Achilles Tang

Create a thriving reef tank or spend some time in scuba gear observing a tropical reef and you are likely to care about and fight for what remains of the wild coral reefs of the world. View the full article

Farming of fish in ocean cages is fundamentally harmful to wild fish, according to an essay in this week's Conservation Biology. Using basic physics, the author explains how farm fish cause nearby wild fish to decline. The foundation of his paper is that higher density of fish promotes infection, and infection lowers the fitness of the fish. View the full article

Massive swarms of stinging jellyfish and jellyfish-like animals are transforming many world-class fisheries and tourist destinations into veritable jellytoriums that are intermittently jammed with pulsating, gelatinous creatures. Areas that are currently particularly hard-hit by these squishy animals include Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of the US, the Bering Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Australia, the Black Sea and other European seas, the Sea of Japan, the North Sea and Namibia. View the full article

The European eel?s biology and ecology never cease to amaze us. At the elver stage, certain individuals swim up estuaries to grow in rivers, whereas others spend their entire life cycle at sea. In Bordeaux, researchers have looked into the origin of this divergence in migratory behavior. What if it was only a question of energy reserves and feeding behavior? View the full article

In Europe, most migratory fish species completing their cycle between the sea and the river are currently in danger. Although restoration programs have been set up, the future distribution of these species may be modified because of climate change. View the full article

The first few hundred meters that a newly hatched turtle swims are the most dangerous of its life. Frantically swimming and surrounded by predators, as many as 30 percent die on their maiden voyage. Curious to know how much energy the youngsters need to reach safe deep water, scientists measured the hatchling's oxygen consumption and found that they have enough energy reserves to survive 14 days at sea without feeding. View the full article

Scientists have discovered that the ocean's chemical makeup is less stable and more greatly affected by climate change than previously believed. The researchers report in Science that during a time of climate change 13 million years ago, the chemical makeup of the oceans changed dramatically. The researchers warn that the chemistry of the ocean today could be similarly affected by climate changes now underway, with potentially far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems. View the full article

Human impacts on the environment have reduced populations of wild species to dangerously low levels. Nowhere is this more apparent than in worldwide fisheries, where thanks to overfishing and habitat destruction, countless species and populations of fish are on the brink of disappearing forever. To attempt to mitigate the dire situation, captive breeding, the controlled breeding of organisms in protected environments, is regularly initiated. View the full article

Climate change can have significant impacts on high-elevation lakes and imperiled Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frogs that depend upon them. View the full article

Researchers have laid the groundwork for a sensory explanation for why manatees and other animals are hit repeatedly by boats. Last year, 73 manatees were killed by boats in Florida's bays and inland waterways. Marine authorities have responded to deaths from boat collisions by imposing low speed limits on boats. View the full article

A new report reviews the social and economic ramifications of healthy coral reefs in 27 tropical nations and points to the inability of coastal managers to effectively implement decades-old recommendations as a significant barrier to coral reef protection. View the full article

Increasing pressures from climate change will reach a tipping point in less than a decade, triggering a significant decline in the health of the planet's coral reef ecosystems according to the findings in an international report. Coral reefs continue to be threatened from direct human activities of pollution and over-fishing, but now the threat of climate change is being recognized as the major threat to the future of reefs around the world. View the full article

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a foundation dedicated to maintaining the health and viability of our oceans, has more of an impact in the area of overfishing than all the agreements entered into by the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to research published in Ocean and Coastal Management. View the full article

Males that produce sperm packages that can penetrate deep into the skin. Females with bellies full of stored sperm. Males that seriously injure the females during mating. This is just a selection of the bizarre reproductive techniques that marine biologist Henk-Jan Hoving has discovered with different species of deep-ocean squid. View the full article

Striped bass in the San Francisco Estuary are contaminated before birth with a toxic mix of pesticides, industrial chemicals and flame retardants that their mothers acquire from estuary waters and food sources and pass on to their eggs, say researchers. The findings have implications far beyond fish, because the estuary is the water source for two-thirds of the people and most of the farms in California. View the full article

Dr. Rusty Feagin was managing several ecosystem research projects on Galveston Island when the 2008 hurricane season began. Then he got an unexpected visit from a research assistant named Ike. "Ike reconfirmed the basic idea I've had for several years," said Feagin, ecosystem scientist with Texas AgriLife Research. "The plants on sand dunes and in marshes build an island's elevation, so we shouldn't compromise that." View the full article

Scientists have made an unexpected discovery that links corals of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. A new species of fossil coral -- some 6 million years old -- has been found on the Island of Curaçao. The new species, originally thought to be an elkhorn coral was recently positively identified as a Pacific coral species. View the full article

See the unseen, at a microscopic level View the full article

Peter years for more green this time of year... View the full article

Paul describes his 427-gallon reef aquarium. View the full article

A brief description and profile of the Scribbled Rabbitfish. View the full article

Tom delves further into the science part of the saltwater hobby. View the full article

This month we are showcasing the Connecticut Area Reef Society. View the full article

Check out the latest upcoming events of interest to marine aquarists. View the full article

Top Ten Best Things You Roped Your Non-Reef Friends Into Helping You With Your Reef... View the full article