( entists in two ways he says. First i...)Batfish to the rescue!

And second, it shows that in nature, help can come from a totally unexpected quarter ?from a fish that itself may be at some risk.

"Batfish represent a 'sleeping functional group', meaning they are capable of performing a vital role in the life of the reef, but do so only under exceptional conditions," Prof. Bellwood says.

"Platax are relatively rare on the Great Barrier Reef and currently have no specific legal protection. They are vulnerable because their large size makes them attractive to spear-fishers, while they depend as young fishes on coastal mangroves which are in decline in many areas.

"Indeed, the resilience of inshore GBR reefs may be closely tied to the fate of mangroves and their suitability for batfish recruitment."

Batfishes may be one of the last intact herbivore populations capable of reversing serious weed overgrowth of inshore coral reefs, he adds. The reef has already all-but lost one major group of weed-mowers, the dugongs, while another ?green turtles ?is seriously endangered.

"If Platax is the last grazer of dense weedy stands on inshore coral reefs and it goes into decline, the capacity of these reefs to recover from phase-shifts could be lost."

For scientists and reef managers, the batfish has thrown up a new challenge ?how to identify other 'sleeping functional groups' that may prove lifesavers for the reef, but whose habits and abilities we as yet know nothing about.
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Source:James Cook University