Oceans and Their Inhabitants

#26

They look like little toy "monsters" in plastic capsules .ike you'd find in a gumball machine. Sooo adorable!

#27

Wow! That was very cool, such cute little buggars

#28

Alaska snow crab season canceled as officials investigate disappearance of an estimated 1 billion crabs

In a major blow to America's seafood industry, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has, for the first time in state history, canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea due to their falling numbers. While restaurant menus will suffer, scientists worry what the sudden population plunge means for the health of the Arctic ecosystem.

An estimated one billion crabs have mysteriously disappeared in two years, state officials said. It marks a 90% drop in their population.

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fishin ... te-change/

#29

#30

https://www.sciencealert.com/octopus-br ... our-brains

Octopus Brains Actually Share a Surprising Trait With Human Brains

It's a trait that octopus brains actually share with human brains, and the brains of other vertebrates: a huge repertoire of microRNA in their neural tissue.

"This," Rajewsky says, "is what connects us to the octopus!"

What the team found was that octopuses have a lot of microRNA, or miRNA. They found 164 miRNA genes grouped into 138 miRNA families in the common octopus, and 162 miRNA genes grouped into the same 138 families in the California two-spot octopus. And 42 of the families were new, mostly in the brain and neural tissue.

miRNA are non-coding RNA molecules that are heavily involved in regulating gene expression, binding to larger RNA molecules to help cells fine-tune the proteins they create.

The fact that these miRNA families were preserved in the octopus, as were the RNA binding sites, suggests that they still play a role in octopus biology, although the scientists don't yet know what that role is, or which cells the miRNAs are involved with.
Interestingly, this isn't the only similarity between octopus brains and those of vertebrates. Scientists previously found that human and octopus brains both contain a high number of DNA segments called transposons. It seems like there's a lot more going on in an octopus's head (and arms) than we understand.

#31

https://www.causes.com/articles/54569-s ... d-recovery

Southern Line Island Coral Reef Makes Unexpected Recovery

In 2015 and 2016, an extreme El Niño event occurred in the Pacific. For 15 weeks, the islands experienced warmer-than-usual temperatures, leading to the bleaching of the coral. In 2017, a research team found that half of the corals died from heat stress.

The reefs promptly and unexpectedly recreated a healthy, resilient ecosystem.

The coral today

In 2022, the research team returned to the Southern Line Islands and found the coral was almost entirely revived.

The coral, now called “super reefs,” most likely recovered quickly because of how remote they are. Scientists say the lack of chronic stress to the ecosystem, like overfishing or pollution, allowed for such a quick recovery.

Miriam Reverter, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth, believes that scientists need more information on coral reefs to understand how they are different after a bleaching event. Even if the reefs seem to recover fully, it's unclear how they could withstand future stressors. She continues:

“This story is encouraging and brings much needed light in the dark forecast of coral reefs. However, we must be aware that [the reef] community changes…and we don’t yet know how stable and diverse these new reefs are.”

#32

https://blog.nature.org/science/2022/08 ... land-crab/

Meet the World’s Largest Land Crab

I’m at Palmyra Atoll, a remote island 1,000 miles south of Hawai’i, to participate in a fish research trip. Palmyra is a very crabby place. There are 12 species of land crab here, and their populations have been growing since the removal of invasive rats.

Crabs also feature prominently in any Palmyra stay. Soon after landing on Palmyra, all researchers and visitors must attend an orientation to review safety rules. The remote island, administered by The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has no permanent inhabitants, so following rules and protocols is paramount. And one of the first rules you learn is a simple one: Watch your step. Watch every step.

This is in part for your safety; Palmyra is very, very far from medical assistance. But it’s also for the crabs. In the evenings, hermit crabs and other species come out en masse. You must use a headlamp and you have to walk carefully, as the path is like a crustacean-themed obstacle course.

The coconut crab is the largest land crab – and for that matter, the largest terrestrial arthropod – on the planet. In many parts of the world, it faces a perilous future. On Palmyra, though, the situation is much brighter.

These are truly land crabs. The only time coconut crabs enter the water is when females release eggs into the ocean to start the larval process.

Unlike hermit crabs, they grow large. Very large. They can live for 60 years, with an adult measuring 3 feet across and weighing up to 9 pounds.

Then there’s that claw. Stories have long been told about the crab’s finger-crushing abilities. Recent research quantified that power. A crab can squeeze with a crushing force of 3000 newtons, or about 675 pound per square inch. Compare that to a lobster, which has a crushing force of 250 newtons.

#33

The comparison to the lobster, although not just about size, was eye opening.

Frater I*I · #34

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:44 am More importantly...

Do I cook 'em with Chesapeake bay crab seasoning?

