Researchers: Iconic Marine Mammals Are 'Swimming In Sick Seas' Of Terrestrial Pathogens
Vancouver, Canada - Feb 20, 2012 19:30 EST
Parasites and pathogens infecting humans, pets and farm animals are increasingly being detected in marine mammals such as sea otters, porpoises, harbor seals and killer whales along the Pacific coast of the U.S. and Canada, and better surveillance is required...

Staghorn Coral Transplanted On Florida Reef; 'Northernmost Location On The Planet'
Hollywood, California - Feb 18, 2012 18:42 EST
In a delicate operation at sea, healthy staghorn coral were transplanted Friday to a threatened reef off the Broward County coast by researchers at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center and its internal National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI). "This is the northernmost...

Scientists: Mother Of Pearl Tells A Tale Of Ocean Temperature, Depth
Madison, Wisconsin - Feb 16, 2012 18:48 EST
Nacre -- or mother of pearl, scientists and artisans know, is one of nature's amazing utilitarian materials. Produced by a multitude of mollusk species, nacre is widely used in jewelry and art. It is inlaid into musical instruments, furniture and...

Marine Scientists Awarded Grant To Study Ciguatera Fish Poisoning; 'There's A Lot We Don't Know'
Austin, Texas - Feb 15, 2012 20:44 EST
Marine scientist Deana Erdner is part of an international team of researchers awarded an anticipated five-year, $4 million grant to study the causes of ciguatera fish poisoning, the most common form of algal toxin-induced seafood poisoning in the world. The study...

Researchers: Ocean Microbe Communities Changing, But Long-Term Environmental Impact Is Unclear
Corvallis, Oregon - Feb 14, 2012 17:58 EST
As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere – but researchers say it's still unclear whether these processes will further increase global warming...

Florida Keys 'Wreck Trek' Program's Prize Winners Announced
Key West, Florida - Feb 14, 2012 00:25 EST
Several thousand divers visit the Florida Keys annually to dive the island chain's shipwreck trail. More than 100 of them completed a series of nine wreck dives to be eligible to win one of several dive and lodging packages and...

'Anti-Freeze' Fish Of Antarctica Threatened By Climate Change; 'So Well Adapted To Water At Freezing Temperatures'
New Haven, Connecticut - Feb 13, 2012 23:16 EST
A Yale-led study of the evolutionary history of Antarctic fish and their "anti-freeze" proteins illustrates how tens of millions of years ago a lineage of fish adapted to newly formed polar conditions – and how today they are endangered by...

Engineers Find Inspiration For New Materials In Piranha-Proof Armor; 'We're Reaching The Limit With Synthetic Materials'
San Diego, California - Feb 11, 2012 00:56 EST
It's a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner? The surprising answer—given the notorious guillotine-like bite of the piranha—is Brazil's massive Arapaima fish. The...

Research: Amazing Skin 'Denticles' Gives Sharks A Push
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Feb 9, 2012 17:16 EST
Streamlined sharks are legendary for their effortless swimming. George Lauder from Harvard University explains that the fish have long inspired human engineers, but more recently attention has focused on how the fish's remarkable skin boosts swimming. Coated in razor sharp...

Study: Global Glaciers, Ice Caps, Shedding Billions Of Tons Of Mass Annually; Sea Rising 0.4 Millimeters Annually
Boulder, Colorado - Feb 8, 2012 18:35 EST
Earth's glaciers and ice caps outside of the regions of Greenland and Antarctica are shedding roughly 150 billion tons of ice annually, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. The research effort is the first...

Petition Seeks International Investigation Of Canada's Farmed Fish Operations, Protections For Wild Salmon
San Francisco, California - Feb 7, 2012 20:24 EST
Conservation, fishing and native groups in Canada and the United States filed a formal petition (pdf) today requesting an international investigation into Canada's failure to protect wild salmon in British Columbia from disease and parasites in industrial fish feedlots. The...

Report: 2011 Shark Attacks Remain Steady, Worldwide Deaths Highest Since 1993; 'Who's Killing Who?'
Gainsville, Florida - Feb 7, 2012 14:49 EST
Shark attacks in the U.S. declined in 2011, but worldwide fatalities reached a two-decade high, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File report released today. While the U.S. and Florida saw a five-year downturn in the number of...

Scientists To Install First Real-Time Seafloor Earthquake Observatory At Cascadia Fault; 'You Have To Have Instruments Out There'
Wood Hole, Massachusetts - Feb 3, 2012 18:47 EST
damage Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, and Victoria, British Columbia, and generate a large tsunami. Yet there are currently no instruments installed offshore, directly above the fault, for measuring the strain that is currently building up along the fault. But a recent $1...

