marine-biology

A new study of the British Isles’ coastal ecosystems has revealed that nitrogen enrichment is significantly reducing the abundance and variety of marine life.

Giant, intelligent octopuses may have once ruled the ancient seas. Modern octopuses are known for their intelligence and flexibility, living in reefs, squeezing into crevices, or drifting through deep ocean waters. However, new research suggests their earliest ancestors played a much more dominant role in marine ecosystems. A study led by Hokkaido University reports that [...]

Scientists are trying to decode why humpback whales can be observed hanging around with their mouth open, with no apparent explanation

May 4, 2026 Crab Team likes to shine a light on the creatures we encounter in our muddy environments, from the rare and far-out, to the common and familiar, each of the species in Washington estuaries plays a role in local ecology. They also have a story to tell when they appear in Crab Team monitoring traps. In September of 2025, two separate network monitoring sites in Grays Harbor both capture…

Everything about a Greenland shark’s life is slow: their heart beats about once every 12 seconds; they swim at an average speed of just a foot per second; they grow at a sluggish rate of just one centimeter (0.4 inch) a year; and they don’t reach sexual maturity until their 150th birthday. The sluggish living makes sense for steely behemoths that live comfortably into their 200s and possible to 4…

A new study reveals how orcas shape water into a tool to wash seals off ice floes

A simple adjustment to water filtration methods can dramatically improve the detection of marine animal DNA when using advanced, PCR-free sequencing. The post A Simple Filter Swap Could Advance Marine eDNA Biomonitoring first appeared on Blog .

Australia’s biobanks store everything from seeds of native plants to the cells and tissue of threatened animal species In the mudflats of Swan Bay, Victoria, royal spoonbills sweep their paddle-shaped bills through shallow water. Nearby, under the grass-covered roof of the Queenscliff marine research centre, a team of scientists from Deakin University are trying to bring the ecosystems those bird…

Nature Communications, Published online: 03 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72596-1 Marine bacteria are often under constant phage predation. Li et al. present that surface-attached populations exhibit 26-fold higher survivability than planktonic counterparts during lytic phage infection. They identify CtrA as an evolutionary target for phage-driven selection towards an attached lifestyle.

Calf was transported by water-filled barge in operation deemed ‘inadvisable’ because of low chance of survival Rescuers have released a young humpback whale that became a national sensation after it was beached in shallow waters off the coast in Germany, although marine experts have said its chances of survival are low. The whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was released into the North Sea…

The ichthyosaurs had some tremendous survival skills The post What Hurt This Jurassic Sea Monster? appeared first on Nautilus .

Wildlife cameraman for landmark BBC documentaries including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, who was admired for his bravery and resilience in extreme environments Filming polar bears in their Arctic home requires bravery and patience. Of all the wildlife film-makers who bring images of the natural world to our TV screens, few were as courageous or boundlessly patient as Doug Allan, who would sp…

Sperm whales routinely dive to depths exceeding 1.6 kilometres for approximately 50 minutes each hour

Rey is teaching Sunny, about two weeks old, all her adopted baby needs to know to fend for herself Before last month, a young southern sea otter named Rey would never have imagined she would be a mother. That changed when she met Sunny, a pup – about two weeks old – found orphaned and alone on Asilomar state beach on the central coast of California in February. The pairing went off without a hitc…

Just like us, they need a cooldown after workouts The post How Seals Detox After a Long Deep Dive appeared first on Nautilus .

A particularly massive sea lion has Bay Area residents flocking to the dock of Pier 39 in San Francisco to spot the mammal affectionately named “Chonkers.”

Rescuers had called off the effort to save “Timmy,” a humpback whale that had stranded in the Baltic Sea last month. But now a last-ditch attempt to move the creature by barge is underway

We're failing our marine wildlife and undermining an economic engine that supports our communities.