Marine Biology News
Courtesy of Science Daily

Satellite tracking reveals sea turtle feeding hotspots Satellite tracking of threatened loggerhead sea turtles has revealed two previously unknown feeding "hotspots" in the Gulf of Mexico that are providing important habitat for at least three separate populations of the turtles. Publ.Date : Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:39:39 EST Global extinction: Gradual doom is just as bad as abrupt Around 250 million years ago, most life on Earth was wiped out in an extinction known as the "Great Dying." Geologists have learned that the end came slowly from thousands of centuries of volcanic activity. Publ.Date : Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:33:33 EST Scientists coax shy microorganisms to stand out in a crowd Scientists have advanced a method that allowed them to single out a marine microorganism and map its genome even though the organism made up less than 10 percent of a water sample teeming with many millions of individuals from dozens of identifiable groups of microbes. Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:48:48 EST Heat and cold damage corals in their own ways Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold can also cause significant damage. Scientists have shown that cool temperatures can inflict more damage in the short term, but heat is more destructive in the long run. Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:46:46 EST Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date. Publ.Date : Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:12:12 EST Are nuisance jellyfish really taking over the world's oceans? Evidence is lacking that populations of jellyfish and similar gelatinous plankton are surging in numbers globally and will likely dominate the seas in coming decades. Rather, increasing scientific and media interest as well as the lack of good baseline data seem to explain the widespread perception of an increase. Publ.Date : Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:12:12 EST Southern Indian ocean humpback whales found singing different tunes Humpback whales on both sides of the southern Indian Ocean are singing different tunes, unusual since humpbacks in the same ocean basin usually all sing very similar songs. Publ.Date : Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:32:32 EST Are jellyfish increasing in world's oceans? A global study has questioned claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide. Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new global and collaborative study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date. Publ.Date : Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:32:32 EST What do killer whales eat in the Arctic? Killer whales are the top marine predator. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behavior and diet in the Arctic. Publ.Date : Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:28:28 EST Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan -- a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula -- found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974. But Cousteau was right. During the following three-plus decades, Dustan, an ocean ecologist and biology professor at the University of Charleston in South Carolina, has witnessed widespread coral reef degradation and bleaching from up close. Publ.Date : Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:45:45 EST Ecologists capture first deep-sea fish noises Fish biologists conducted one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, 2,237 feet under the Atlantic. With recording technology more affordable, fish sounds can be studied to test the idea that fish communicate with sound, especially those in the dark of the deep ocean. Publ.Date : Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:29:29 EST Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues Discoveries made in some underwater caves by researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life could be found on distant planets and moons. Publ.Date : Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:15:15 EST Attack or retreat? Circuit links hunger and pursuit in sea slug brain If you were a blind, cannibalistic sea slug, living among others just like you, nearly every encounter with another creature would require a simple cost/benefit calculation: Should I eat that -- or flee? In a new study, researchers report that these responses are linked to a simple circuit in the brain of the sea slug Pleurobranchaea. Publ.Date : Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:28:28 EST Where there's a worm there's a whale: First distribution model of marine parasites provides revealing insights Each year around 20,000 people are infected by nematodes of the genus Anisakis and suffer from illnesses ranging from gastrointestinal diseases to serious allergic reactions as a result. For the first time, parasitologists have gathered data on the occurrence of the parasitic worm and have modeled the worldwide distribution of individual species in the ocean. The resulting maps not only enable statements to be made on the occurrence and migration behavior of certain hosts of the parasites, such as Baleen or toothed whales,  but also provide conclusions on the risk of human infection. Publ.Date : Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:10:10 EST Turtles' mating habits protect against effects of climate change The mating habits of marine turtles may help to protect them against the effects of climate change. The study shows how the mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born. Publ.Date : Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:01:01 EST Life discovered on dead hydrothermal vents Microbiologists have found that the microbes that thrive on hot fluid methane and sulfur spewed by active hydrothermal vents are supplanted, once the vents go cold, by microbes that feed on the solid iron and sulfur that make up the vents themselves. Publ.Date : Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:42:42 EST Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world The fate of the world's great whale species commands global attention as a result of heated debate between pro and anti-whaling advocates, but the fate of smaller marine mammals is less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental catching and killing of dolphins, porpoises, manatees, and other warm-blooded aquatic species are rarely studied or monitored. Publ.Date : Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:19:19 EST Lessons in coral reef survival from deep time Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today's coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth's systems. Today's complex relationship between fishes and corals developed relatively recently in geological terms -- and is a major factor in shielding reef species from extinction, say experts. Publ.Date : Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:48:48 EST Unprecedented, human-made trends in ocean's acidity Recent carbon dioxide emissions have pushed the level of seawater acidity far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years, affecting the calcification rates of shell-forming organism. Publ.Date : Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:25:25 EST Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool For the first time scientists have shown that corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae can have different levels of thermal tolerance -– a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae. Publ.Date : Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:42:42 EST Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy' Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says a professor. Publ.Date : Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:42:42 EST Inventory lists 19,232 newly discovered species during latest count More than half of the 19,232 species newly known to science in 2009, the most recent calendar year of compilation, were insects -- 9,738 or 50.6 percent -- according to the 2011 State of Observed Species. Publ.Date : Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:32:32 EST Juvenile predation preventing Steller sea lion recovery A new study suggests that the impact of predation on juvenile Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska has been significantly underestimated, creating a "productivity pit" from which their population will have difficulty recovering without a reduction of predators. Publ.Date : Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:10:10 EST Breakthrough model reveals evolution of ancient nervous systems through seashell colors Determining the evolution of pigmentation patterns on mollusk seashells -- which could aid in the understanding of ancient nervous systems -- has proved to be a challenging feat for researchers. Now, however, through mathematical equations and simulations, researchers have used 19 different species of the predatory sea snail Conus to generate a model of the pigmentation patterns of mollusk shells. Publ.Date : Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:23:23 EST