diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
index 97bef6de03d4b2b9e0d6c185498b9e00e6580f99..74eba4c9bda94a789b2000251f54675442d5dde2 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
@@ -2122,7 +2122,7 @@ sub load_registry_from_multiple_dbs {
   my %merged_register = %registry_register;
 
   foreach my $arg (@args) {
-    local %registry_register={};
+    local %registry_register = ();
 
     my $verbose;