Ocean acidification and the possible loss of benthic invertebrates: would commercial fin-fish be affected?

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Ocean acidification (OA) has been suggested as posing a major threat to commercial fisheries worldwide, both directly through physiological impacts (e.g. on commercial shellfish) but also indirectly through ‘bottom-up’ influences on higher trophic-level organisms including important finfish species. Echinoderms and bivalve molluscs are thought to be particularly vulnerable to low pH as a result of their high-magnesium skeletons. In the present analysis we have demonstrated that these benthic organisms are important prey resources for dab, haddock, and plaice in the North Sea and that predation on these benthic invertebrates occurs throughout the whole region and in every season of the year