Feature Articles

If you are bored with taking normal photos of your reef aquarium or just looking to be more creative, here's a new idea for you! Underwater photographer Jason Isley of Scubazoo.com, based in South East Asia, found a creative way to document marine creatures using figurines. After taking thousands of photos of nudibranchs, Isley wanted to get more creative. So he began adding miniature figurines to his shots. Prints are available for... Read more

Researchers find that bluebanded goby fish (aka Catalina gobies), about 2 to 2.5 inches long, are able to change their sex when it suits their position in social hierarchies. Matthew Grober, associate professor of biology at Georgia State University, has received funding from the National Science Foundation to better understand what mechanisms cause some of these fish to change sexes. In his lab, fluorescent lights accentuate dozens of... Read more

I personally never realized how big the shark fin industry is until seeing these photos. For those that don't follow this issue, sharks being at the top of the reef food chain are vital to the health and survival of reef ecosystems. Several thousand shark fins laid out to dry were found on the rooftop of a building housing seafood suppliers in Kennedy Town in central Hong Kong. Photographer Gary Stokes from the Sea Shepherd Conservation... Read more

Can fish come back from the dead and terrorize us while we're trying to enjoy their delicious cuts of meat? One user on YouTube has sparked interesting in so-called, "Zombie Fish" states that you might find your fresh cuts of fish in. A YouTube user named AmmarZed uploaded a video of a fish fillet in a fish market wiggling and shaking as it was completely headless and should have been completely dead. Very Fresh Fish - YouTube Enough... Read more

Even casual divers know that diving too deep, or surfacing too quickly, can cause a host of complications from sickness to seizures and even sudden death. Now the Pentagon's scientists want to build gear that can turn commandos into Aquaman, allowing them to plunge into the deeps without having to worry as much about getting ill. (Orange and green tights sold separately.) According to a list of research proposals from the U.S. military's... Read more

Even four times as deep as most scuba divers venture, the Great Barrier Reef blooms. A new exploration by a remote-operated submersible has found the reef's deepest coral yet. The common coral Acropora is living 410 feet (125 meters) below the ocean's surface, a discovery that expedition leader Pim Bongaerts of the University of Queensland called "mind-blowing." The group had previously seen the coral living in the reef at a depth of about... Read more

A furious old lady accidentally killed one of her grandchildren and left another in a coma in Yemen's western port city of Hudieda. Police said on Tuesday that the grandmother was extremely annoyed with some neighbourhood dogs and decided to poison them. The old lady fried a fish and stuffed it with a poisonous substance. Instead of taking the fish out to the street, the old lady left it in the kitchen. Lured by the smell of the fish... Read more

Miami, Dec 19 (IANS/EFE) US authorities are looking for a man who was photographed off the Florida coast riding on the back of a female sperm whale, an endangered species. The marine mammal, which is distinguished from other types of whale by its enormous head, was found dead Tuesday on a beach north of Miami. Federal authorities are investigating the causes of its death. The sperm whale, 9 meters long and weighing 30 tonnes, was still alive... Read more

Researchers have identified which areas of the human nervous system are effected by the the tropical disease, called ciguatera. Ciguatera is contracted by eating reef fish and is the world's most common form of non-bacterial food poisoning, affecting 50,000-500,000 people each year. Some reef fish contain ciguatoxins which are responsible for the disease. The first recorded incident of ciguatera was in 1774, when British sailors led by... Read more

Shark tank terror! Giant aquarium explodes in China sending predators, fish and huge shards of glass into crowded mall entrance! The two year old aquarium at the Dongfang shopping mall in Shanghai, China had become a local landmark since it was installed. A diver would regularly swim in the tank and hand feed the sharks and other creatures. On the evening of Dec. 18, the... Read more

Study finds that damaged coral colonies can take years to recover their reproductive prowess. Coral colonies that suffered tissue damage in The Bahamas were still producing low numbers of eggs four years after the injuries occurred, according to new research by University at Buffalo scientists. Tiny sperm-producing factories called spermaries were also in short supply. The slow recovery was a surprise, said UB geology professor Howard Lasker,... Read more

A whale that is almost unknown to science has been seen for the first time after two individuals--a mother and her male calf--were stranded and died on a New Zealand beach. A report in the November 6th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offers the first complete description of the spade-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon traversii), a species previously known only from a few bones. The discovery is the first evidence that this... Read more