Marine biology
From ‘Loki cucumber’ to sea pen: 57 underwater species new to science
An international research team has identified 57 underwater species from an ocean canyon off the coast of Argentina as new to science. Bionieuws has compiled the most remarkable finds.
Narwhals recruited to measure Greenland’s ocean temperatures
Ocean researchers in Greenland have enlisted some remarkable recruits for a new study: they equipped six narwhals with measuring instruments to chart changes in water temperature and salt concentrations beneath glaciers.
Sleeping sperm whales stay submerged by blowing bubbles
Sperm whales taking a nap just below the water's surface keep themselves submerged by occasionally releasing an air bubble.
Fin whale baleen should clog up – but somehow it doesn’t
When a fin whale takes a large gulp of krill-laden water, the baleen should, by rights, become clogged as the water is forced back...
Ocean rift conceals vast whale graveyard
On the floor of the south-eastern Indian Ocean lies a whale graveyard kilometres deep. In a deep rift zone to the south-west of Australia,...
Ocean warming has a paradoxical effect on coral
Progressively rising water temperatures initially stimulate ciliary activity and oxygen uptake in the stony coral species Porites lutea, but ultimately lead to severe oxygen...
Persian Gulf unprepared for conflict-driven marine environmental damage
The Persian Gulf is highly vulnerable to large-scale marine environmental damage caused by armed conflict.
To prevent further conflict-related marine environmental damage in the Persian...
Brackish water shapes the herring embryo
Atlantic herring was able to colonise the young Baltic Sea thanks to genetic adaptations in sperm cells, egg cells and embryos. These adaptations allow Baltic herring to reproduce in water with a far lower salinity than the Atlantic Ocean.
Invisible directors of the ocean
Not merely as pathogens, but as forces that determine whether carbon in the upper water layers is consumed or recycled, or whether it sinks to the deep sea.
The ocean’s invisible directors
As the new research vessel Anna Weber-van Bosse sails from Cape Verde to Iceland, researchers are trying to understand how viruses direct the ocean. Not merely as pathogens, but as forces that determine whether carbon in the upper water layers is consumed or recycled – or instead sinks to the deep sea.