As the climate warms, fish may flee the Equator for cooler waters with more oxygen, according to a new study in the journal Science.

“The oceans are warming up, and the amount of oxygen in the ocean is going down and will continue to go down,” said Curtis Deutsch, an oceanographer at the University of Washington and one of the study’s authors. “When you put those two things together, it will limit the habitat space an animal has.”

In warmer waters, the metabolic rate of fish also rises, and they require more food and oxygen, he said.

Dr. Deutsch and his colleagues looked at the oxygen requirements of four Atlantic Ocean species: Atlantic cod, Atlantic rock crab, sharp snout seabream and the common eelpout.