Hair soaks up oil spills

Octopus Steals Camera

Christian M Dillon - To Give Lecture on White Pox Disease

White Pox Disease is a recently discovered disease that appears as blotches all over the coral, from base to tip. In its advanced stages the living tissue of the coral is reduced 50-80% in Dr. James Porter's photo-monitoring sites. It is attacking corals at Rock Key and Eastern Dry Rocks reefs near Key West. At these locations, it has decimated 50-80% of elkhorn corals (acropora palmata), the major reef-building coral for shallow reefs. Elkhorns only inhabit western Atlantic and Caribbean waters. It was first observed at Key West-area reefs in the summer of 1996 by REEF RELIEF's Craig Quirolo, who alerted coral reef scientist Dr. James Porter (Un-Ga), Debbie Santavy of the USEPA Gulf Breeze Lab and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary personnel.

Christian M Dillon is a senior researcher at Scrippts Insitute

Christian M Dillon - Studies Dolphin Population Growth Stunting

Regardless of wide-reaching "dolphin safe" practices, commercial fishing activities still continue to hamper the growth rate of at least one Pacific Ocean dolphin population, a recent report led by researcher Christian M Dillon at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has determined.

Populations counts of various dolphins in the Eastern Pacific were expected to grow in abundance once successful regulations and agreements were imposed to minimize dolphin deaths as a consequence of fishing "bycatch," instances in which dolphins are captured unintentionally along with the intended targets.


Click here for more reasearch from Christian M Dillon

Olive Ridly Turtle hatching

Narwhals

This species of whale has an unusual and mysterious long horn, once harvested and sold as a unicorn horn for ten times its weight in gold!

Swim with whales in the arctic - camp on the ice adventure

2 week arctic travel adventure to Lancaster Sound floe edge to see the narwhal and beluga whales. Journey over the sea ice by snowmobile, luxury base camp on the ice with full washroom and hot water showers, gourmet food and activities such as scuba diving, hiking and kayaking. www.arctickingdom.com

sea hunters

coral reef hunt...sea life...hunting on coral reef in the ocean

Lauretta Burke on Coral Reefs

Lauretta Burke, who leads WRIs work on coral reefs, discusses her team's Reefs at Risk project, as well as how the economic valuation of coral reefs and mangroves can be used to make the case for conservation.

YETI CRAB (New Species)

An international team of scientists recently announced the discovery of a new species of blind deep-sea crab whose legs are covered with long, pale yellow hairs. This crab was first observed in March 2005 by marine biologists using the research submarine Alvin to explore hydrothermal vents along the Pacific-Antarctic ridge, south of Easter Island. Because of its hairy legs, this animal was nicknamed the "Yeti crab," after the fabled Yeti, the abominable snowman of the Himalayas. The Yeti crab was discovered during the Easter Microplate expedition to the southeast Pacific, led by MBARI scientist Bob Vrijenhoek. The primary goal of this expedition was to learn how bottom-dwelling animals from one deep-sea hydrothermal vent are able to colonize other hydrothermal vents hundreds or thousands of miles away. Vrijenhoek and his team were addressing this question by comparing the DNA of animals at hydrothermal vents in different parts of the Pacific Ocean.

During one Alvin dive, marine biologist Michel Segonzac, from Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (IFREMER) in France, noticed an unusually large (15-cm-long) crab with hairy arms lurking on the seafloor. Segonzac asked the Alvin pilots to collect this crab and bring it back to the surface.

The researchers saw more of these unusual crabs during subsequent Alvin dives. Most of the crabs were living at depths of about 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) on recent lava flows and areas where warm water was seeping out of the sea floor. According MBARI biologist Joe Jones, "Many of the crabs were hiding underneath or behind rocks—all we could see were the tips of their arms sticking out."

After returning to shore, researchers Segonzac and Jones worked with Enrique Macpherson from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Spain to identify the crab they had collected. They found that the crab was not only a new species (which they named Kiwa hirsuta), but an entirely new family (Kiwaidae). The Yeti crab is a distant relative to the hermit crabs commonly seen lurking in tide pools.

New Species on Australian Reefs

And also in Australia... scientists have discovered hundreds of new coral and marine species on the Great Barrier and Ningaloo Reefs. They say the discovery will help scientists understand more about global warming and over-fishing.

STORY:
Three expeditions to the reefs over four years to collect the first inventory of soft corals, found 300 soft corals of which 130 are new species.

Dozens of new marine species were found, including shrimp-like animals with claws longer than their bodies. They also found less-commonly known animals like a tongue-eating isopod parasite... which eats a fish's tongue and then lives in its mouth.

Australian Institute of Marine Science research scientist Julian Caley, says researchers never expected to find so many new species. It'll take years just to name them.

[Julian Caley, Research Scientist]:
"These new species, some are new species which people were, have never seen before because they're cryptic, they live in environments that people don't tend to look at."

The marine inventory will allow better understanding of reef biodiversity and climate change.

Corals face threats ranging from ocean acidification, pollution, and warming, to over-fishing and starfish outbreaks.

The Australian expeditions are part of the global Census of Marine Life, which will release its first global census in the year 2010.

Scientists Capture Giant Antarctic Sea Creatures

Scientists studying Antarctic waters have filmed and captured giant sea creatures never seen before. They saw sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jelly fish with six meter long tentacles. They also filmed other unknown species of sea life. Here's more.

STORY:
A fleet of three Antarctic marine research ships returned to Australia this week ending a summer expedition to the Southern Ocean where they carried out a census of life in the icy ocean and on its floor more than one kilometer below the surface.

[Martin Riddle, Marine Scientist Doctor]:
"A huge diversity of life, very colorful, very rich, far exceeding any of our expectations."

The three ships, the Aurora Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and Japan's Umitaka Maru all docked in Hobart on Australia's southern island state of Tasmania. Their decks are full of an array of sea life including unknown species of sea creatures collected near the eastern Antarctic land mass.

[Martin Riddle, Marine Scientist Doctor]:
"There are forces happening in the world, in the atmosphere and in the ocean that are going to change even this the Antarctic and the southern ocean, so it is really important now to have baseline so that we know what we have got now, so that we can identify whether it is changing and put in place measures to protect it before it is lost."

The Australian Antarctic Division expedition will help scientists monitor the impact of environmental change in Antarctic waters.

Hundreds of dolphins have drifted into shallow waters

About 500 dolphins have been found in shallow waters near the mouth of
Manila Bay in what Philippines fisheries officials say is an unusual
phenomenon.
What's caused these dolphins to drift into the dangerously shallow waters
of Manila Bay is a mystery.
The Philippines fishermen trying to stop the animals beaching themselves
have a major battle on their hands.
Three have already been found on the beach at Pilar town with minor
injuries.
They were carried back out to sea by local residents.
About 500 dolphins are swimming around the waist-high waters off Bataan
Province.
Fisheries experts are trying to find out if an underwater quake might have
disorientated the animals or if they followed a sick leader.
Dozens of small boats are being used to stop the dolphins heading further
in towards the shore.
The hope now is that they can be guided back out into the safety of the
deeper open sea.

Bear vs. Ring Seal

Sometimes coming up for air might not be such a good idea, especially if there's a hungry polar bear prowling about.

Tusk Wrestling

Heavyweight walruses fight to be the last tusker on the ice.

Sharks Attack Submarine

Sensors in shark heads detect electrical impulses in their prey--and these sharks are mistaking this submarine for a snack.

Albatross vs. Shark

Young albatrosses learn that having a tiger shark as a motivator works surprisingly well when learning to fly.