Newswise Feature Channel: Marine Science

Lumber made from recycled plastic bottles, coffee cups, and other plastics, that is strong enough to support 120-ton trains. New varieties of oysters that have become an important part of the worldwide aquaculture industry. Both innovations were developed at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and both will be recipients of 2026 Edison Patent Awards.

Two URI researchers went to Oz this summer to examine skulls that have been sitting on museum shelves for more than a century, many still carrying original handwritten tags and notes. They are using the clues they provide to address longstanding questions about the biology of this top Antarctic predator.

What if dolphins are listening in on their prey--and their prey are listening right back? Researchers spent two months eavesdropping on dolphins along Florida's Atlantic coast, using an autonomous wave glider to capture their underwater sounds and clues about where they socialize and hunt. The study revealed distinct acoustic hotspots where dolphins gathered and socialized, and where they hunted …

Biodiversity is enormously diverse, unevenly observed, and constantly in motion across space and time. This makes it far harder to monitor than many other parts of the environment. As a result, managing biodiversity often depends on information that is incomplete, delayed or unevenly distributed. At the very moment when rapid change makes timely knowledge more valuable, the systems for collecting…

Researchers have discovered a new genus and species of underground earthworm eel living beneath the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Bihar, northern India. The small, colourless creature, named Gangaichthys indonepalicus, is the first subterranean fish to be recorded from the Gangetic Basin.

A new University of Miami study suggests Brazil could improve public health and food security by making better use of its seafood resources.

Adding iron to the ocean can cause plankton to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere. However, the effect depends on where in the world the method is used, and it can have far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems and food chains, according to a new study in Nature.

Magnesium supplements are gaining popularity to treat conditions such as insomnia, migraines, and constipation. Most magnesium salts are extracted from rocks by crushing and heating them, which requires a lot of energy. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have developed bismuth electrodes that selectively pull magnesium ions from seawater, another abundant source of the element. They…

Scientists exploring seamounts off the coast of Costa Rica have discovered a new coral so genetically and morphologically distinct that it required the creation of an entirely new family for its classification. Bright yellow and tree-like, the coral was found growing some 360 to 529 metres beneath the surface of the Pacific. The discovery is described in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Researchers from the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) are part of an international team that has developed a new methodology to identify potential pathogens in dolphin blow, the air expelled through the blowhole during respiration.

A research team has identified clear body-shape differences between wild and farmed populations of the stinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis in Bangladesh. Wild river fish displayed greater morphological variability, while farmed stocks were generally more uniform and showed distinct patterns linked to their places of origin.

Researchers from Adelaide University and the University of Hong Kong are calling for marine heatwaves to be recognised as a major public health issue, arguing their impacts on people have been largely overlooked.

An international study led by Curtin University has put to bed a scientific debate dating back 176 years, confirming that two historically significant oyster species from Western Australia and Fiji are in fact distinct species.

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown way that certain fish may "sniff" underwater.

The expedition brought together archaeology, marine science, geology, engineering and computer science, giving students and researchers the opportunity to work alongside international collaborators while documenting how human activity, earthquakes, changing sea level and coastal processes have shaped the site over centuries.

A resilient native seagrass could offer a new path to restoring Florida's troubled coastal waters. Researchers found that Ruppia maritima can survive repeated flooding, poor water quality and other environmental stressors in the Indian River Lagoon, then regenerate from a persistent seed bank when conditions improve. Its successful cultivation and self-sustaining growth in a seagrass nursery sugg…

People might be more inclined to keep their community clean if they believe it benefits them personally, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

Georgia Tech researchers found that predatory bacteria can halt the spread of a destructive coral disease by hunting and consuming pathogens responsible for the infection.

A research team has developed the Coastal Water Pathogen Database (CWPD), an open-access platform that integrates metagenomic evidence on pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi in coastal waters with information on antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors. Through geographic visualization, searchable records and an online annotation service, the platform allows users to examine where bio…

A nationwide collaboration among public aquariums and research institutions, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant, has developed new methods to breed more than 20 marine fish species in human care, reducing reliance on wild-caught animals while launching new public resources to help advance sustainable aquaculture.