Hey, Fish: Wear Sunscreen

Yeah, we’re all gonna die:

Scientists know how to give fish skin cancer in the lab…but researchers were unsure whether fish got the disease in the wild.

The first hint that they did came when a group of marine biologists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville, who were studying sharks on the country’s Great Barrier Reef, noticed that the coral, bar-cheeked, and blue spotted trout being eaten by the sharks had black patches on their skin. At first, the researchers thought the patches might be caused by a fungus. But when they sent tissue samples from the fish to colleagues at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, the U.K. scientists found no evidence of microbial infection. What’s more, the Australian group found no pollutants in the highly protected Great Barrier Reef that would have caused such discoloration. That left one main suspect: skin cancer.

1. This is awful.
2. How often do you have to reapply when you live underwater?
3. No, wait, really?