WaterNotes

Little is known about the world’s largest (known) species of fish, the whale shark. Researchers from several universities and institutes recently released a paper defining the genetic variability for the species across several ocean systems. Using microsatellite markers for a handful of locations, the authors came to an important conclusion: there is little [...]

I’ve never been a fan of the proposed iron fertilization experiments used in open ocean systems to encourage phytoplankton growth in an attempt to sequester carbon. Why not? The ocean is a big complex place. That sort of logic might make you think that a little bit of iron supplementation here and [...]

Black band disease of corals is a continuing issue in the long term survival and stability of reefs. Researchers working in Eilat, within the Red Sea, published an intriguing paper today that highlights the transmission of the disease throughout a season by closely observing the spatial patterns of infection. Not only did they [...]

File this under “Are you serious? That really works?!” Mental Floss is reporting a wide variety of uses for the canine olfactory system from drug detection to bootleg DVDs to tracking whale waste for researchers attempting to study killer whale diet and potential health by way of poo. Mental Floss says, “Slimy [...]

Macroalgae, in recent years, have become a suspected reservoir of coral disease ever since the 2006 study where small corals placed in plastic containers had 100% mortality rates within 48 hours. After the din from the research, aquarium, and hobby community died down, people questioned if it was the methods in the experiment that [...]

Bottlenose dolphin have previously gone sponging in order to hunt down prey items, but no one realized they also had a recipe for success when it comes to dining on cuttlefish. Behold: Preparing the Perfect Cuttlefish Meal: Complex Prey Handling by Dolphins.
Observations of a single female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) [...]

In the world of marine conservation, marine protected areas (MPAs) are regarded as a necessary fortification against species and habitat loss. They are, effectively, oasis in the ocean should it ever become an actual barren desert. However, it wasnt until recently that researchers were able to say with clarity that such areas were [...]