Emily Tripp Senior Writer Today, the first group of penguins affected by the oil spill in New Zealand was released back into their home waters. On October 5th, the cargo vessel, Rena, ran aground off the Astrolabe reef, spilling more than 400 tons of oil into the water and killing more than 2,000 seabirds. The [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer Happy Feet Two was released in theaters on Nov 18. While still primarily a tale about Emperor Penguins, this movie also features elephant seals, leopard seals, and most importantly, krill. The krill in Happy Feet Two are voiced by Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. The 30th Commission for the Conservation of [...]
By Henry Workman Research from New Zealand’s Massey University and Te Papa has produced footage revealing the hagfish’s one-of-a-kind defense mechanism. When threatened the creature will expel a mucus-like substance which interferes with the gill functioning of predators, causing them to gag and swim away. The study also yielded insight into the hagfish’s own predatory [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer The ‘breakfast breakout session’ titled “Shark Attack: ‘Human Kind at Its Worst’” at the SEJ Conference on Saturday was composed of a group of four people, passionate about sharks. The session title came from impressive words from Jean-Michel Cousteau who once said that “shark finning is humankind at its worst”. It covered topics from shark [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer A new thesis explains how industrial chemicals are harming polar bears. These industrial chemicals are transported from industrial cities to the Arctic on boats and planes, where the cocktail of environmental toxins is incorporated into the food chain. “The accumulated industrial chemicals cause diseases in the polar bears which do not [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer Between 245 and 90 million years ago a large, fish-like reptile called the ichthyosaur dominated the Mesozoic ocean at the top of the food chain. It’s unlikely that the ichthyosaur had any predators of its own, which makes a paleontological site in Nevada containing fossil remains of [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer Species of jellyfish provide greater competition for more complex organisms than previously thought. Recent research published in Science reveals that in areas where plankton-feeding fish populations have dropped off, mostly due to overfishing, jellyfish that occupy a similar ecological niche have taken their places. The jellyfish populations have [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer NOAA’s Fisheries Service, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Mexican environmental officials have released a new plan to protect the endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle. The updated Bi-National Recovery Plan was signed on September 22. “We are working together with other U.S. and Mexican agencies on the recovery [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer A virus-fighting substance known as squalamine is the subject of new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The compound was originally discovered in the liver of dogfish, where it plays an important role in protecting it, as well as some other species, from [...]
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