TED Talks Daily - The Mystery of Sea Creatures (1/5): A coral reef love story | Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Episode Date: July 18, 2026

Over the course of hundreds of scuba dives, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson fell in love -- with a fish. In this ode to parrotfish, she shares five reasons why these creatures are simply amazing (from their ability to poop white sand to make colorful "wardrobe changes") and shows what's at stake -- for us and them -- as climate change threatens the future of coral reefs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is summer where I live, and luckily I live near the Pacific Ocean. As the weather continues to heat up, I'm spending more time at the beach. It always makes me wonder, what's going on under the water? From the deep sea to the shoreline, the ocean is teeming with creatures that are stranger, smarter, and more surprising than most of us could ever dream up. For July's TED Talks Daily playlist, we have gathered five of our favorite talks that dive into the awe-inspiring and occasionally mind-bending creatures from orcas to kinky fish that live beneath the waves.

Happy listening. You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hew. This talk is a love story, although it doesn't necessarily have a happy ending. Over the course of hundreds of scuba dives, marine biologist Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson fell in love with a fish.

In her talk, she shares five. reasons why parrotfish are simply extraordinary creatures, from their ability to poop white sand to their rather fabulous wardrobe changes. This is also a talk about what's at stake, for them, for coral reefs, and for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on them, as climate change and overfishing push one of the ocean's most vital ecosystems to the brink. The good news, she's not done fighting for this love story, and she has some ideas about what we can do, too. That's coming up right after a short break. And now our TED Talk of the Day.

I want to tell you a love story, but it doesn't have a happy ending. Once upon a time, I was a stubborn five-year-old who decided to become a marine biologist. 34 years, 400 scuba dives and one PhD later, I'm still completely enamored with the ocean. I spent a decade working with fishing communities in the Caribbean, counting fish, interviewing fishermen, redesigning fishing gear, and developing policy. I've been helping to figure out what sustainable management can look like for places where food security, jobs, and cultures all depend on the sea. In the midst of all this, I fell in love with a fish.

There are over 500 fish species that live on Caribbean reefs, but the ones I just can't get out of my head are parrotfish. Parrot fish live on coral reefs all over the world. There are 100 species. They can grow well over a meter long and weigh over 20 kilograms, but that's the boring stuff. I want to tell you five incredible things about these fish. First, they have a mouth like a parrot's beak,

which is strong enough to bite coral, although mostly they're after algae. They are the lawnmowers of the reef. This is key, because many reefs are overgrown with algae due to nutrient pollution, from sewage and fertilizer that runs off of land. And there just aren't enough herbivores like parrotfish

left out on the reefs to mow it all down. Okay, second amazing thing. After all that eating, they poop fine white sand. A single parrotfish can produce over 380 kilograms of this pulverized coral each year. Sometimes when scuba diving, I would look up from my clipboard and just see contrails of parrot

parrotfish poop raining down. So next time you're lounging on a tropical white sand beach, maybe thank a parrotfish. Third, they have so much style. Modelled and striped, teal, magenta, yellow, orange, poca dotted. Parrot fish are a big part of what makes coral reefs so colorful. Plus, in true diva style, they have multiple wardrobe changes throughout their life. a juvenile outfit, an intermediate get-up, and a terminal look.

Fourth, with this last wardrobe change comes a sex change, from female to male, termed sequential hermaphroditism. These large males then gather harems of females to spawn. Heterosexual monogamy is certainly not nature's status quo, and parrotfish exemplifies some of the beauty of diverse reproductive strategies. Fifth, and the most incredible. Sometimes when parrotfish cozy up into a nook in the reef at night, they secrete a mucous bubble from a gland in their head

that envelops their entire body. This masks their scent from predators and protects them from parasites so they can sleep soundly. I mean, how cool is this? So this is a confession of my love for parrotfish in all their flamboyant, algae-eating, sand-pooping, sex-changing glory. But with this love comes heartache. Now that groupers and snappers are woefully overfished,

fishermen are targeting parrotfish. Spear fishing took out the large species. Midnight blue and rainbow parrotfish are now exceedingly rare, and nets and traps are scooping up the smaller species. As both a marine biologist and a single person, I can tell you, there aren't that many fish in the sea. And then there's my love for their home, the coral reef,

which was once as vibrant as Caribbean cultures, as colorful as the architecture, and as bustling as carnival. Because of climate change, on top of overfishing and pollution, coral reefs may be gone within 30 years. An entire ecosystem erased. This is devastating because hundreds of millions of people

around the world depend on reefs for their nutrition and income. Let that sink in. A little bit of good news is that places like Belize, Barbuda, and Bonnerre are protecting these VIPs, very important parrotfish. Also, more and more places are establishing protected areas that protect the entire ecosystem. These are critical efforts, but it's not enough. As I stand here today, only 2.2% of the ocean is protected. Meanwhile, 90% of the large fish and 80% of the coral on Caribbean reefs is already gone.

We're in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, and we, humans, are causing it. We also have the solutions. Reverse climate change and overfishing, protect half the ocean, and stop pollution running from land. But these are, Massive undertakings requiring systemic changes,

and we're really taking our sweet time getting around to it. Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills, and our dollars, we must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet.

Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful, because I don't know how to give an honest talk about my beloved parrotfish and coral reefs.

that has a happy ending. Thank you. That was Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson at TED 2019. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. Ted Talks Daily is a podcast from TED.

This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Tobner, and Tonzica, Sunmar Nivon. Additional support from Daniela Ballerazo, Christopher Faisie Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Ban-Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lot. Learn more at podcasts.com. I am Elise Hu. Thanks for listening.