(AP) – Fishermen and scientists on Delaware’s coast are seeing greater numbers of fish that are typically found much farther south.
The News Journal of Wilmington reported Friday that climate change may be slowly altering marine ecosystems along the First State’s coast.
Some of the species are previously known to frequent Florida. Others rarely traveled beyond the Chesapeake Bay. Some look like they came from a fancy aquarium.
The numbers are growing for warmer water fish like Florida pompano. Summer flounder is being caught well into December.
Robert Hueter, senior scientist and director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, said the warmer temperatures could shift local ecology. And they could mean that native fish compete with new species or battle new predators.
