Building blocks for comeback by nature

An anchor tuskfish swims by a fish house in Singapore. The most simple fish house design involved 27 concrete blocks stacked up in the shape of a cube, and had 100 holes, each 6.25 centimeters by 6.25 centimeters. The study co-author Rachel Mark said the aim was to find out what types of spaces fishes need, so the blocks can be deployed to the sea wall area to attract fish diversity. The researchers found that the two cube-shaped fish house designs attracted about 27 fish species, while the most complex freestyle fish house design drew in more species of fishes, and in greater numbers. "This study provides more technical information on how fish houses deployed near sea walls can be designed to support higher fish diversity, which can be incorporated into future coastal defense construction," Taira said.