Achilles Tang

A unique study has provided fresh evidence of fishing's impact on marine ecosystems. Researchers accessed archival photographs spanning more than five decades to analyze and calculate a drastic decline of so-called "trophy fish" caught around coral reefs surrounding Key West, Florida. View the full article

Commercial fish pens are placed in the open waters of oceans and bays with no reliable method of predicting where the waste plume will be carried by winds, currents and tides. This can lead to damage to fragile coastline environments. As state and federal regulators begin to draw up rules for fish pens, a new fluid dynamics modeling system can provide answers. View the full article

The Arctic and Antarctic have revealed a trove of secrets to Census of Marine Life explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite a distance of more than 13,000-km distance in between. Among many other findings, scientists also documented evidence of cold water-loving species shifting towards both poles to escape rising ocean temperatures. The discoveries were made on a series of landmark, often perilous voyages during International Polar Year, 2007-2008. View the full article

Aquatic & Terrestrial Research Team. While Probiotics continue to grow in popularity, it is important to look at the actual organisms found in culture. View the full article

Center for Marine Science, Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln, Wilmington, NC 28409. In this article we will discuss the major interactions of the carbonate system in sea water. View the full article

Researching these relationships helps to illustrate how important life is to other life, and what an incredibly complex ecosystem Earth supports, and that ecosystem should not be taken for granted. View the full article

This month, we'll look at the most populous coral pigment category: Green Fluorescent Proteins (or GFPs). In addition, we'll examine how light intensity and spectral qualities affect GFPs. View the full article

Terry discusses upcoming featured aquariums, new features for the magazine, and some exciting news about the Reefs.org website. View the full article

A team of scientists are calling for new awareness of the potential for antibiotic-resistant illnesses from the marine environment, and pointed to the marine realm as a source for possible cures of those threats. View the full article

Investigations into coral disease, red tides and other marine environmental issues have led to discoveries of new chemicals as a source for pharmaceuticals. These chemicals function as antibiotics for microorganism providing survival advantages and may be usable in human health care. We believe that one could apply many of these chemical mechanisms or novel pharmaceuticals to human disease resulting in a number of alternatives to deal with growing antibiotic resistance. View the full article

Chinstrap penguins and fur seals showed persistent preferences for particular foraging areas even after a storm reduced the availability of food of choice in those areas, according to a new study. The research shows that the spatial distribution of fur seals and foraging chinstrap penguins did not change after a near gale, despite substantial changes in the abundance and distribution of their prey, Antarctic krill. View the full article

Put the clams where they can get maximum light. Most are light starved unless you use MHs. Since your tank is next to sunlight.... have them facing the sunlight to solve this problem. You can let them anchor themselves to a piece of flat rock. You can then move them to face you at night or when you have guests around. I trust that you also will provide them good calcium levels to help them grow. Clams absord a lot of calcium when they grow. Clams will die suddenly if things are not balanced for them... you don't get any warning signs... so stability of the right parameters for them is so important. Good luck!

You can now buy Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine in a nicely bound 100% color print edition! View the full article

Scientists have for the first time calculated the likely impact of climate change on the distribution of more than 1,000 species of fish around the globe. View the full article

Magellanic penguins, like most other species of the flightless birds, are having their survival challenged by wide variability in conditions and food availability, a biologist has found. View the full article

Farmed cod have recently been hit by a serious disease caused by an unknown bacterium. The bacterium has now been identified, and called Francisella philomiragia noatunensis. The disease caused by the bacterium is now called francisellosis and is listed in the national disease register and regulated under the terms of the Norwegian Food Act. View the full article

Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids protect the liver from damage caused by obesity and the insulin resistance it provokes. This research should give doctors and nutritionists valuable information when recommending weight-loss diets and help explain why some obese patients are more likely to suffer some complications associated with obesity. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in canola oil and fish. View the full article

Scientists have studied nacre's growing mechanism of gastropods, a step for the artificial reproduction of this material in laboratories which could make possible its use in biomedicine. Although molluscs have been producing nacre for million years, humans have not been able to reproduce it artificially. One of its possible applications would be the regeneration of human bones. View the full article

Over the last two decades, marine biologists have discovered lush forests of deep-sea corals and sponges growing on seamounts (underwater mountains) offshore of the California coast. It has generally been assumed that many of these animals live only on seamounts, and are found nowhere else. However, two new research papers show that most seamount animals can also be found in other deep-sea areas. These findings may help coastal managers protect seamounts from damage by human activities. View the full article

Fish oil replacements for farmed fish feeds may help reduce the aquaculture industry?s dependence on wild fisheries for their essential omega-3 requirements. This move may also help overcome existing barriers that impede the industry?s expansion. A new study focuses on the effects of fish oil replacement in finfish nutrition on feed quality, fish performance, feed efficiency, lipid metabolism, final eating quality and related economic aspects. View the full article

The decline of amphibian populations worldwide has been documented primarily in frogs, but salamander populations also appear to have plummeted, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists. (2009-02-10) View the full article

The genome of a marine bacterium living 2,500 meters below the ocean's surface is providing clues to how life adapts in extreme thermal and chemical gradients, according to a new article. View the full article

Scientists report that a common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago, to the incisors and molars of modern vertebrates, including you and me. View the full article

Scientists have found proof in Bermuda that the planet's sea level was once more than 70 feet higher about 400,000 years ago than it is now. This had grave ramifications for the biodiversity on the planets coastlines and small islands. View the full article

Biologists have discovered that young right whales learn from their mothers where to eat, raising concern about their ability to find new places to feed if Earth's changing climate disrupts their traditional dining areas. View the full article