Fish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef are 'fading' in colour

As oceans continue to warm and corals continue to bleach, fish communities in Australia's Great Barrier Reef are losing their colour, a new study tells.

The study, which is published in Global Change Biology, monitored changes in the fish community colouration and the environment they live in.

The relationship between the colouration of the fish communities and the environment is likely to be impacted by global environmental change. The researchers have found potential links between corals and fish that are losing their natural colour.

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The research found that the diversity of colours found within a fish community is directly related to the composition of the local environment.

Areas with a higher cover of structurally complex corals contained fish species with more diverse and brighter colourations, the study revealed.

Important to note that the abundance of yellow and green fish has dropped steadily by about three quarters over the past 27 years as fish community colouration contracted significantly in the years following the 1998 global coral bleaching event.

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"We found that as the cover of structurally complex corals increases on a reef, so does the diversity and range of colours present on fishes living in and around them," Dr Christopher Hemingson said as quoted by Daily Mail.

The new study was led by Dr Hemingson at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Dr Hemingson said, "But, as the cover of turf algae and dead coral rubble increases, the diversity of colours declines to a more generalised, uniform appearance."

"Fish communities on future reefs may very well be a duller version of their previous configurations, even if coral cover remains high," he added.

Recently, reports revealed that the Great Barrier Reef has again been hit with "widespread" bleaching as higher-than-average ocean temperatures off Australia's northeast threaten the already struggling World Heritage site.

Surveillance flights over the reef revealed damage due to heat stress ranging from minor to severe bleaching across the 2,300-kilometre (1,243-mile) network of corals, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said.