Achilles Tang

A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 meter wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent. These giant ocean-going relatives of ducks and geese also had a rather bizarre attribute for a bird: their beaks were lined with bony-teeth. View the full article

Scientists studying sound production in deep-sea fishes has found that cusk-eels use several sets of muscles to produce sound that plays a prominent role in male mating calls. View the full article

Researchers have found that the main source of food for many fish -- including cod -- in the North Atlantic appears to adapt in order to survive climate change. Billions of Calanus finmarchicus, a plankton species, which are just a few millimeters in size, live in the waters of the North Atlantic where the research was carried out. View the full article

How much carbon dioxide is too much? According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to be stabilized at levels low enough to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." But scientists have come to realize that an even more acute danger than climate change is lurking in the world's oceans -- one that is likely to be triggered by CO2 levels that are modest by climate standards. View the full article

Earth scientists have reported movement of warmed sea water through the flat, Pacific Ocean floor off Costa Rica. The movement is greater than that off midocean volcanic ridges. The finding suggests possible marine life in a part of the ocean once considered barren. View the full article

Tetrapods, the first four-legged land animals, are regarded as the first organisms that had fingers and toes. Now researchers can show that this is wrong. Using medical x-rays, they found rudiments of fingers in the fins in fossil Panderichthys, the "transitional animal," which indicates that rudimentary fingers developed considerably earlier than was previously thought. View the full article

Research suggests synthetic carbon molecules called fullerenes, or buckyballs, have a high potential of being accumulated in animal tissue, but the molecules also appear to break down in sunlight, perhaps reducing their possible environmental dangers. View the full article

Hundreds of new kinds of animal species surprised international researchers systematically exploring waters off two islands on the Great Barrier Reef and a reef off northwestern Australia -- waters long familiar to divers. The expeditions, affiliated with the global Census of Marine Life, help mark the International Year of the Reef. View the full article

A new study shows that an innovative yet contentious fisheries management strategy called "catch shares" can reverse fisheries collapse. Where traditional "open access" fisheries have converted to catch shares, both fishermen and the oceans have benefited. Catch shares guarantee each shareholder a fixed portion of a fishery's total allowable catch. Each share becomes more valuable when the fish population -- and thus the total allowable catch -- increases. View the full article

The crashing of the enormous fluked tail on the surface of the ocean is a "calling card" of modern whales. Living whales have no back legs, and their front legs take the form of flippers that allow them to steer. Their special tails provide the powerful thrust necessary to move their huge bulk. Yet this has not always been the case. Now newly found fossils from Alabama and Mississippi that pinpoint where tail flukes developed in the evolution of whales. View the full article

The Netherlands is a densely populated nation, but could be a good example of how to practice wildlife management in the coming century. Rapid human population growth on the planet is creating pressure on wildlife populations, and many places will thus come to resemble the present situation in The Netherlands. View the full article

For the first time in waters surrounding New York City, the beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales have been recorded. View the full article

Scientists have discovered that certain fish are capable of glowing red. Research in BMC Ecology includes striking images of fish fluorescing vivid red light. View the full article

Check to see if an event is happening in your area! View the full article

And for anyone still wondering - the original colony is still alive and doing well now a nearly a decade later in the original tank. View the full article

Marine Series is an unprecedented line of aquarium equipment that allows you to create your ultimate aquatic showcase. View the full article

Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. Ken and Kelly continue to report on their work on Total Organic Carbon and how it relates to the reef aquarium. View the full article

When experimenting with these small scale closed systems, it is vitally important to be backed up by your already solidly operating typical marine aquariums, so that you are better prepared to ultimately succeed with these experimental closed mini eco-systems. View the full article

Information on the reproductive habits of over 300 stony coral species (in almost 100 genera) is presented. It is the most complete single-source reference currently available. View the full article

Peter Wilkens -- In memoriam. View the full article

Researchers have uncovered a gene in corals that responds to day/night cycles, which provides some tantalizing clues into how symbiotic corals work together with their plankton partners. View the full article

Higher prenatal fish consumption leads to better physical and cognitive development in infants, according to a study of mothers and infants from Denmark. Longer breastfeeding was also independently beneficial. View the full article

Nearly 40 percent of freshwater fish species in North America are now in jeopardy, according to the most detailed evaluation of the conservation status of these fishes in the last 20 years. The 700 fishes now listed represent a staggering 92 percent increase over the 364 listed as "imperiled" in the previous 1989 study published by the American Fisheries Society. Researchers classified each of the 700 fishes listed as either vulnerable (230), threatened (190) or endangered (280). In addition, 61 fishes are presumed extinct. View the full article

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Bacteria can be used to break down used sheep dip, preventing bees and fish from dying because of soil and river contamination, scientists report. View the full article