UF undergrads travel to the Galápagos Islands to study El Niño’s effect on fish populations

Ulcerative skin disease can mean a devastating end for a fish. Scales get circular white patches, causing lesions and scale loss. Fins deteriorate. Fish become lethargic and swim sideways. Most are eaten before they die.

But what causes the condition? Marine heat waves created by El Niño weather patterns may be partly responsible, according to new research from students and professors in the UF/IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences.

During the summer, marine sciences undergraduates Melanie Gomez, of the Orlando area, and Kamila Koralasbayev, of Bethesda Md., joined Robert Lamb, Ph.D., a research assistant professor with the UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station, and traveled to the Galápagos Islands to study the environmental impacts on sea life.

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