Study Finds Southern Indian Ocean Humpbacks Singing Different Tunes
New York, New York - Feb 2, 2012 17:41 EST
A recently published study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and others reveals that humpback whales on both sides of the southern Indian Ocean are singing different tunes, unusual since humpbacks in the same ocean basin usually all sing very similar...

Scientists: 'No Evidence' To Support 'Media' And 'Climate Change' Reports On Increasing Jellyfish Populations
Santa Barbara, California - Feb 1, 2012 20:00 EST
Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations — clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants — and recent media reports have created a perception that...

NOAA Study To Satellite Tag Killer Whales Angers Canadian Conservationists; 'Risk Isn't Worth It'
Sidney, British Columbia - Jan 29, 2012 19:43 EST
A plan to tag the endangered southern resident killer whales that ply both sides of the international boundary between Canada and the USA is meeting with growing opposition, now on the Canadian side of the border. Despite efforts between Canada...

Federal Judge Allows Nonhuman Rights Project To Appear As Friend Of The Court In Peta V. Seaworld
Coral Springs, Florida - Jan 27, 2012 19:32 EST
Over the objections of both PETA and SeaWorld, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller granted a request by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) to appear as an amicus curiae, or "Friend of the Court," in the case PETA filed...

Group Sues Us Navy For Blasting Marine Mammals With Harmful Sonar, 'Deafening Noises'
San Francisco, California - Jan 26, 2012 21:14 EST
A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups today sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California,...

Scientist Detecting Detrimental Change In Coral Reefs With 'Temporal Texture Monitoring'
Greenbelt, Maryland - Jan 26, 2012 21:03 EST
Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan—a young ocean ecologist who had worked...

Ecologists Among The First To Record And Study Deep-Sea Fish Noises; 'A Wealth Of Biological Sounds'
Amherst, Massachusetts - Jan 26, 2012 20:49 EST
University of Massachusetts Amherst fish biologists have published one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, collected from the sea floor about 2,237 feet (682 meters) below the North Atlantic. With recording technology now...

Life Beyond Earth? Underwater Caves In Bahamas Could Give Clues
Galveston, Texas - Jan 26, 2012 20:18 EST
Discoveries made in some underwater caves by Texas &M University at Galveston researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life...

NOAA Unveils Improved Way To Estimate Saltwater Recreational Fishing; 'Can Only Be A Plus'
Silver Spring, Maryland - Jan 25, 2012 18:07 EST
NOAA today announced it has begun to use an improved method to estimate the amount of fish caught by saltwater anglers, which will allow rules that fishermen follow to be based on more accurate information. The method is part of an...

Life Discovered On Dead Hydrothermal Vents; 'The Next Thing Is To Go Subterranean'
Los Angeles, California - Jan 24, 2012 20:33 EST
Scientists at USC have uncovered evidence that even when hydrothermal sea vents go dormant and their blistering warmth turns to frigid cold, life goes on. Or rather, it is replaced. A team led by USC microbiologist Katrina Edwards found that the...

Advantages Of Living In The Dark: Scientists Document The Multiple Evolution Events Of 'Blind' Cavefish
New York, New York - Jan 23, 2012 18:26 EST
Blind Mexican cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) have not only lost their sight, but have adapted to perpetual darkness by also losing their pigment (albinism) and having altered sleep patterns. Research led by New York University biologists shows that the cavefish are...

Scientists: Unprecedented, Man-Made Trends In Ocean's Acidity; 'Hundred Times Greater Than The Natural Rate Of Change'
Oahu, Hawaii - Jan 22, 2012 20:24 EST
Nearly one-third of CO2 emissions due to human activities enters the world's oceans. By reacting with seawater, CO2 increases the water's acidity, which may significantly reduce the calcification rate of such marine organisms as corals and mollusks. The extent to...

Christiana Bradley And Teddy Carr Move Up Rankings In Florida's Bassmaster Southern Open
Tampla, Florida - Jan 20, 2012 20:32 EST
GEICO anglers Christiana Bradley and Teddy Carr moved up the standings in Friday's second day of the Bassmaster Southern Open on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Central Florida. Bradley gained six spots to finish 51st in the opening Bassmaster Open...

Cambodia: Extremely Rare Turtle Is Release To The Wild With Satellite Tag
New York, New York - Jan 20, 2012 19:18 EST
The Wildlife Conservation Society, in conjunction with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, announced today the successful release of a Southern River terrapin (Batagur affinis) – one of the most endangered turtles on earth – into the Sre...

