marine biology

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Frilled Shark With 300 Teeth Caught Off Australia

It's described as a 'living fossil'

(Newser) - Fishermen off the coast of Australia were startled to haul in something none of them had ever seen before: a rare species of "living fossil" shark virtually unchanged since before dinosaurs went extinct. The frilled shark they caught was around 5 feet long, almost as big as they get,...

Antarctic Fish Have Ice in Their Veins

Antifreeze proteins appear to prevent melting

(Newser) - How do the fish that thrive in the waters around Antarctica prevent their blood from turning to ice? Turns out at least some of them don't. Scientists have long known that the group of fish species known as notothenioids have an antifreeze protein in their blood that prevents them...

Scientists Defrost, Dissect Rare Colossal Squid

Specimen is one of 2 known intact ones ever found

(Newser) - After thawing an animal that had been frozen for 8 months and some careful maneuvering with a forklift to get it into a tank, scientists were able to take a good look at the best-preserved specimen of the elusive colossal squid ever discovered. The 770-pound creature hauled up by a...

Pelvic Bones Give Whales 'Crazy Control' During Sex

Mammal's pelvis is key to tricky reproductive maneuvers, scientists say

(Newser) - All this time, scientists thought a whale's pelvis was useless—but it turns out that it may actually help the marine mammal make its moves when it's time to get it on. A study published in the journal Evolution finds that bigger actually is better when it comes...

Mushroom-Shaped Critter in Deep Sea Vexes Biologists

Animal found in 1986, only now being scientifically described

(Newser) - From afar, the deep-sea animal species Dendrogramma enigmatica resembles a chanterelle mushroom. Upon closer inspection, though, the creatures seem to belong to the animal, not fungi, kingdom. And yet they cannot be classified under any existing animal group, perhaps necessitating an entire rewriting of the early tree of life, not...

Giant New Jellyfish Has No Tentacles

Keesingia gigas has potentially deadly sting

(Newser) - A huge new species of jellyfish discovered off western Australia looks a bit like a plastic bag—but one that can deliver a potentially lethal sting. Keesingia gigas is as long as a human arm, though bizarrely, none of the specimens caught or photographed appear to have any tentacles, the...

Miami Divers in Rush to Save Rare Corals

The deadline is Saturday, when excavation begins on the city's shipping channel

(Newser) - A group of scientists has until Saturday to save as many corals as time and weather permit along the bottom of a Miami shipping channel, before it is scheduled to be dredged and deepened by eight feet. With the Panama Canal in the process of being widened, the excavation project...

Remarkable Find: an Underwater 'Graveyard'

Science gets its first view of giant sharks and rays being devoured

(Newser) - Marine biologists have gotten a grisly treat courtesy of remotely operated vehicles surveying the seafloor off Angola for the oil and gas industry: For the first time, the carcasses of large fish—a whale shark and three mobulid rays—and the feeding frenzy they create have been filmed. The researchers...

Scientists Make New Find in Photos of Freakish Shark
Photos of Freakish Shark
Reveal Another Big Find
in case you missed it

Photos of Freakish Shark Reveal Another Big Find

Isopods signal 'whalefall' at bottom of Gulf

(Newser) - Researchers studying photos of a rare goblin shark hauled up in the Gulf of Mexico last month say they've spotted something just as exciting—and just as weird-looking—in the shrimpers' catch. Mixed in with the shrimp are unusually large numbers of giant isopods, a deep-sea creature that resembles...

After 50 Years, Mysterious Ocean Quack Identified

'Bio-duck' is actually minke whale

(Newser) - A mysterious quacking noise in the ocean that has baffled scientists for decades has finally been identified, researchers say. Acoustic recorders placed on Antarctic minke whales have produced what NOAA experts say is "conclusive evidence" that the sound is their chatter, the BBC reports. The sound was dubbed the...

To Give Birth, Sharks Return to Own Birthplace

Even if they're away for years: study

(Newser) - A mother shark can be away from her birthplace for years—but she'll still return there when it's time for her to have babies, scientists have found in a 17-year-study. Researchers suspected as much, but to confirm their suspicions, they decided to follow individual lemon sharks starting in...

Scientists Cracked Open 507-Year-Old Clam

 World's Oldest 
 Animal Lived 
 to 507 
new analysis

World's Oldest Animal Lived to 507

Ming was killed when scientists cracked open its shell

(Newser) - The oldest animal ever known lived from 1499 until the day researchers cracked its shell open, killing it in the process. Ming, an ocean quahog from the species Arctica islandica, was initially thought to be a record-setting 402 years old. But the scientists who found it on a seabed near...

Newly Discovered Dolphin Species Needs Name

Humpbacks live off northern Australia coast

(Newser) - A species of dolphin that lives off the coast of northern Australia is so new to science that it doesn't have a name yet. Scientists knew about the dolphin populations, but they were thought to be part of another humpback dolphin species until genetic testing revealed that they were...

Tests Hint at Fish Miles Below Antarctic Ice

Scientists study RNA at Lake Vostok

(Newser) - A lake nearly 2.5 miles below Antarctica's ice sheet could harbor some surprising organisms—including, perhaps, fish, scientists find. Lake Vostok, some 5,800 square miles in area, is thought to have been closed off from the atmosphere for millions of years, the BBC notes. But rivers below...

CO2 Levels Are Super-Sizing Crabs

Crustaceans bulk up as carbon levels rise

(Newser) - Carbon emissions usually make news for their effect on the climate, but they're also having a major impact on marine ecosystems in the form of creating huge crustaceans, the Washington Post finds. In the Chesapeake Bay area and many others, oyster and scallop populations are dropping as crabs—who...

Things Can Actually Live at the Ocean's Deepest Point

Bacteria makes a home 8 miles underwater

(Newser) - The Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench contains the deepest point in all the world's oceans. But despite its nearly eight-mile depth (Mount Everest, by comparison, doesn't hit six miles), Challenger Deep is also home to life, a study finds. Researchers sent a robot into Challenger Deep in 2010...

Kraken! Scientists Capture First Giant Squid Footage

And Discovery is airing tape this month

(Newser) - Discovery is about to release the Kraken: Until now, the giant squid had never been caught on video in its natural habitat. But Japan's National Science Museum has managed to capture the footage, and it's headed for the small screen on the country's public television. Then, on...

Giant Crustacean Found in Ocean Trench

It was like 'finding a foot-long cockroach,' researcher says

(Newser) - Scientists looking for deep-sea life off the coast of New Zealand were amazed when their traps yielded several specimens of a "supergiant" crustacean not seen for decades. The amphipods—sometimes called the "insects of the sea"—were more than 10 inches long, 20 times as big as...

Biologist Indicted for Feeding Killer Whales

California researcher broke law with blubber, feds say

(Newser) - A renowned marine biologist has landed in hot water for giving blubber to killer whales. Nancy Black, who runs whale-watching tours in California's Monterey Bay, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that she violated a federal law banning feeding or otherwise interfering with marine mammals in...

Stunning Finds at Antarctic Deep-Sea Vents

Ghost octopus, 'Hasselhoff crab' among new species found

(Newser) - Stunned scientists taking their first-ever look at deep-sea vents in the ocean that surrounds Antarctica spotted new species clustered in vast numbers 8,000 feet below. A new species of yeti crab—dubbed the "Hasselhoff crab" because of its hairy chest—was found in huge piles near the outflow,...

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