People Power Reveals Seahorse Secrets

Researchers from Project Seahorse, a marine conservation team based at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), have identified and reviewed new findings related to 35 of the 46 seahorse species found around the globe, all of them posted by citizen scientists using the team’s iSeahorse program. The program allows membersRead More

New Wrasse Discovered At Remote Revillagigedos

During an expedition to the remote islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago off Mexico’s Pacific coast, a team of scientists have discovered a new species of Halichoeres wrasse that is likely endemic to the remote location. The researchers described the new species, dubbed Halichoeres sanchezi or the tailspot wrasse, in a paper published Feb. 28 in the journal PeerJ. The species was namedRead More

Substances Exuded By Stressed Corals Compound The Matter

Published in the journal Communications Biology, research led by the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) has revealed that when coral bleaching occurs, corals release unique organic compounds into the surrounding water that not only promote bacterial growth overall, but select for opportunistic bacteria that may furtherRead More

Scientist Give Endangered Fish A Helping Hand

In an effort to help protect a struggling species from warming seas, human-caused habitat changes and ravenous urchins, scientists have collected 25 extremely rare Red Handfish from the ocean off Australia. Only about 100 are left in the wild, living in a small section of reef off southeast Tasmania. At around 8cm centimetres in length,Read More

Could Green Hydrogen Save Suffocating Oceans?

It is estimated that, as a result of climate change, warming temperatures and an increase in nutrient density, oceans have lost about 2% of dissolved oxygen since the 1950s. Expected to increase by 4% by 2100, this loss rate can be more intense in some locations, such as coastal regions, posing a serious threat to biodiversity.Read More

World’s Largest Deep Water Reef Discovered

A massive 6.4 million acre deep sea coral reef has just been discovered off the US East Coast and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Exploration are naming it the largest of it’s kind in the World. The discovery, just published in the journal Geomatics, disproves a long-held belief that the Blake Plateau in the AtlanticRead More

Non Algae Microbe May Help Corals Survive Bleaching

In a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF) in Barcelona, researchers have discovered a single-celled microbe that may help corals survive ocean-warming events like bleaching. Publishing their findings in the journal Environmental Microbiology, the team found thatRead More

Divers Treat Corals With Antibiotics In War Against SCTLD

The Turks and Caicos Islands joined the list of Caribbean countries affected by stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in 2019, but a dedicated team of reef protectors are battling to save their beloved reefs. This devastating disease, which first emerged off the coast of Florida nearly a decade ago, has rapidly spread across theRead More

Study Finds Global Marine Aquarium Trade Now Worth Over $2.15 Billion, But Big Challenges Ahead

New research has generated the first global estimate of the number of fish and invertebrates within the Marine Aquarium Trade and discovered that every year, an estimated 55 million organisms are sold. Worth $2.15bn at retail, it places the industry on par with global fisheries, such as tuna, in terms of economic significance. The paper, published in ScienceRead More

Bird Droppings Provide Surprise Boost To Coral Recovery

A new study led by researchers at Lancaster University has found that the presence of seabirds on islands adjacent to tropical coral reefs can boost coral growth rates on those reefs by more than double. In addition, coral reefs near seabird colonies can bounce back much quicker from bleaching events, which often cause mass die-off of corals when seas become tooRead More