Add another disastrous consequence of Global Warming to the list: A Sausage Fest in the Sea. Two biologists at Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research recently turned their research to the effects of climate change on the sexual activity of fish (Hey, why not?) and brought back some disturbing findings.

It’s a known biological fact that the gender of many finned species, including certain fish and reptiles is determined not by genetics, but by temperature. But the recent study by Natalia Ospina-Alvarez and Francesc Pifferer discovered that raising the water temperature by a mere 1.5 degrees Celsius can change the male-to-female ratio of fish with temperature-dependent sex determination from 1:1 to a staggering 3:1.

The even worse news is that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that the temperature of Earth’s waters will rise at least 1.5 degrees Celsius this century and possibly even a few degrees more, which could throw certain sensitive fish species so far out of whack that their population will consist of 98% males. It is believed that nearly one fifth of all fish species have with temperature-dependent sex determination.

You can takepart to help stop global warming and create a stable environment for the populations of all species on this planet by logging onto Stop Global Warming.

LINKS:

TIME: Global Warming’s Fish-Sex Effect

STLToday: Global Warming Causing Fish to Change Sex

Climate Ark: Global Warming Skews Fish Sexes