Research: Crabs Not Only Suffer Pain But Remember It As Well; 'Not A Simple Reflex'
Belfast, Ireland - Mar 27, 2009 16:58 EST
New research published by a Queen's University Belfast academic has shown that crabs not only suffer pain but that they retain a memory of it. The study, which looked at the reactions of hermit crabs to small electric shocks, was carried...

Study: Fish Mega-shoals Could Be World's Biggest Animal Group
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Mar 26, 2009 18:29 EST
For the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals — in this case, fish. The work, conducted using a novel imaging technique, "provides information essential...

Study: Dust Plays Large Role In Determining Atlantic Temperature; Upward Trend Just 'Dust Storms And Volcanoes'
Madison, Wisconsin - Mar 26, 2009 18:05 EST
The recent warming trend in the Atlantic Ocean is largely due to reductions in airborne dust and volcanic emissions during the past 30 years, according to a new study. Since 1980, the tropical North Atlantic has been warming by an average...

Research: Smaller Fishes Had A Better Chance Of Avoiding Extinction; 'The Same Thing Is Happening Today'
Chicago, Illinois - Mar 26, 2009 17:40 EST
Large size and a fast bite spelled doom for bony fishes during the last mass extinction 65 million years ago, according to a new study to be published March 31, 2009, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....

Recreational Divers Asked To Join Atocha Spanish Galleon Treasure Search Off Florida Keys
Key West, Florida - Mar 26, 2009 17:11 EST
For the first time, adventure-hungry certified divers can work alongside professional treasure salvage experts excavating the wrecksite of the , one of the most significant shipwreck discoveries of the 20th century. The weeklong Atocha Dive Adventure includes training in commercial...

You Don’t Call, You Don’t Write: Connectivity Between Marine Reserves Revealed In Fish Populations
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Mar 25, 2009 18:04 EST
Children of baby boomers aren’t the only ones who have taken to setting up home far from where their parents live. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documents how larval dispersal...

Red Sea Farasan Banks Coral Reef Expedition Set To Launch; Last Surveyed Six Decades Ago By Cousteau
Landover, Maryland - Mar 25, 2009 17:29 EST
The final expedition of a four-year collaborative coral reef research program along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia will occur April 4-28, 2009, in an area known as the Farasan Banks. The expedition will be conducted from the research...

Pharmaceuticals Discovered In Fish In Five Major US Cities; 'Highest Concentrations In Fish Livers'
Waco, Texas - Mar 25, 2009 17:17 EST
Baylor University researchers, working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have detected low-level residues of several human medications and personal care products in fish collected from effluent-dominated rivers, including the residue of one pharmaceutical in wild fish that has...

Illegal Gillnet Fishermen Snagged With 4,000 Pounds Of Fish Off Florida Coast; 'We Are Out There'
Tallahassee, Florida - Mar 25, 2009 17:06 EST
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) “netted” a big one. The FWC arrested four men for gill-netting in state waters and seized approximately 48,000 square feet in monofilament entangling nets and 4,000 pounds of fish. The...

Researchers: Coral Off Hawaiian Coast May Be Oldest Living Marine Animals Known To Man
Livermore, California - Mar 24, 2009 15:51 EST
Deep-sea corals from about 400 meters off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands are much older than once believed and some may be the oldest living marine organisms known to man. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore, Stanford University and the University of...

Researchers: Blind Fish's Sensors May Spur Development Of New Generation Of Active Sonar
Atlanta, Georgia - Mar 24, 2009 14:22 EST
A blind fish that has evolved a unique technique for sensing motion may inspire a new generation of sensors that perform better than current active sonar. Although members of the fish species Astyanax fasciatus cannot see, they sense their environment...

Researcher: Hippos More Closely Related To Whales, Not Pigs
Calgary, Canada - Mar 19, 2009 18:15 EST
Hippos spend lots of time in the water and now it turns out (or researchers argue), they are the closest living relative to whales. It also turns out, the two are swimming in a bit of controversy. Jessica Theodor, an associate...

Researchers: Major Losses For Caribbean Reef Fish In Last 15 Years; Overfishing 'Not The Only Cause'
British Columbia, Canada - Mar 19, 2009 17:33 EST
By combining data from 48 studies of coral reefs from around the Caribbean, researchers have found that fish densities that have been stable for decades have given way to significant declines since 1995. The study appears online on March 19th...

Conservation Groups Sue To Protect False Killer Whales In Hawaii; Longline Fishery Slaughter Cited
Honolulu, Hawaii - Mar 18, 2009 19:14 EST
Seeking an end to the continuing slaughter of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in the waters of Hawai'i, Earthjustice, representing a coalition of conservation groups, filed suit in federal court in Honolulu today against the National Marine Fisheries Service, challenging...

