, researchers took five-day-old clownfish larvae and raised them in water with varying sediment levels.
Sediment levels were based on those commonly found in waters after flooding and dredging.
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