Achilles Tang

Freshwater fish, especially stream fish, rely on terrestrial insects as a portion of their food supply. But little is known about their importance to fish in lakes, where the size and shape of a lake can determine how much its fish rely on shoreline food sources. Researchers found that trout in developed lakes had a 50 percent lower daily intake of energy. View the full article

A groundbreaking assessment of marine fisheries and ecosystems reveals that overfishing has been reduced in several regions around the world, resulting in some stock recovery. Importantly, the work bolsters the case that sound management can contribute to the rebuilding of fisheries elsewhere. View the full article

Mounting evidence that human activity is changing the world's oceans in profound and damaging ways is outlined in a new scientific discussion paper released today. (2009-07-29) View the full article

Scientists are comparing annual growth rings of the Pacific Northwest's largest bivalve and its most iconic tree for clues to how living organisms may have responded to changes in climate. View the full article

Using a combination of theoretical modeling, energy calculations, and field observations, researchers have for the first time described a mechanism that explains how some of the ocean's tiniest swimming animals can have a huge impact on large-scale ocean mixing. View the full article

Mammals and many species of birds and fish are among "evolution's winners," while crocodiles, alligators and a reptile cousin of snakes known as the tuatara are among its losers, according to a new study. The study also shows new species emerge nearly as often as they die off. View the full article

Hungry, sexual organisms replaced well-fed, clonal organisms in the Caribbean Sea as the Isthmus of Panama arose, separating the Caribbean from the Pacific, report researchers. The fossil record shows that if a species could shift from clonal to sexual reproduction it survived. Otherwise it was destined for extinction, millions of years later. View the full article

Governments must act urgently to halt loss of habitats and invading species that are posing major threats to biodiversity and causing species extinctions across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, according to a new study. View the full article

For avid fishermen and anglers, the largemouth bass is a favorite freshwater fish with an appetite for minnows. Once fish evolve the size and speed needed to become top predators, natural selection keeps them in an evolutionary holding pattern, a new study finds. A new study finds that once they evolved to eat other fish, largemouth bass and fellow fish-feeders have remained relatively unchanged compared with their insect- and snail-eating cousins. As these fishes became top predators in aquatic ecosystems, natural selection put the breaks on evolution, say researchers. View the full article

The criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List are an essential tool for evaluating the conservation status of species around the planet, and according to these criteria all the species in the Canary Islands are endangered. (2009-07-27) View the full article

Research has shown that carefully recompressing rockfish that have been brought up from the ocean floor may help them temporarily recover from the rapid change in pressure, but scientists have been uncertain whether there were any long-lasting effects on the fish. View the full article

Temperature explains much of why cold-blooded organisms such as fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and lizards live longer at higher latitudes than at lower latitudes, according to new research. View the full article

Researchers studying ancient rock samples in South China has found that the first animal fossils in the paleontological record are preserved in ancient lake deposits, not marine sediments as commonly assumed. The research gives scientists a glimpse into where some of the early animals lived and what the environmental conditions were like for them -- important information for addressing the broader questions of how and why animals appeared when they did. View the full article

Nearly all species have some ability to detect light. At least three types of cells in the retina allow us to see images or distinguish between night and day. Now, researchers have discovered in fish yet another type of cell that can sense light and contribute to vision. View the full article

For the first time in nearly 50 years, a population of a nearly extinct frog has been rediscovered in the San Bernardino National Forest's San Jacinto Wilderness. Biologists retracing a 1908 natural history expedition rediscovered the rare mountain yellow-legged frog. View the full article

Marine pest species costing billions in damage to fisheries, coastal communities and infrastructure are spreading as the world's shipping nations continue to largely neglect bringing into effect an international treaty setting out requirements for consistent handling and treatment of ships' ballast water, according to new report. View the full article

Scientists say conditions are favorable for significant coral bleaching and infectious coral disease outbreaks in the Caribbean, especially in the Lesser Antilles. Similar conditions may develop in Gulf of Mexico and Central Pacific. The forecast is based on the July NOAA Coral Reef Watch outlook, which expects continued high water temperatures through October 2009. View the full article

It's a niched topic but i am sure that most SG reefers will find good info from the guest speaker apart from the subject matter when it becomes more casual after the talk! Do support!

Try not to get hard corals. They won't last long with your set up constraints. I see some of them were pretty bleached, they must be highly stressed before. Happy reefing!

Acoustic tags and numerical river models are two technologies that are helping improve salmon passage at the Columbia Basin's hydroelectric dams. An average of 76 percent of juvenile Chinook salmon that pass through the lower 100 miles of the Snake River and its three hydroelectric dams survived the trek in the spring of 2008, according to a joint study between PNNL and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Portland District. View the full article

Recent news reports about scuba divers off San Diego being menaced by large numbers of Humboldt's or jumbo squid have raised the ire of a University of Rhode Island biologist. As a leading expert on the species who has dived with them several times, he calls the reports "alarmist" and says the squid's man-eating reputation is seriously overblown. View the full article

The ice is melting, the sea level is rising and species are conquering new habitats. The warming of the world climate has many consequences. Researchers now report that climate change influences the size of aquatic organisms. View the full article

How do you recognize a new species? A thorough study of the million-year evolution of California's horned lizards, sometimes referred to as "horny toads," shows that when it comes to distinguishing such recently diverged species, the most powerful method integrates genetic, anatomical and ecological information. (2009-07-22) View the full article

A reduction of as little as five per cent in fisheries catch could result in as much as 30 per cent of the British Columbia coastal ecosystems being protected from overfishing, according to a new study from the UBC Fisheries Centre. (2009-07-22) View the full article

Using snorkelers and SCUBA divers is not the best way to monitor fish populations, if we want to know the evolutionary effects of overfishing. The fish population in coral reef areas is often assessed by snorkelers or SCUBA divers, but new research shows that these methods may misrepresent the number of fish. View the full article