WaterNotes

Coral spawning events are thought to be triggered by lunar and tidal cycles but they’re also vastly influenced by the temperature of the water. High sea surface temperatures (or SSTs for you acronymaniacs) stress out corals and stressed animals aren’t generally in the mood for love and reproduction. The Baums Laboratory at Penn [...]

How did I miss this news?! In 2008 three new species of seahorse were described! The smallest of the three: Hippocampus satomiae, from scattered areas within Indonesian reefs near Derawan, the Lembah Strait (of northern Sulawesi), and northern Borneo.
Florida boasts H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, clocking in at the size of a nickel [...]

Chris Stallings of Oregon State University published a paper in PLOS One this past week that took a close look at predatory fish populations in Caribbean coral reef habitats over varying levels of human population density (and resulting impact from so-called artisanal fishing). The findings are consistent with reports that we’ve seen before: where there [...]

Margaret Wertheim and her sister started creating crochet reefs as a response to the overwhelming press of climate change back in 2005. Earlier this year at TED she demonstrated these reefs and gave a beautiful explanation of the special geometry that helps create corals and other underwater denizens as well as crochet arts. [...]

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 [...]