Finally, we’re hearing some positive news for environmental science! Phew. As anyone who’s watched David Attenborough grace their TV screens on a Sunday night knows, coral reefs across the globe have experienced horrendous wide-scale bleaching in recent years due to the rising sea temperatures caused by global warming – and it’s appeared as though things have been getting increasingly worse for species who call the ecosystems their home.

However, in a recent turn of events scientists from Lancaster University alongside an international team from Seychelles, have found that a wide range of fish species in bleached habitats are in fact able to retain higher nutritional levels than was previously thought.

20 years of data collected in and around the Seychelles has shown that vital iron and zinc levels are actually higher in fish caught on reefs affected by coral bleaching, due largely to the explosive growth of seaweed which has naturally occurring higher mineral compositions.

The result, it seems, is that there could yet be a future for many species that have found themselves on the endangered list of late. Of course, it goes without saying that coral reef bleaching has still been shown to have a hugely detrimental – and often irreversible – effect on the wider aquatic ecosystem, with further political and social change desperately needed to help combat it. Check out this petition from Green Peace to see how you can help protect habitats like the Great Barrier Reef from further harm.