Marine Biology News

April 18, 2024

Top Headlines

Marine Plankton Behavior Could Predict Future Marine Extinctions

Apr. 17, 2024 — Marine communities migrated to Antarctica during the Earth's warmest period in 66 million years long before a mass-extinction ...

Coral Reef Microbes Point to New Way to Assess Ecosystem Health

Apr. 16, 2024 — A new study shows that ocean acidification is changing the mix of microbes in coral reef systems, which can be used to assess ecosystem ...

Huge Database Gives Insight Into Salmon Patterns at Sea

Apr. 16, 2024 — A massive new analysis of high seas salmon surveys is enhancing the understanding of salmon ecology, adding details about where various species congregate in the North Pacific Ocean and their different temperature tolerances. The project integrates ...

Plastic Pollution Can Kill Variety of Ocean Embryos

Apr. 16, 2024 — High levels of plastic pollution can kill the embryos of a wide range of ocean animals, new research ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:52pm EDT

East Coast Mussel Shells Are Becoming More Porous in Warming Waters

Apr. 17, 2024 — Researchers have found that over the last 120 years, the porosity -- or small-scale holes -- in mussel shells along the East Coast of the United States has increased, potentially due to warming ...

New Tagging Method Provides Bioadhesive Interface for Marine Sensors on Diverse, Soft, and Fragile Species

Apr. 16, 2024 — Tagging marine animals with sensors to track their movements and ocean conditions can provide important environmental and behavioral information. ...

Oceanographers Uncover the Vital Role of Mixing Down of Oxygen in Sustaining Deep Sea Health

Apr. 12, 2024 — Oceanographers have shown for the first time the important role of the 'mixing down' of oxygen in maintaining healthy conditions in the deep ...

Where Have All the Right Whales Gone?

Apr. 12, 2024 — Marine researchers have mapped the density of one of the most endangered large whale species worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale, using new data to help avoid right whales' harmful exposure to ...

Tropical Coral-Infecting Parasites Discovered in Cold Marine Ecosystems

Apr. 11, 2024 — Parasites thought only to infect tropical coral reefs have been discovered in a large variety of creatures in cold marine ecosystems along the Northeast Pacific, according to new ...

Geobiology: New Placozoan Habitat Discovered

Apr. 11, 2024 — Traces of DNA in the stomachs of predatory snails give a team og geobiologists new insights into the ecology of ...

3D Mouth of an Ancient Jawless Fish Suggests They Were Filter-Feeders, Not Scavengers or Hunters

Apr. 10, 2024 — Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth's shape while they collected food. Experts ...

Cold-Affinity Algae Species Are Gradually Being Replaced by Warm-Affinity Ones Off the Coast of Biscay

Apr. 10, 2024 — A study has analyzed the impact of the rise in sea surface temperature on macroalgae communities over the last four decades. Points at various depths ...

What's Quieter Than a Fish? A School of Them

Apr. 9, 2024 — Swimming in schools makes fish surprisingly stealthy underwater, with a group able to sound like a single fish. Engineers working with a high-tech simulation of schooling mackerel offer new insight ...

Impact of Climate Change on Marine Life Much Bigger Than Previously Known

Apr. 9, 2024 — Fish and invertebrate animals are far more affected by warmer and more acidic seawater than was previously known. The big gain of the new method is that more details become known about effects of ...

Reproductive Success Improves After a Single Generation in the Wild for Descendants of Some Hatchery-Origin Chinook Salmon

Apr. 16, 2024 — Researchers who created 'family trees' for nearly 10,000 fish found that first-generation, wild-born descendants of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon in an Oregon river show improved ...

eDNA Methods Give a Real-Time Look at Coral Reef Health

Apr. 5, 2024 — The study underscores the crucial role of microbes in maintaining coral reef health, akin to the human gut microbiome. Hurricanes and disease outbreaks affect coral reef water microbial communities, ...

What Four Decades of Canned Salmon Reveal About Marine Food Webs

Apr. 4, 2024 — Researchers have shown that levels of anisakid worms -- a common marine parasite -- rose in two salmon species in the Gulf of Alaska and Bristol Bay over a 42-year period. The team discovered this by ...

