by AquaNerd | Jan 18, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science
Julian Sprung has released two new products labelled as “ReMag” and “CorAffix Little Pro” under the Two Littles Fishies brand. CorAffix Little Pro comes in a 59 ml squeeze bottle with pin cap to prevent clogging between uses and is a smaller version of their 295 ml CorAffix Pro glue. The new smaller bottle is packaged on a blister card for easy display on retail display racks. ReMag is a magnesium-rich media for use in calcium reactors. Julian recommends using ReMag in conjunction with ReBorn at a ratio of 1 part ReMag to 9 parts ReBorn to maintain optimum calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity levels in your reef aquarium water. This product will be available in 8.8 lb. (4kg) and 44 lb. (20kg) containers. by AquaNerd | Jan 16, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science
Paleontologists have discovered the fossil remains of the world’s biggest ocean-dwelling crocodile buried on the edge of the Sahara, a creature that was twice the size of anything seen today. Named Machimosaurus rex, this croc would have weighed in at least 6,600 pounds and been around 32 feet long. Other than its size, it would have looked much like a modern day crocodile except for its narrow snout – which was designed to allow it swim in the ocean. Related: Fossils of 3 new crocodile species found in Peru It would have been the top predator in what was then an ocean that separated Africa from Europe about 130 million years ago. “This is an incredibly big crocodile. It is twice as big as a present day marine by AquaNerd | Jan 15, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science
Indeed, the future of human habitation, whether through choice or catastrophe, is often imagined (in popular culture at least) as being beyond Earth’s orbit. Sub-aquatic living still seems, perversely it could be argued, very alien. Not so for Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut. He has revealed ambitious plans for a series of underwater eco-villages that could house up to 20,000 people each in the future. His Aequorea project imagines entirely self-sufficient, spiraling “oceanscrapers” reaching to the sea floor from mangrove-covered marinas on the surface of the world’s oceans. Jellyfish-like in appearance, each oceanscraper would be constructed using recycled plastics from the misleadingly named “Seventh Continent”, or Great Pacific Garbage Patch (much of the debris here is believed to be in the form of by AquaNerd | Jan 8, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Science
A new study found 85% of male smallmouth bass in the Northeast are undergoing a sex change. (AP Photo/Idaho Statesman, Roger Phillips) Male bass are experiencing unwanted sex changes, apparently thanks to the “chemical soups” that pass for waterways in the Northeast. The Washington Post reports 85% of male smallmouth bass surveyed in the region have “characteristics of the opposite sex”—specifically eggs where their testes should be. The same is true of 27% of area largemouth bass, Vice adds. For a recently published study, researchers tested bass near 19 wildlife refuges in the Northeast, according to a US Geological Survey press release. Researchers didn’t do a chemical analysis of the water where the intersex fish were found, so they can’t be sure specifically what is by Tami Weiss | Jan 7, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Opinion, Reef, Science, Seahorses
Dwarf Seahorses among Galaxaura subverticillata, one of the macroalgaes they associate with in the wild. 2016 will see wild Dwarf Seahorse Hippocampus zosterae gain new protections in the waters around Florida. These regulations are designed to limit their harvest from the wild in order to sustainably manage Dwarf Seahorse populations. The proposed regulations: Recreational bag limit: reduce the current limit of five (5) of each species of seahorse (within the 20 organism aggregate bag limit for all Marine Life species) to five (5) seahorses total per person per day Commercial trip limit: reduce the current daily commercial limit from 400 dwarf seahorses to 200 per person or per vessel (whichever is less) Establish an annual commercial quota of 25,000 individual dwarf seahorses and provide for closure of the recreational and