University Researchers Urged To Develop 'Robofish' To Monitor Pollution; 'World First'
Colchester, United Kingdom - Mar 17, 2009 18:11 EST
Researchers at the University of Essex have been awarded a share of £2.5 million to develop robotic fish that analyse and monitor pollution in a port. Professor Huosheng Hu will lead the Essex robotics team, joined by Dr John Gan and...

Biologist: Oil Spill Clean-up Kills More Fish Than Spills Themselves; Increases 'Bioavailability And Toxicity Of The Fuel'
Ontario, Canada - Mar 17, 2009 17:39 EST
A new Queen’s University study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful. "The detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term because...

Elephant Shark Genome Sequence Leads To Discovery Of Color Perception In Deep-sea Fish
Singapore - Mar 17, 2009 17:21 EST
The elephant shark, a primitive deep-sea fish that belongs to the oldest living family of jawed vertebrates, can see color much like humans can. This discovery, published in the March 2009 issue of Genome Research, may enhance scientists' understanding of...

'Unprecedented' Global Partnership Launched Address The Growing Threats To Global Tuna Populations
McLean, Virginia - Mar 16, 2009 18:10 EST
Eminent marine scientists, major figures in the non-profit environmental community and leaders of the seafood industry have joined forces to establish the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a non-profit organization developed to respond to the growing threats to global tuna...

Study: Fish Consumption Guidelines Not Environmentally Sustainable; No 'Sea Of Plenty'
Ottawa, Ontario - Mar 16, 2009 17:47 EST
Recommendations to increase fish consumption because of health benefits may not be environmentally sustainable and more research is needed to clarify the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, write Dr. David Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and coauthors in...

Study: Preserved Shark Fossil Adds Evidence To Great White's Origins; Once Grew Slower And Larger?
Gainsville, Florida - Mar 13, 2009 17:48 EST
A new University of Florida study could help resolve a long-standing debate in shark paleontology: From which line of species did the modern great white shark evolve? For the last 150 years, some paleontologists have concluded the great white shark,...

Florida Proposes The Country’s Strongest Conservation Measures For Freshwater Turtles
Tallahassee, Florida - Mar 13, 2009 15:37 EST
After months of reviewing and discussing the issue of freshwater turtle harvest in Florida, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staff will present a draft rule at the Commission meeting in Tallahassee on April 15. “Staff is proposing a draft...

Study: Human-generated Sounds May Kill Fish; 'Immediate Death' For Some
College Park, Maryland - Mar 12, 2009 15:09 EST
Anthropogenic, or human generated, sounds have the potential to significantly affect the lives of aquatic animals - from the individual animal's well-being, right through to its reproduction, migration and even survival of the species. According to a study entitled "The...

SeamountsOnline Portal Launches As One Stop-shop For Seamount Managers And Researchers
San Diego, California - Mar 12, 2009 14:30 EST
A free online portal is providing deep-sea researchers and managers with new tools for finding and accessing information on the biological communities that live on seamounts (undersea mountains), facilitating improved management of seamount resources, and conservation of seamount habitat. Since...

NOAA Public Service Announcement: 'Don't Feed Wild Dolphins'
Washington, D.C. - Mar 11, 2009 22:21 EST
“Just stop feeding me!” says an animated dolphin in a new public service announcement released today that highlights the dangers of dolphins getting hooked on human handouts. The PSA was produced by a coalition of government agencies and private organizations. The...

New Tracking Tags Are Providing Fish-eye Views Of Ways To Manage Depressed Fisheries
Ithaca, New York - Mar 11, 2009 22:00 EST
New tracking and observing technologies are giving marine conservationists a fish-eye view of conditions, from overfishing to climate change, that are contributing to declining fish populations, according to a new study. Until recently, scientists provided fishery managers only such limited data...

Study: Septic Tanks Affect Coastal Water Quality; 'It Is What We Expected'
Palo Alto, California - Mar 11, 2009 21:29 EST
California Sea Grant researchers have strong evidence that septic tanks in Northern California are leaking nitrogen and phosphate into coastal waters that can trigger algal blooms. Reporting in the journal Limnology and Oceanography, they report finding elevated levels of these “nutrients”...

Sedation Used For First Time To Free Entangled Right Whale; 'New Tool In The Large Whale Disentanglement Toolbox'
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Mar 11, 2009 13:51 EST
On Friday, March 6, 2009, for the first time ever, a North Atlantic right whale that had been severely entangled in fishing gear, was administered a sedation mixture that made it possible for rescuers to remove 90 percent of the...