Shy Sea Anemones Are More Likely to Survive Heatwaves

Apr. 4, 2024 — A study shows that sea anemones that react more slowly to change can survive a heatwave better than individuals that change their behavior ...

Adult Fish Struggle to Bounce Back in Marine Protected Areas

Apr. 4, 2024 — Many marine protected areas are falling short of their most basic purpose: to rebuild struggling fish populations. In a new study, scientists looked at the age breakdown of reef fish in marine ...

Fish Species That Move Rapidly Toward the Poles Due to Global Warming Decline in Abundance, Study Finds

Apr. 4, 2024 — A new study has found a decline in the abundance of marine fish species that move rapidly toward the poles to escape rising sea temperatures. The researchers explain that many animal species are ...

Evolution in Action? New Study Finds Possibility of Nitrogen-Fixing Organelles

Apr. 3, 2024 — A new study finds that UCYN-A, a species of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, may be evolving organelle-like ...

Plant-Based Plastic Releases Nine Times Less Microplastics Than Conventional Plastic

Apr. 3, 2024 — A newly developed plant-based plastic material releases nine times less microplastics than conventional plastic when exposed to sunlight and seawater, a new study has ...

Going 'Back to the Future' to Forecast the Fate of a Dead Florida Coral Reef

Mar. 28, 2024 — How coral populations expand into new areas and sustain themselves over time is limited by the scope of modern observations. Going back thousands of years, a study provides geological insights into ...

Scientists Warn: The Grey Seal Hunt Is Too Large

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers warn that today's hunting quotas of about 3,000 animals pose a risk to the long-term survival of the grey seal in the Baltic Sea. The conclusions of this new study are based on ...

Severe Hurricanes Boost Influx of Juveniles and Gene Flow in a Coral Reef Sponge

Mar. 26, 2024 — A study is the first to evaluate substrate recolonization by sponges in the U.S. Virgin Islands after two catastrophic storms using genetic analyses to understand how much clonality verses sexual ...

Two Coral Snakes Recorded Battling for Prey in a Scientific First

Mar. 26, 2024 — Two red-tailed coral snakes have been observed competing over a caecilian in the first documented wild case of kleptoparasitism within the family ...

Citizen Scientists Contribute Vital Information About 35 Seahorse Species

Mar. 25, 2024 — Thanks to diligent observers, seahorses, those enigmatic and charismatic fish, are not only being discovered in new habitats and expanded geographic ranges, they are also being found at new ocean ...

Caller ID of the Sea: Tagging Whale Communication and Behavior

Mar. 25, 2024 — Biologists use a novel method of simultaneous acoustic tagging to gain insights into the link between whale communication and ...

Rays Were More Diverse 150 Million Years Ago Than Previously Thought

Mar. 21, 2024 — Scientists have explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity -- including a new ray species. This study significantly expands the ...

Entanglements of Humpback Whales in Fish Farms Rare -- And Naivety Could Be to Blame

Mar. 21, 2024 — The first study of humpback whale entanglements in B.C. aquaculture facilities found eight over 13 years, with the curiosity of young whales a potential contributing ...

Scientists Weigh Up Current Status of Blue Whale Populations Around the World

Mar. 20, 2024 — The largest living animal, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which averages about 27 meters in length, has slowly recovered from whaling only to face the rising challenges of global warming, ...

Killer Whales Use Specialized Hunting Techniques to Catch Marine Mammals in the Open Ocean

Mar. 20, 2024 — Killer whales foraging in deep submarine canyons off the coast of California represent a distinct subpopulation that uses specialized hunting techniques to catch marine mammals, researchers ...

Ancient Giant Dolphin Discovered in the Amazon

Mar. 20, 2024 — Measuring between 3 to 3.5 meters, 16 million years old: Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new species of freshwater dolphin in the Peruvian Amazon region. Surprisingly, its closest ...

Fish Fed to Farmed Salmon Should Be Part of Our Diet, Too, Study Suggests

Mar. 20, 2024 — Scientists found that farmed salmon production leads to an overall loss of essential dietary nutrients. They say that eating more wild 'feed' species directly could benefit our health while ...