by Matthew Stansbery | Dec 2, 2015 | Conservation, Corals, Events, Reef
Researchers at the Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences have painted a grim picture for the current status of Pacific ocean reefs. El Nino events are especially high this year and the waters surrounding many reefs are heating up quicker and... by Matthew Stansbery | Dec 1, 2015 | Conservation, Corals, Reef, Sustainability
Scientists from Hawaii’s Institute for Marine Biology on Coconut Island are tinkering with evolution in an attempt to create “super coral” capable of withstanding the increasing temperatures and acidity of our oceans. … by Matthew Stansbery | Nov 30, 2015 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Sustainability
On the heels of international climate talks in Paris, the World Wildlife Fund has released a startling review of the status of our oceans titled “Living Blue Planet Report.” The WWF and the Zoological Society of London releases a bi-annual report that... by Matthew Stansbery | Nov 30, 2015 | Conservation, Corals, Invertebrates, Reef
A paper published recently has shed some light into the battle against the Crown of Thorns sea star. “You don’t have to see the crown-of-thorns to know they have been on the reef. You can see where they have been because they leave trails of bleached white... by Fused Jaw | Nov 30, 2015 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Science, Seahorses
Seahorse mid strike; hyoid bone visible which is part of the complex musculoskeletal system seahorses utilize in suction feeding. This can be damaged easily. Photo by Tami Weiss You may have heard of ‘weak snick’, a common description of a clinical sign in syngnathids whereby attempts to feed appear weakened, that is, they don’t produce the nice ‘click’ sound you like to hear when healthy syngnathids strike at their prey. Multiple causes have been attributed to this particular clinical sign however in some severe progressive cases; this has been suspected to be due to a nutritional myopathy, which simply means a muscle disease caused by a nutritional imbalance. The suspected nutritional myopathy can present in many ways including: lethargy, weak snick, inappetence, and in severe unresolved cases, by Tami Weiss | Nov 29, 2015 | Conservation, Seahorses
Seahorses can be found along many shorelines frequented by people. Photo by Caio R. N. Periera cc-by/nc So you’ve found a seahorse, and you want to keep it. Or maybe you stumbled across one washed ashore, and are unsure what to do next. This question comes up from time to time. It’s not frequent, but it does happen enough that I wanted to provide some guidance. Release It! The best thing to do is to release the seahorse back where you found it, if at all possible. The sooner you can do this, the better off the seahorse will be. This is especially true for those found washed up on the beach, as can happen from time to time due to seahorse’s poor swimming abilities.
