Scientists issue a warning about the worrying pattern they've discovered in the Atlantic: "Something is happening, and it's real."

Global warming is very real; just look at how every summer we break a new record for the highest temperature, for example. And this, in turn, has clear consequences for the environment, and as a result, what we eat is also affected.

And this is something that worries researchers and scientists, and as reflected in a Yale Environment 360 publication, they have discovered a worrying pattern while studying striped bass along the Atlantic coast. Striped bass, not the one we have here in Europe, also known as branzino, is a species native to North America that, despite being very similar, is only found in that area and is characterized by dark stripes on its side.

Apparently, this type of bass has been in decline in recent years due to overfishing, and although this problem did not exist last season because fishing was abundant, researchers have found that these numbers have not been reflected in the number of fish arriving in nearby bays to spawn in the spring.

A possible clue to this mystery lies in the striped bass's main food source , a species called tarpon. These, too, have not returned from the ocean to spawn.

"I don't know if it's a broader cyclical pattern, if it's determined by how they're managed, or if it's due to rising water temperatures," says PhD student Janelle Morano. "But something is happening, and it's real."

The reduction in activity during these fish's traditional spawning seasons could be due to what researchers call "phenological mismatch." The problem is that if a species misses seasonal cues or begins its cycle earlier or later than usual, all the species that interact with it are also affected.

If tarpon and striped bass fail to reproduce due to warming waters and changes in food availability , both populations will collapse, affecting all species that rely on them for food or population control, with ripple effects affecting everything from plankton to dolphins.