Why does a Caribbean angelfish sometimes resemble its Indo-Pacific cousin, even though they have never lived in the same ocean? Why do coral reefs harbour such a wide range of stripes, spots and patterns? A study conducted by the University of Liège reveals that this explosion of colour patterns is not the result of chance. The more species a reef is home to, the more varied the patterns, and fish from different oceans often end up looking alike, guided by the same deep biological constraints.

A research team led by Prof. XU Yigang from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Prof. DENG Chenglong from the CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics conducted a study of the Yanshan Scientific Drilling Project (YSDP-4) drill core, with a drill depth of 1497.5 meters. The core was recovered from the lacustrine Jiufotang Formation in northeastern China.

The year-long algal bloom along the South Australian coastline has not only devastated marine life and triggered health risks for humans and pets: it has also had a significant psychological impact on local residents, according to new research.

Researchers from the Center of Excellence in Marine Biotechnology at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), in collaboration with Macro Algae Industries, have launched a pilot seaweed farm near the Al Sawadi Islands in Barka to evaluate the commercial feasibility of cultivating native seaweed species in Omani waters.

Short-term changes in sea level can greatly affect coastal communities and maritime industries, making accurate predictions essential. A team of researchers recently optimized the training of an AI model to improve the accuracy of North Pacific Ocean sea level anomaly (SLA) forecasts compared to current state-of-the-art numerical and AI models.

The Gulf of America is experiencing accelerated sea-level rise driven by ocean dynamics, vertical land motion and warming waters, intensifying flood risks for coastal communities – especially rural, under-resourced areas with limited planning capacity. A new four-year, $900,000 grant supports high-resolution modeling, machine learning and community engagement to deliver precise local projections, deploy water sensors and build an accessible AI platform, equipping communities with actionable forecasts to strengthen resilience and long-term adaptation.

For scientists who study the Southern Ocean, a long-standing silver lining in the gloomy forecast of climate change has been the theory of iron fertilization. As temperatures rise and glaciers in Antarctica melt, ice-trapped iron would feed blooms of microscopic algae, pulling heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.

There’s just one problem: The theory doesn’t hold water.

In what researchers describe as the most accurate measurement of iron inputs from a glacier in Antarctica, marine scientists from Rutgers University-New Brunswick have discovered that meltwater from an Antarctic ice shelf supplies far less iron to surrounding waters than once thought.

The findings, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, raise questions about the sources of iron in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, and could significantly alter how climate change predictions are forecasted and modeled, the researchers said.

New geological data indicate that marine life is somewhat resilient to warming in the tropics. Chris Fokkema, earth scientist at Utrecht University, discovered that tropical algae were largely unaffected by a number of periods of global warming of up to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the distant past. These unicellar organisms form the basis of food webs and are generally very sensitive to rising temperatures. Previous studies of periods of even greater warming showed a dramatic decline in these organisms. “Somewhere beyond those 1.5 degrees, a tipping point occurs.”