Or just go with melted butter when I eat 'em...

I'll see myself out

#35

FRATER!!!!!!!!!!

#36

Frater I*I wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:51 pm
Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:44 am More importantly...

Do I cook 'em with Chesapeake bay crab seasoning?

Or just go with melted butter when I eat 'em...

I'll see myself out

Nah. I'm sure they're not as good as Maryland blues. Save your crab seasoning.

#37

Frater - No culinary comments!!!!!!

There are some cool photos at the site.

https://www.treehugger.com/differences- ... us-7090427

What’s the Difference Between Squid and Octopuses?
How to tell the cephalopods apart by their arms, head shape, and habits.

Key Differences

Size: The largest squid species can grow to more than double the length of the largest octopus species.

Range: Squid and octopus share much of their range, but squid are more likely to be found near the surface of the water and octopuses in the deep.

Appendages: Octopuses have eight limbs while squid have 10.

Head shape: Octopuses have round heads whereas
squid's are more triangular.

Characteristics of Squid vs Octopuses

It's tough to tell the difference between squid and octopuses just by size and location. Body sizes vary widely, from less than an inch (example: pygmy squid) all the way up to 40-plus feet in length.3 The giant squid is known to be the largest living cephalopod, reaching recorded lengths of 42 feet, while the largest octopus, the giant Pacific octopus, grows to only about 16 feet.45

Both squid and octopuses inhabit all the world's oceans. They prefer warmth, but some species of both can be found in the subzero waters off Antarctica. Here are some surefire ways to tell the sea mollusks apart.

Limbs

Octopuses are called so—with the prefix "octo"—because they have eight arms. Each flexible arm is covered in suckers that help the animal taste, grip, and smell.6 Squid have eight sucker-covered arms, too, but they also have two additional tentacles, both equipped with muscular "hooks" instead of suckers, that are longer than their eight arms and used for grabbing prey.

Octopus arms are more flexible than squid's, which allows them to "walk" on the seafloor and manipulate objects. They've been called "the most flexible limbs in nature."7

Head Shape

One of the most obvious physical distinctions is the difference in head shape. Octopuses have characteristically round heads and mantles whereas squid's are more triangular and flanked by fins. Squid flap these winglike appendages for locomotion; most octopuses—except a few deep-water species including the dumbo octopus—do not have fins, getting around almost exclusively by jet propulsion.89

Habitat

Although some species are pelagic, meaning they hang around the surface of the water, most octopuses stick—literally, with their adherent appendages—to the seafloor. They hide away in deep, dark waters, holing up in the crevices of rocks and coral when they aren't hunting crustaceans at the bottom of the ocean. Squid, on the contrary, tend to float about the open ocean where their preferred food—shrimp and small fish—is most abundant.

#38

Cool stuff.

Volkonski · #39

Oceans Break Record for Highest Temperatures Four Years in a Row
Warming oceans can drive sea-level rise and extreme weather

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180981455/

In 2022, the world’s oceans hit their warmest temperature on record for the fourth year in a row, new research suggests. The findings, published last week in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, are a striking indication of the long-term pattern of human-caused climate change.

Sea surface temperatures have a major impact on the world’s weather, with warmer oceans linked to more extreme hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and heavy rain, writes Andrew Freedman of Axios.

Since 1970, the oceans have absorbed about 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, per CNN’s Ivana Kottasová. Ocean temperature is less susceptible to short-term weather changes than air temperature is, making oceans a good gauge for the effects of climate change.

“If you want to know how fast the globe has warmed and if you want to look into the future climate, the answer is in the oceans,” study co-author John Abraham, a thermal sciences expert at the University of St. Thomas, says to Axios. “It tells us the past and helps us project into the future.”

A warmer ocean also means expanding water, rising sea levels and flooding. It is increasingly likely that, between 2020 and 2100, the ocean along the U.S. coastline could rise by two feet. A recent NASA study found the ocean could rise up to one foot in about 25 years

.

Volkonski · #40

Antarctic: Giant iceberg breaks away in front of UK station

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60825387

A big iceberg roughly the size of Greater London has broken away from the Antarctic, close to Britain's Halley research station.

Sensors on the surface of the Brunt Ice Shelf confirmed the split late on Sunday GMT.

Currently, 21 staff are at Halley, maintaining the base and operating its scientific instruments.

They are not in any danger and will continue their work until they're due to be picked up early next month.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been operating the station in a reduced role in anticipation of the calving.

Halley is positioned a good 20km from the line of rupture.

