Harlequinmania

About 450 million years ago, Earth suffered the second-largest mass extinction in its history -- the Late Ordovician mass extinction, during which more than 75 percent of marine species died. Exactly what caused this tremendous loss in biodiversity remains a mystery, but now scientists have discovered new details supporting the idea that the mass extinction was linked to a cooling climate. View the full article

Most nature lovers know that the more colorful a male fish, reptile, or bird, the more likely it is to attract a female and to have healthy offspring. Females, on the other hand, tend to be drably colored, perhaps to avoid predators while carrying, incubating, and caring for young. Curiously, the female striped plateau lizard, which lives in the rocky slopes of Arizona's south-eastern mountains, is an exception to this rule in the animal world. Females are more colourful than males – displaying an orange patch on their throats during reproductive season – and the more colourful the female, the more robust are her offspring. New research has found one reason this may be so. View the full article

Not all trout are created equal. Those swimming up the streams of the United States might resemble their cousins from Canada, yet their genetic makeup is regionally affected and has an impact on how they reproduce, grow and react to environmental stressors. View the full article

Not all trout are created equal. Those swimming up the streams of the United States might resemble their cousins from Canada, yet their genetic makeup is regionally affected and has an impact on how they reproduce, grow and react to environmental stressors. View the full article

Young staghorn coral that fluoresce redder are less likely to settle and develop into coral polyps than their greener peers, biologists have discovered. View the full article

Mercury contamination, a worldwide environmental problem, has been called "public enemy No. 1" in California's San Francisco Bay. View the full article

A research effort designed to prevent the introduction of viruses to blue crabs in a research hatchery could end up helping Chesapeake Bay harvesters improve their bottom line by reducing the number of soft shell crabs perishing before reaching market. The findings shows that the transmission of a crab-specific virus in diseased and dying crabs likely occurs after the pre-molt crabs are removed from the wild and placed in soft-shell production facilities. View the full article

Scientists have successfully used at-sea chemical sedation to help cut the remaining ropes from a young North Atlantic right whale on January 15 off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. The sedative given to the whale allowed the disentanglement team to safely approach the animal and remove 50 feet of rope which was wrapped through its mouth and around its flippers. View the full article

Scientists have successfully used at-sea chemical sedation to help cut the remaining ropes from a young North Atlantic right whale on January 15 off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. The sedative given to the whale allowed the disentanglement team to safely approach the animal and remove 50 feet of rope which was wrapped through its mouth and around its flippers. View the full article

Researchers have documented elevated levels of two industrial pollutants in carp in eastern Lake Erie, adding to the body of scientific work demonstrating the lasting environmental effects of human activity and waste disposal on the Great Lakes. View the full article

A distant relative of shrimp, zooplankton are an important food source for fish and other aquatic animals. Long characterized as algae feeders, a new study reports that nearly a third of zooplankton diets are supported by material that originates on land in lake watersheds. View the full article

A distant relative of shrimp, zooplankton are an important food source for fish and other aquatic animals. Long characterized as algae feeders, a new study reports that nearly a third of zooplankton diets are supported by material that originates on land in lake watersheds. View the full article

Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish. The findings are internationally significant as the city's sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities. View the full article

Researchers in Spain have studied the marine trophic network in Mauritania, on the north west coast of Africa, which is an extremely heavily exploited fishing area, as well as being home to two of the world's most threatened species of marine mammal -- the monk seal and the Atlantic hump-backed dolphin. The results of the study show that industrial and traditional fishing activities along the coast are putting these mammals and local marine ecosystems at great danger. View the full article

Researchers in Spain have studied the marine trophic network in Mauritania, on the north west coast of Africa, which is an extremely heavily exploited fishing area, as well as being home to two of the world's most threatened species of marine mammal -- the monk seal and the Atlantic hump-backed dolphin. The results of the study show that industrial and traditional fishing activities along the coast are putting these mammals and local marine ecosystems at great danger. View the full article

Chronic water quality problems caused by agricultural and urban runoff, municipal wastewater, and atmospheric deposition from the burning of fossil fuels leads to oxygen depletion, loss of biodiversity, and harmful algal blooms. This nutrient pollution is prevalent in many coastal marine and estuarine ecosystems worldwide. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America and although many efforts have been taken to improve its water quality, nutrient pollution still keeps it at unacceptable levels. In a new study, biologists have measured the nutrient removal capacity of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. View the full article

Chronic water quality problems caused by agricultural and urban runoff, municipal wastewater, and atmospheric deposition from the burning of fossil fuels leads to oxygen depletion, loss of biodiversity, and harmful algal blooms. This nutrient pollution is prevalent in many coastal marine and estuarine ecosystems worldwide. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America and although many efforts have been taken to improve its water quality, nutrient pollution still keeps it at unacceptable levels. In a new study, biologists have measured the nutrient removal capacity of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. View the full article

Biologists have discovered an entirely new group of algae living in a wide variety of marine and freshwater environments. This group of algae, which the researchers dubbed "rappemonads," have DNA that is distinctly different from that of other known algae. Based on their DNA analysis, the researchers believe that they have discovered not just a new species or genus, but a potentially large and novel group of microorganisms. View the full article

Researchers have described a new species, the third species described to date in the El Cachucho Marine Protected Area. Scientists have now published the taxonomic and ecological description of Politolana sanchezi, a small crustacean that inhabits the southern Bay of Biscay. View the full article

Researchers have described a new species, the third species described to date in the El Cachucho Marine Protected Area. Scientists have now published the taxonomic and ecological description of Politolana sanchezi, a small crustacean that inhabits the southern Bay of Biscay. View the full article

Researchers have created a robotic fish that can move from swimming forward and backward to swimming vertically almost instantaneously by using a sophisticated, ribbon-like fin. The robot -- created after observing and creating computer simulations of the black ghost knifefish of the Amazon River Basin -- could pave the way for nimble robots that could perform underwater recovery operations or long-term monitoring of coral reefs. View the full article

Using seawater and calcium to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) in a natural gas power plant's flue stream, and then pumping the resulting calcium bicarbonate in the sea, could be beneficial to the oceans' marine life. View the full article

The length of telomeres, the DNA fragments that protect the ends of chromosomes from deterioration, could be an indicator of life expectancy in the southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus), an emblematic species of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, according to a new article. View the full article

Sharks are unable to distinguish colors, even though their close relatives rays and chimaeras have some color vision, according to new research by scientists in Australia. Their study shows that although the eyes of sharks function over a wide range of light levels, they only have a single long-wavelength-sensitive cone type in the retina and therefore are potentially totally color blind. View the full article

The length of telomeres, the DNA fragments that protect the ends of chromosomes from deterioration, could be an indicator of life expectancy in the southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus), an emblematic species of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, according to a new article. View the full article