Study: Coral Reefs May Start Dissolving When Atmospheric CO2 Doubles; 'Simple Chemistry Taught To Freshman'
Standford, California - Mar 9, 2009 17:59 EST
Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the resulting effects on ocean water are making it increasingly difficult for coral reefs to grow, say scientists. A study to be published online March 13, 2009 in Geophysical Research Letters by researchers...

Lobster Traps Going High Tech; eMOLT Sensor 'provides A Lot Of Data At A Reasonable Cost'
Washington, D.C. - Mar 9, 2009 17:55 EST
New England lobstermen have gone high tech by adding low-cost instruments to their lobster pots that record bottom temperature and provide data that could help improve ocean circulation models in the Gulf of Maine. Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps, or eMOLT,...

No Mercy: Florida Fishers Face $10,000 Fine Over Undersized Swordfish; 'We Hope This Case Serves As Deterrence'
Tallahassee, Florida - Mar 7, 2009 09:21 EST
That’s some expensive fish. Taking three undersized swordfish may end up costing four Broward County men $10,000. NOAA issued a “notice of violation and assessment” to the owner, permit holder, boat operator and fisherman of the fishing vessel “No Mercy.” The...

Research: See-through Fish Fed Junk Food Diet Develops Early Symptoms Of Heart Disease
San Diego, California - Mar 6, 2009 18:01 EST
We usually think of fish as a "heart-healthy" food. Now fish are helping researchers better understand how heart disease develops in studies that could lead to new drugs to slow disease and prevent heart attacks. Scientists at the University of California,...

New Deep-Sea Bamboo Coral Discovered On NOAA-Supported Mission; 'Live, 4,000-year-old Corals'
Washington, D.C. - Mar 5, 2009 14:29 EST
Scientists identified seven new species of bamboo coral discovered on a NOAA-funded mission in the deep waters of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Six of these species may represent entirely new genera, a remarkable feat given the broad classification a...

Three Louisiana Fishers Face Fines, Jail For Having 85 Sharks On Their Boat
Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Mar 4, 2009 12:42 EST
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents cited three Louisiana men for allegedly possessing over the limit of shark on Feb. 19. Agents stopped a commercial fishing vessel for license compliance during a National Marine Fisheries Service joint enforcement...

Research: Algae 'Soap' Stripped Birds Of Waterproofing; 'Combination Of Red Tide, Birds, And Big Storm Waves'
Santa Cruz, California - Mar 3, 2009 16:44 EST
In late 2007, hundreds of dead and stranded seabirds washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay, their feathers saturated with water and coated with an unknown substance. After an intensive investigation, scientists determined that a massive "red tide" bloom...

NOAA Lists Shipwreck Joffre On National Register Of Historic Places; Landed Over 15 Million Pounds Of Fish
Washington, D.C. - Mar 3, 2009 16:31 EST
The wreck of an early 20th century fishing vessel that represents technological changes in New England’s fishing industry has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. The 105-foot...

Silent Diving Systems Recalls Uncrimped Scuba Diving Hoses Over Drowning Hazard
Washington, D.C. - Feb 27, 2009 18:24 EST
Silent Diving Systems is recalling about 820 scuba diving hoses because of a drowning hazard. The diving hoses may have been made without crimps, which can allow gas to leak or water to enter into the re-breather unit of the scuba...

Study: Commercial Ships Spew Half As Much Particulate Pollution As World's Cars; 'A Significant Health Concern'
Boulder, Colorado - Feb 27, 2009 17:27 EST
Commercial ships emit almost half as much particulate pollutants into the air globally as the total amount released by the world's cars, according to a new study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado...

Fossilized Fish Shows Sex Began 380 Million Years Ago; 'Concrete Evidence For Vivparity'
London, England - Feb 25, 2009 20:49 EST
A 380-million-year-old fossil fish that shows an unborn embryo and umbilical cord has been discovered, scientists report in the journal Nature. The extremely rare specimen shows incredible detail. The umbilical cord is attached to an area of small bones, corresponding to...

Great Lake's Sinkholes Host Exotic Ecosystems; 'Materials From 400 Million Years Ago'
Washington, D.C. - Feb 24, 2009 22:18 EST
Researchers are exploring extreme conditions for life in a place not known for extremes. As little as 20 meters (66 feet) below the surface of Lake Huron, the third largest of North America's Great Lakes, peculiar geological formations—sinkholes made by water...

Psychedelica: DNA Evidence Is In, Newly Discovered Species Of Fish Named
Seattle, Washington - Feb 24, 2009 22:06 EST
"Psychedelica" seems the perfect name for a species of fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and behaves in ways contrary to its brethren. So says University of Washington's Ted Pietsch, who is the first...