Volkonski · #41

https://mas.to/@cnexnews/109971847374275939

New York Times

After two decades of planning and talks that culminated in a grueling race over the past few days in New York, a significant majority of nations agreed on language for a historic UN treaty that would protect ocean biodiversity.

https://nyti.ms/3kOEEZT

#42

https://mymodernmet.com/molly-sampson-megalodon-tooth/

9-Year-Old Paleontology Lover Finds Giant Megalodon Tooth on Maryland Beach

While most kids hope to get toys or gadgets for Christmas, a 9-year-old girl from Maryland named Molly Sampson only wished for one thing—insulated chest waders. This request may sound odd to most people, but her parents, aware of her passions, knew that this would allow her to look for her true Christmas treat–shark teeth, which she has been collecting since she was little. After breaking into her new outfit on Christmas Day, she took to the beach in Chesapeake Bay and told her parents, “I'm looking for Meg.” Little did she know that she would find just what she was looking for. She found a 5-inch tooth that once belonged to a megalodon, the largest shark to ever live, which roamed the seas more than 2.6 million years ago and is now extinct.

After spotting the tooth, which is larger than Molly's hand, the little girl dove into the water. Given her track record with shark teeth—she has collected about 400 pieces of all shapes and sizes—the future paleontologist now has a knack for spotting them. While this isn't the first megalodon tooth she has spotted, it is certainly the biggest she has found so far. “This tooth was in the water, so thanks to the waders, she got the best part of her present!” her mom told Daily Mail.

Molly's passion for shark teeth comes from her dad, who has done this for years, as well as her older sister. “My husband has looked for them his entire life!” Molly's mom admits. “We've always lived close to the bay so all of our kids have done it since they were little.” On Christmas Day alone, the family gathered 22 shark teeth and shared their discovery in a cheerful Facebook post, where the little girl grins from ear to ear as she holds her finding. “I'm pretty sure Molly is feeling like this is the best Christmas ever,” her mom wrote.

After celebrating her achievement, Molly took to the paleontology department of the Calvert Marine Museum, which confirmed the fossil's identity. Her finding will help further the academy's knowledge of the elusive megalodon, which puzzles experts to this day, as no complete skeleton has been found. However, Molly will have access to the tooth whenever she wants. “Molly is a super shy kid,” her mom explains, “so she isn't one to like the spotlight, but she also knows it's more about this amazing tooth.”

#43

https://bigthink.com/life/new-ctenophor ... 1678986408

NOAA discovers a new, beautifully weird sea creature
Exceptionally high-quality videos allow scientists to formally introduce a remarkable new comb jelly.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
*Gorgeous simplicity characterizes the comb jelly recently discovered by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
*The small denizen of the deep was spotted three times beneath the waters off Puerto Rico.
*Though it's unusual to formally identify an animal strictly based on video observations, the quality of NOAA's video made it possible in a case where there's no better alternative.

Usually,when scientists announce the discovery of a previously unknown animal, they have a specimen of the new arrival in hand. That’s not the case, though, with Duobrachium sparksae, an amazing and beautiful ctenophore encountered 3,910 meters beneath the ocean surface about 40 kilometers off the coast of Puerto Rico. No one has met Duobrachium sparksae in person — we know of its existence only through several high-definition videos. (“Ctenophore” is pronounced teen-a-for, by the way.)

Says NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Biologist Allen Collins in a NOAA press release, “It’s unique because we were able to describe a new species based entirely on high-definition video.”

It’s also unique because it’s such an exquisitely elegant organism.

The first encounter humanity had with the jelly occurred on April 10, 2015, when Deep Discoverer (a remotely operated vehicle or ROV) came across the gelatinous wonder. Fortunately, the ROV sports cameras that were sufficiently high-definition to clearly capture Duobrachium sparksae’s fine details.

The animal was first noticed in a video feed by Mike Ford of the shoreside science team working in NOAA’s Exploration Command Center far away, outside of Washington, D.C. The ROV was working the Arecibo amphitheater canyon. What Ford saw was, in his words, “a beautiful and unique organism.”

Deep Discoverer’s cameras produce externally high-resolution images, and are capable of measuring objects as small as a millimeter.The comb jelly’s body is about 6 centimeters in size, and its tentacles are about 30 cm long.

While video-based animal identification can be controversial, there was little choice in this case. “We didn’t have sample collection capabilities on the ROV at the time,” says Collins. “Even if we had the equipment, there would have been very little time to process the animal because gelatinous animals don’t preserve very well; ctenophores are even worse than jellyfish in this regard.”

RTH10260 · #44

First birds, now mammals: how H5N1 is killing thousands of sea lions in Peru
Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal

Dan Collyns in Paracas
Tue 21 Mar 2023 09.30 GMT

At first, it appears to be dead. Its head lies in the sand, and a small tide pool has formed around it. Its shoulder blades jut out and its coffee and beige pelt hangs loosely on protruding vertebrae that taper down to its long tail flippers.

