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Branches of coral, with brittle starfish attached, several miles from the site of the blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists have found dead and dying coral reefs 4,500 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico. The dead coral means that oil from the BP oil spill is harming marine life in the deep [...]
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One man’s poison is another man’s cure!
Scientists in Yorkshire have developed a process that uses the luminous cells from jellyfish to diagnose cancers deep within the human body.
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Scientists are outfitting elephant seals and self-propelled water gliders with monitoring equipment to unlock the oceans’ secrets.
Scientists are outfitting elephant seals and self-propelled water gliders with monitoring equipment to unlock the oceans’ secrets and boost understanding of the impacts of climate change.
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The Seaventures Dive Resort
A onetime oil-drilling rig stands in crystal-clear waters dotted with tiny islands and their lush green hills. But most impressive is what’s underwater—an amazing array of coral reefs swarming with hundreds of species of multicolored tropical fish, sea turtles and other aquatic life. The rig has been converted to a hotel for [...]
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A tiny baby seahorse was measured off the coast of Dorset, England.
It must have been like finding a needle in a haystack, but somehow, in murky water conditions, diver Neil Garrick-Maidment, the executive director of the Seahorse Trust, spotted a single 1.5-inch-long female baby seahorse “clinging onto a piece of seagrass” off the coast of [...]
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This massive right whale came up to wildlife photographer Brian Skerry with “great curiosity, but no aggression.”
The ocean’s whales are some of the Earth’s most massive and majestic animals, reaching sizes of up to 80 feet long and 150 tons. As the targets of centuries of whaling, they have a violent history — and are [...]
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The marine cone snail produces a combination of chemicals in its saliva that could make a very effective painkiller.
Scientists have developed a new pain-relief pill from a chemical used by sea snails to catch their prey. It was found to be as effective as morphine for relieving the most severe forms of pain but without [...]
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Paul the Octopus
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, says Paul the Octopus, the sea creature that correctly predicted the outcome of World Cup games, is a symbol of all that is wrong with the western world. He claims that the octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay among “his enemies”.
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Dolphin leaps out of a tank.
Tourists watched in horror as a dolphin leapt out of a tank during a performance at an aquarium in Japan. The event was captured on camera by an American visitor to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium on July 4.
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Determining what’s killing all of the animals in the Gulf – a majority show no sign of oil contamination
The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle lay belly-up on the metal autopsy table, as pallid as split-pea soup but for the bright orange X spray-painted on its shell, proof that it had been counted as part of the [...]
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Are oils spills to become a common occurrance?
An Associated Press investigation shows that there are more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and the constellation of aging wells has been ignored for decades.
“No one—not industry, not government—is checking to see if they are leaking.”
The oldest [...]
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Paul the psychic octopus
Paul the “psychic” octopus, who has become a global star after correctly forecasting all six of Germany’s World Cup games, will predict the final, but only if his hefty workload has not exhausted him.
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Shrimp could be becoming hooked on antidepressants.
It sounds a tad fishy but shrimps are becoming hooked on Prozac, scientists believe. They fear the ‘happy pills’ are tinkering with the creatures’ brain chemistry, making them more vulnerable to being eaten by other fish and birds.
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Purple-winged enteropneust. Photo: David Shale
Scientists first thought that the deep valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a massive undersea mountain in the Atlantic Ocean, was too harsh a climate for life. But when they explored the region down to the depths of 12,000 feet, they discovered a myriad of intriguing species, including this strange purple worm:
Blind, [...]
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NASA satellite image shows oil reaching Alabama beaches and the Florida panhandle.
The dead sperm whale found this week in the Gulf of Mexico puts the spotlight on how the BP oil spill will affect this endangered mammal, along with other cetaceans, such as dolphins, that must break the oil-slicked surface to breathe.
