By Henry Workman In the Atacama Desert near Caldera, Chile, fossils of 75 prehistoric whales were discovered amid a highway construction project. Estimated at more than 2 million years old but remarkably intact, the remains were found in an unusual cluster no less than 800 meters (or ½ mile) from the ocean. Theories are accumulating [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer In a message to Congress on Thursday President Obama announced: “I am not directing the Secretary of the Treasury to impose trade measures on Icelandic products for the whaling activities that led to the certification by the Secretary of Commerce.” This was in response to a deadline [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer The biological process of carbon fixation plays indispensable roles at the primary level of ecosystems and in the world’s carbonic cycle. Where there is sufficient sunlight to drive photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert CO2 into sugars and expel O2 as waste, energy passed through food [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer Authentic Maine lobster is considered by many to be an unparalleled seafood dining experience. Despite estimations that a large percentage of “Maine lobster” sold worldwide doesn’t actually originate from the Maine coast, these crustaceans have been the enduring cornerstone of the state’s seafood industry. Lobstering here has [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer There is a tendency to identify viviparity, that is, giving birth rather than laying an egg, as a trait exclusively characteristic of mammals. However, just as there are examples of egg laying mammals (the platypus, to name one), cases of live birth can be seen across multiple classes [...]
By Henry Workman Marine Science Today Writer Today, the body of evidence that points towards the climate change driven melting of the polar ice caps is substantial, and continues to grow. The environmental implications of this process have been consistently shown to be severe, and the problems associated with the subsequent rise in sea levels [...]
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