Study: Mysterious Flotsam In Gulf Of Mexico Came From Deepwater Horizon Rig
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Jan 19, 2012 18:28 EST
Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, mysterious honeycomb material was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico and along coastal beaches. Using state-of-the-art chemical forensics and a bit of old-fashioned detective work, a research team led by scientists at Woods...

Landlocked North Dakota Oceanographer Is No 'Fish Out Of Water'
Grand Forks, North Dakota - Jan 17, 2012 20:28 EST
Can an oceanographer in the middle of the North American continent find happiness studying a flooding freshwater lake in landlocked North Dakota? According to Xiaodong Zhang, an associate professor in earth systems science and policy at the University of North Dakota,...

Researcher: 8 Unprovoked Shark Attacks Along U.S. Pacific Coast In 2011; Attacks Trending Up
Los Angeles, California - Jan 16, 2012 21:47 EST
Shark attacks are still trending up for the U.S. Pacific Coast according to new statistics released today by the Los Angeles-based Shark Research Committee. According to Ralph Collier, who heads research for the Shark Research Committee, the average number of...

Research: Fish Offspring Grow Best At Same Temperature As Parents; Differences 'significant'
Stony Brook, New York - Jan 12, 2012 17:30 EST
Fish parents can pre-condition their offspring to grow fastest at the temperature they experienced, according to research published in the February 2012 edition of Ecology Letters. This pre-conditioning, known as transgenerational plasticity (TGP), occurs whenever environmental cues experienced by either...

Researchers Propose Putting A Price On Whales; Tradable Catch Quota Brings 'A Market Approach'
Santa Barbara, California - Jan 11, 2012 23:01 EST
Every year, a group of anti-whaling nonprofit organizations that includes Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, and the World Wildlife Fund spend, by conservative estimates, some $25 million on a variety of activities intended to end commercial whaling. And every year, commercial whaling not...

Scientists: Topography Played Key Role In Deepwater Horizon Disaster; 'Why Not Mandate A Model?'
Santa Barbara, California - Jan 9, 2012 20:55 EST
When UC Santa Barbara geochemist David Valentine and colleagues published a study in early 2011 documenting how bacteria blooms had consumed almost all of the deepwater methane plumes following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, some people were skeptical....

'First' As Scientists Use Satellite Data To Aid Fishermen In Butterfish Conundrum
Newark, Deleware - Jan 6, 2012 20:19 EST
Butterfish may sound delicious, but local fishermen would rather keep them out of their nets. The small, silvery fish are protected by fishing limits yet frequently surface in tows when fishermen are trawling for squid. Too much of this unintended...

Scientists Find 'Opportunistic' Fish That Mimics Octopus That Mimics Fish
San Francisco, California - Jan 4, 2012 19:25 EST
Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish (Stalix cf. histrio) and the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus). Undescribed by scientists until...

Russian River Water Unexpected Culprit Behind Arctic Freshening Near US, Canada
Seattle, Washington - Jan 4, 2012 18:52 EST
A hemispherewide phenomenon – and not just regional forces – has caused record-breaking amounts of freshwater to accumulate in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea. Frigid freshwater flowing into the Arctic Ocean from three of Russia's mighty rivers was diverted hundreds of miles...

Florida: Annual Manatee Death Count Shows Cold Weather An Unusually Big Factor Again
Tallahassee, Florida - Jan 4, 2012 11:01 EST
A cold-related die-off of manatees in early 2011 set the stage for a third straight year with high numbers of deaths for the species. Biologists with the research arm of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) documented 453...

Divers Can Explore Marathon Artificial Reef Made From Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad Bridge Section
Marathon, Florida Keys - Jan 3, 2012 11:15 EST
Advanced divers seeking to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad’s completion can do so by exploring an artificial reef derived from part of the original railroad bridge sunk off Marathon. Henry Flagler’s Over-Sea Railroad, lauded on its...

Underwatertimes.com Top Ten Wildest, Weirdest And Strangest Underwater Stories Of 2011
Miami, Florida - Dec 31, 2011 15:05 EST
Underwatertimes.com ends 2011 with this year's top 10 wildest, weirdest, and strangest stories from the underwater world. Be sure to check out the Underweird section for many more strange underwater stories. Tiny Water Insect With 'Singing Penis' Is The Loudest...

U.S. Agencies Coordinate Efforts As Japan Tsunami Debris Scatters In The Pacific Ocean, Heads To Shore
Silver Spring, Marland - Dec 28, 2011 18:34 EST
Debris from the tsunami that devastated Japan in March could reach the United States as early as this winter, according to predictions by NOAA scientists. However, they warn there is still a large amount of uncertainty over exactly what is...