Mercury released into the oceans affects marine environments worldwide. Traditionally, its distribution and quantity have been estimated using marine biogeochemical simulation models. A recent international study led by Japanese researchers analyzed blood mercury concentrations in more than 11,215 seabirds from 108 species, of which 659 newly collected samples and over 10,556 from previous studies. This is the first biologically based estimate of oceanic mercury distribution.

As climate change intensifies harmful algal blooms worldwide, an international team led by Hiroshima University has developed a hybrid modeling approach that combines algal movement simulations, AI, and long-term monitoring data to sharpen forecasts of these bloom events—linked to environmental damage, mass fish die-offs, economic losses, and risks to human health.

This article highlights a "protection-pollution paradox" in no-take marine reserves (NTRs), where conservation-driven gains in fish biomass, body size, and trophic structure inadvertently increase the accumulation of legacy PCBs in apex predators. Climate change exacerbates this "toxic trap" by remobilizing sediment-bound contaminants and altering the toxicokinetics of marine organisms. To address this hidden threat, the authors advocate for an integrated management framework that combines climate-smart spatial planning, advanced biomonitoring, and targeted remediation. They emphasize shifting conservation metrics from simple biomass recovery to comprehensive ecosystem health to prevent NTRs from becoming inadvertent "toxic traps."

New study in Science Advances reveals that sinking land, not just rising oceans alone, will be the main cause of future coastal flooding along Indonesia’s most populous island. 

Penguins can serve as living monitors of their environment by using small, chemical-detecting leg bands, finds a study from UC Davis and University at Buffalo-SUNY

From seahorses to sharks, more than 3,000 fish species have been caught in bottom trawls, including many at risk of extinction, according to a new global inventory. 

Open-access research from the University of Kansas appearing in the peer-reviewed journal Ichthyology & Herpetology is giving new detail to the evolutionary history of anglerfishes’ lures, studying more than 100 species to see how the lures evolved.

Each winter, thousands of blacktip sharks crowd South Florida’s clear, shallow shoreline—just as beach nourishment projects churn the water into murky plumes. In one of the most detailed studies to date, FAU researchers used aerial surveys and underwater cameras to track sediment clouds and shark activity. They found sharks cluster close to shore, where turbidity can stretch for miles, clouding visibility, disrupting feeding, and potentially shifting behavior—raising new concerns for marine ecosystems and human safety.