Mantis Shrimp macro – Odontodactylus scyllarus. Photo by prilfish / flickr.
- Congratulations to Todd Gardner of the Long Island Aquarium for his success in rearing the first ever basslet (Liopropoma sp.) in captivity. Today it will be 77 days post-hatch!
- Sea Save has called for a boycott of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel over ethical issues seen on the show TANKED.
- It’s Shark Week over at ReefThreads.com. Download the podcast to hear about Alex Rose’s trip aboard the Nautilus Explorer.
- Squid mystery in Mexican waters unraveled by Stanford biologist and a class of students. The squid migrated north looking for better food sources due to El Niño.
- Need an inexpensive water leak detector? Spend the weekend whipping this one up from Make:Projects and some supplies from Radio Shack.
- Those sneaky carpet sharks. One snuck into a desalination plant at least six months ago and has been hanging out there ever since.
- A helicopter pilot speaks out about his experiences onboard a number of purse seine tuna fishing vessels operating in the Pacific . The video is pretty gruesome showing whales, marlin, and rays dying as bycatch by industrial tuna fishers.
- Jacques Cousteau’s youngest son creates online platform for divers to report on marine life. The website is called Cousteau Divers, and is an online site that allows drivers and snorkelers to connect and help monitor the life underwater.
- Mantis shrimps use rap to get the ladies. The rumblings are hypothesized to warn off intruders and to charm females.
- Dolphins need wingmen too. Research has shown that they’re more successful with the ladies when they’ve got a buddy or two that’s got their back.
- Florida protects tiger and hammerhead sharks. “The new rules go into effect January 1, 2012 and prohibit the commercial harvest, possession and landing of tiger and hammerhead sharks (scalloped, smooth and great hammerheads) in state waters”
- Over 1,500 lionfish were taken in the 2011 lionfish harvesting derbies. That’s quite a few but there’s plenty more where those came from unfortunately.
- Roomba maker is making undersea robots that can perform underwater missions for up to 9 months on a single battery charge.
- Looking for a biological filtration media that works under heavy bioload? MBI site member “Midnight Mariculture” is experimenting with Kaldness Media that’s typically used for Discus breeding.
- Octopuses and squid can switch camouflage methods to remain unseen in the twilight zone. No cloaking device required.
- Both species of manta ray have now been added to the IUCN Red List. The giant manta Manta birostris and the reef manta Manta alfredi) are declared “Vulnerable” to extinction per IUCN’s guidelines.
- The effects of artificial reefs on fish counts are called into question. The artificial reefs might be congregating fish and fishermen in the same place.
- What one hour of deep-sea vent life looks like in two minutes . Sea spiders, tubeworms, scaleworms, limpets and snails are featured in the two minute YouTube video.
- Researchers find life in the Dead Sea . Up until now it has been believed that the Dead Sea is too saline to support life.
- The sargassum fish camouflages itself to look exactly like sargassum seaweed and uses its natural looks to sneak up on its prey .
0 Comments