Adopting a strategy that is all but unheard of in the sea, this seagrass produces an essential nutrient the same way peas do. The meadows of luscious green seagrass that dot coastal regions around the world are gaining recognition as important marine habitats and carbon sinks, but there is still a lot we don’t know […]
marine biology
Ivy Asks…What do whales eat?
The first in a series of science videos for kids that I am making with my daughter Ivy. She wanted to know what whales ate, so we asked the experts at the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium. See more on the Ivy Asks YouTube channel.
Competition Pressured Killer Whales Into Menopause
Selfish daughters, not altruistic grandmothers, could explain the evolution of menopause. Surviving beyond the end of your reproductive life is a rare trait: only female humans, killer whales, and short-finned pilot whales are known to do it. The question is why? If the purpose of life is to pass on your genes, as evolutionary biologists suggest, then […]
Sword-slashing sailfish hint at origins of cooperative hunting
Cooperation makes it happen. Sailfish that work together in groups to hunt sardines can catch more fish than if they hunt alone, even without a real coordinated strategy. To catch their sardine dinner, a group of sailfish circle a school of sardines – known as a baitball – and break off a small section, driving […]
Keeping Track of Deep-Sea Mining
A new website uses ship location data to track deep-sea mining exploration. Mining companies have claimed more than a million square kilometers of ocean around the world and soon—maybe sooner than you think—will begin sending huge robotic diggers to grind up the seafloor and extract gold, copper, manganese, and other metals to feed our growing hunger […]
Surfing on a turtle’s tail makes swinging crabs monogamous
Surfing the world’s oceans on the back of a turtle may sound like a life of luxury, but for a small crab it also means restricting itself to a single mate. A species of small oceanic crab, Planes minutus often makes its home on the shells of loggerhead turtles. They tuck themselves into a tiny […]
Warming seas linked to rise in cholera bacteria in Europe and US
There’s nothing like swimming in cold water. Warming oceans caused by climate change may be leading to an increase in cholera and other infections caused by Vibrio bacteria, according to more than 50 years of data on climate and populations of ocean microbes. Read more in New Scientist.
Are we ready for the gold rush on the sea floor?
One firm reckons its planned sea-floor mines are more sustainable than those on land. But the diggers could destroy rare life and more. THE submersible Alvin encountered its first “black smoker” 2000 metres deep off the coast of the Galapagos Islands. It was 1977, and the realisation that life could survive in pitch darkness next […]
Watch a baby sea turtle being hypnotised so we can weigh it
Baby sea turtles are an energetic bunch. As soon as they emerge from their sandy nests they scramble down the beach and swim out to sea. This frantic burst of activity helps the turtles evade predators, but it can be a real headache for researchers who want to gather measurements from these tiny, squirming subjects. […]
Tentacled sea creatures are taking over the Earth’s oceans
Octopuses and their tentacled brethren are taking over the seas, as ocean temperatures climb and humans snaffle up their natural predators. Zoe Doubleday, a marine biologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and her colleagues were studying an iconic local species, the giant Australian cuttlefish, which had been in decline for several years. Doubleday […]