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.

A recent study investigates the intermuscular bones (IBs) of a novel hybrid fish (BTB), derived from female Megalobrama amblycephala (BSB) and male Culter alburnus (TC), and its parents. The research reveals that BTB exhibits a reduced number of IBs per sarcomere compared to its parents, showcasing the potential of distant hybridization in developing fish varieties with fewer IBs, which is advantageous for both consumer preference and industrial processing.

Plastic pollution is a global problem. It damages ecosystems, endangers animals, and in the form of nanoplastic particles can also have consequences for human health.  A global agreement to regulate plastic pollution is therefore long overdue. However plastic particles have also become a new habitat for bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae. The ecological significance of this ‘plastisphere’ for natural communities is the subject of numerous research projects. In this study, for example, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have examined bacterial metagenomes. The results show that the genomes of microbes in the plastisphere are larger and contain more gene copies associated with functional processes than those of marine plankton. This adaption ensures their survival, the researchers write in Environmental Pollution.

Access to nutritious food is a fundamental pillar of human success, but such access has been unequal throughout history.  In pre-industrial European societies, meat was a highly sought-after food, and access to it was often related to a higher social status. The ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in human bone collagen can provide data about what a person ate. Nitrogen isotope ratios reflect the amount of meat a person ate, while carbon isotope ratios reveal what proportion of plants a person ate used the C4 carbon fixation photosynthesis pathway, from which one can infer how much low-status millet and variable-status marine foods a person may have consumed. However, comparing isotope ratios across sites is difficult; the use of manure fertilizer, varying climate conditions, and undernourishment can change the context in which raw values are interpreted. Rozenn Colleter, Michael P. Richards, and colleagues work around this constraint by using the interdecile ratio. 

A hydrogen-bond-mediated molecular bridging strategy is proposed to overcome the trade-off in photocathodic protection, enabling round-the-clock corrosion prevention for marine infrastructure through precise interfacial engineering.

Today, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) and UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography announced a formal partnership through the Agile Restoration & Conservation Hubs (ARCH) initiative. With over 200 years of combined experience in scientific research and public outreach, the two organizations aim to jointly accelerate innovation and expand their global conservation impact.

A new study, published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, provides a profound look at life up to nearly 10 kilometers below the ocean's surface in the Japan, Ryukyu, and Izu-Ogasawara trenches. The research catalogs at least 108 distinct organism groups (morphotaxa), including the deepest-ever observation of a fish and a baffling, unidentified animal that has left global taxonomic experts stumped.