marine biology

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Stunning Finds at Antarctic Deep-Sea Vents

Ghost octopus, 'Hasselhoff crab' among new species found

(Newser) - Stunned scientists taking their first-ever look at deep-sea vents in the ocean that surrounds Antarctica spotted new species clustered in vast numbers 8,000 feet below. A new species of yeti crab—dubbed the "Hasselhoff crab" because of its hairy chest—was found in huge piles near the outflow,...

New Dolphin Species Found in Australia

Creature was 'right under our noses': researcher

(Newser) - For just the fourth time in more than a century, researchers have identified a new species of dolphin—and the Aussie scientists didn’t have to look far. Two dolphin populations in Australia, numbering about 150 in total, were once believed to be bottlenose dolphins; turns out they’re genetically...

Marine Scientists: Ban Deep-Sea Fishing

Stocks are being dangerously depleted, they warn

(Newser) - A group of marine scientists has issued a damning report about deep-sea fishing and called for the practice to be banned, reports the Washington Post . The paper in the journal Marine Policy says it's not so much fishing as "mining" and the sea is more like a "...

Earth Holds 8.7M Species, Study Finds

And most of them are still undiscovered

(Newser) - Humanity shares the planet with roughly 8.7 million species, most of them still undiscovered, according to a new study. Researchers used complex mathematical models to tackle a question that has long puzzled scientists, identifying numerical patterns in data from 1.2 million known species, excluding viruses and microorganisms, reports...

Why Seahorses Are So Curvy
 Why Seahorses Are So Curvy 
Jan 30, 2011 10:13 AM CST

Why Seahorses Are So Curvy

Scientists say odd shape makes them better hunters

(Newser) - The seahorse is one of the more unusual-looking creatures in the oceans, and now scientists say they've unlocked the secret to the curvy shape—it's all about hunting. Seahorses feed by waiting for their prey to swim by, then striking; their curved neck gives them more range to their attacks....

Sharks Are Color-Blind
 Sharks Are Color-Blind 
Jan 19, 2011 5:47 AM CST

Sharks Are Color-Blind

Finding could help make swimmers safer from shark attacks

(Newser) - Even the most brightly colored swimwear won't make you more interesting to a shark, according to new research. Researchers examined the retinas of 17 kinds of shark caught in Australian waters and found that the predators see the world in black and white, the BBC reports. They believe their findings...

Sultry Year Threatens World's Coral

Widespread bleaching expected in weeks to come

(Newser) - This year is set to be the hottest on record and scientists warn that could spell disaster for coral reefs. Reefs around the world are bleaching—expelling the algae that give them their color—on a scale only ever seen once before, in 1998. An estimated 16% of the world's...

Be a Good American: Eat This Fish

The lionfish may ruin us if you don't!

(Newser) - How to make Uncle Sam proud: Buy American, fly a flag, eat...lionfish? That third one is, indeed, what one government agency would like you to do. The voracious, aggressively invasive lionfish is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, off the Florida Keys, and along the Atlantic as far north as...

Gulf Oil Spill Fallout Baffles Scientists

Scientists have little experience with oil from below

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill will affect all living things in the area—but determining what those consequences will be is stumping the best minds in environmental science. There's never been an oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon accident on the ocean floor, and data is scarce on...

Monster Squid Turns Out to Be Lazy Blob

Legendary predator just waits for prey to swim by

(Newser) - Ferocious sea creature? Fuggeddaboutit. It may be longer than a school bus and have razor-sharp hooks, but the colossal squid is no monster, reports LiveScience . New research suggests that just the opposite is true: "Everyone thought it was an aggressive predator," one scientist says. "Our findings show...

Life Found Deep Beneath Antarctic Ice

  Life Found Deep 
  Beneath Antarctic Ice 
Hope for Extraterrestrials
Mar 16, 2010 5:32 AM CDT

Life Found Deep Beneath Antarctic Ice

Sophisticated creatures found 600ft below frozen sheet

(Newser) - NASA scientists probing 600 feet beneath an Antarctic ice sheet were amazed to find sophisticated life where they had expected to find a few microbes at best. The team put a video camera into the dark subfreezing water and found a shrimp-like creature clinging to the cable when they pulled...

Coconut-Carrying Octopus Stuns Scientists

Homebuilding is first time tool use has been seen among octopi

(Newser) - Australian scientists observing octopi on the sea floor near Indonesia were amazed to discover that the creatures scoop up coconut halves, empty them out, and carry them around to assemble into shelters. The behavior shows a surprising level of intelligence, the researchers say, and is the first recorded instance of...

Taxi-Sized Squid Caught off Louisiana

20-foot creature is the first giant squid ever netted by Gulf researchers

(Newser) - Scientists studying whale diets in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly hauled in a giant squid half as long as a school bus, Reuters reports. The 19.5-foot-long creature dragged up from 1,500 feet below the sea off Louisiana is the first giant squid found in the area in over...

New England Starfish Boom Baffles Experts

Shellfish predators' population worries fishermen

(Newser) - New England beaches are swarming with starfish this spring, and nobody’s sure why, the Boston Globe reports. The spike may be connected to shellfish population; it could be due to a drop in spider crabs, which prey on starfish; it could be tied to water temperature or wind patterns....

Climate Change May Tank World's Fish Stocks

Scientists predict huge upheaval to marine populations

(Newser) - The world's supplies of fish face major upheaval, scientists warn, as climate change forces species from shrimp to herring away from warming waters toward the poles. The BBC reports that in 40 years, American fishermen may see a 50% reduction in the population of Atlantic cod. "The impact of...

Fishing Banned in Melting Arctic

Federal panel moves to block trawlers from newly accessible waters

(Newser) - A federal panel has voted to block fishing trawlers from moving into a vast area of the Arctic Sea made newly accessible by melting ice, the New York Times reports. The move will protect 150,000 square nautical miles of US waters north of the Bering Strait while scientists assess...

To Find the Killer Whale, Scientists Think Like One

Off of Scotland, team stakes out its prey

(Newser) - Killer whales spend most of their time tracking their prey, and so do the scientists who study them. Marine biologists at Scotland's St. Andrews University spent 3 months among the Shetland Islands in search of their cetacean quarry, and caught sight of whales only about 12 times. They explain to...

Dolphins' Hunting Tools Mostly Used by Females

Dolphin moms pass skills on to daughters; males do their own thing

(Newser) - Beside humans, few other animals use tools to get their everyday chores done. Even fewer of them are marine mammals, so researchers in Australia were surprised to catch bottlenose dolphins employing conical sponges to dig in the seafloor. Mostly female dolphins use the snout-protectors, and only if their mothers showed...

Ocean Census Surprises Scientists
Ocean Census Surprises Scientists
Nov 10, 2008 10:32 AM CST

Ocean Census Surprises Scientists

Effort to chart all undersea life by 2010 finds 5K new species

(Newser) - Somewhere under the Antarctic Ocean, brittle starfish completely cover a submerged mountain. In the Pacific, sharks congregate in a region with few food sources but plenty of opportunity for romance. Those facts, along with an accounting of more than 5,000 newly discovered species, are part of the results of...

Scientists Confirm Shark's Virgin Birth

Virginia aquarium blacktip got pregnant without need for shark sperm

(Newser) - A blacktip shark at a Virginia aquarium got pregnant despite not having been around a male of her kind for a decade, the Virginian-Pilot reports. Scientists have long suspected that sharks, like some smaller vertebrates, could reproduce asexually but this is only the second confirmed case. Tests showed the baby...

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