But the young male sea lion is still alive. Its round wet eyes blink and occasionally it tries to move, rolling over or lifting its head, as the flooding tide inches it up the beach in Chepeconde, about 75 miles south of Peru’s coastal capital, Lima.

“Looking at the state he’s in, you can see that his ribs are showing, this sea lion may have been like this for 10 days, perhaps up to half a month,” says Pilar Ayala, a biologist with Peru’s wildlife service Serfor, dressed in face mask and white hazmat suit.

Dying South American sea lion on a beach in Chepeconde, Peru.
The dying South American sea lion on the beach at Chepeconde, Peru. The young male was showing symptoms of avian influenza. Photograph: Dan Collyns
“He has not been able to get food. This, added to the weakness from the disease, has caused his condition to worsen and he can no longer even move around. He’s stranded on this beach,” says Ayala, part of a team of wildlife specialists who have been spending their days registering and taking samples from dead and dying animals along Peru’s 1,850-mile Pacific coastline.

The young male has all the symptoms of the H5N1 variant of avian influenza which is ravaging the country’s population of about 105,000 South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens). This month, Peru’s national parks service, Sernanp, recorded the deaths of 3,487 sea lions, 3.29% of the total number, as well as five far less common fur seals ( Arctocephalus australis), in seven protected areas along the coast. But scientists estimate the true number of bird flu deaths is probably much higher.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... h-aoe-h5n1

#45

RTH10260 · #46

Deepest ever fish caught on camera off Japan

Jonathan Amos - BBC Science Correspondent
Mon, April 3, 2023 at 9:20 PM GMT+2

Scientists have filmed a fish swimming at an extraordinary depth in the ocean, making it the deepest observation of this nature that has ever been made.

The species - a type of snailfish of the genus Pseudoliparis - was filmed swimming at 8,336m (27,349ft).

It was filmed by an autonomous "lander" dropped into the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan.

The lead scientist said the snailfish could be at, or very close to, the maximum depth any fish can survive.

The previous deepest fish observation was made at 8,178m, further south in the Pacific in the Mariana Trench. This discovery therefore beats the depth record by 158m.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/deepest-ever ... 27835.html

(original: BBC)

RTH10260 · #47

Discovered in the deep: the squid that sees both ways at once
Living in the twilight zone, cockeye squid float between two worlds and have adapted to keep an eye on both

Helen Scales
Mon 17 Apr 2023 06.00 BST

Cockeye squid face a conundrum. Living hundreds of metres underwater, they float in between two worlds. Above them is the surface ocean, where a dim blue fraction of sunlight filters down. Below them is the deep sea, sunless and black. Which way to look?

Their mismatched eyes solve the problem – by letting them gaze into both worlds at once.

The squid are born with two identical eyes, but the left eyeball grows much faster, eventually forming a long tube, often with a bright yellow lens. This huge, highly sensitive eye gazes upwards and looks for the dark silhouettes of food or enemies passing overhead. The yellow colour filters out background light and breaks the camouflage of glowing animals that try to blend with the blue around them.

The right eyeball, meanwhile, ends up less than half the diameter of its partner. The squid aims it downwards, scanning for flashes of glowing animals against the dark waters below.

“It’s a lovely example of how they exploit and inhabit those two very different environments,” says Jon Ablett, senior curator of molluscs at the Natural History Museum in London.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ys-at-once

#48

The cockeyed squid reminds me of this famous line and sketch from In Living Color. Life does imitate art!

"Look at me with your good eye!" Wanda the Ugly Woman.

Dave from down under · #49

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-16/ ... /102348656

Marine scientists have formed a symbiotic relationship with whale sharks in the Ningaloo area in Western Australia as they exchange parasite removal for research data.

Key points:
Sampling parasitic crustaceans could replace the need for taking pieces of whale shark skin for research
Some whale sharks will stop in the water and allow parasite removal by scientists who act like giant cleaner fish
Anyone who swims with a whale shark should never attempt to touch them

Usually remoras, otherwise known as suckerfish, would take care of parasitic crustaceans on whale sharks, but they can only do it for flat surfaces as opposed the mouth and leading edge of a shark's fins.

But researchers have found that some whale sharks will stop swimming and allow them to scrape copepods from tricky to clean areas like the lips with plastic knives.

A new paper from the University of Western Australia and published in the international journal Fishes suggests researchers could find out the same information about what the sharks eat from the copepod samples as they would from the more invasive process of taking pieces of skin.

Dave from down under · #50

Some fantastic images at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-16/ ... /102291152