A brittle star’s whole body is an eye.
Scientific American looks at how these starfish relatives don’t need eyes to see: And yet now there appears to be something far stranger about the […]
marine biology
Science Art: Florarctus antillensis Van Der Land 1968, from “Tardigrades marins des Bermudes,” 1970
Click to embiggen A water bear from Bermuda, as published in 1970 (a good time to be in Bermuda). Florarctus antillensis was apparently first discovered […]
These sea worms look sequined – so we named them after Elvis
Science News reviews the show-stopping submarine research that has gone behind the scenes with four species of sequined sea worms that have collectively been named […]
Science Art: Cephalopodes: Pl. III, 1889.
Click to embiggen Prince Albert I of Monaco was really into marine life, and used the royal yacht as a scientific research vessel. Here, from […]
There are nuclear-bomb layers in whale sharks’ bones.
Science News has what’s practically a Godzilla story: the discovery that residue from Cold War-era nuclear bomb tests can be found inside the bodies of […]
Science Art: Taf. II: Palephyra indica, Atorella subglobosa, Sanderia malayensis, 1902.
Click to embiggen These are from Die acraspeden Medusen der deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition: 1898-1899, the first of two volumes on jellyfish written by Ernst Vanhöffen, a […]
Seals talk with applause. OK, clapping. They clap to each other.
Science Daily leads a round of applause for researchers who’ve found that seals clap to each other underwater: “The discovery of ‘clapping seals’ might not […]
How to mine the bottom of the sea.
The Atlantic goes deep, deeper than ever in search of the wealth beneath the ocean floor: Today, many of the largest mineral corporations in the […]
Yes, KISS is actually having a concert for sharks.
From SportDiver‘s “Ask a Marine Biologist” column comes a question about a band that might have lost some human relevance, but is still aiming for […]
Science Art: Development of the Gonophore…., 1891
Click to embiggen From Johns Hopkins circular “On the Structure and Development of the Gonophores of a Certain Siphonophore Belonging to the Order Auronectae (Haeckel).” […]
As Australopithecus to us, so this fossil to sharks.
Nature reveals the “missing link” for sharks, thanks to a cartilaginous fossil of a 383 million-year-old eel-like fish: Christian Klug at the University of Zurich […]
Science Art: Trigla Hirundo, Lin., from Gemeinnüzzige Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs (A Natural History of the Animal Kingdom)
Click to embiggen It’s not a flying fish, but something called a “sapphirine gurnard,” which is unusual not because it flies, but because it walks […]
New hope for coral reefs is sprouting at Florida Aquarium
CNN is among the news outlets covering a hopeful story (as the rain forests burn), that the Florida Aquarium in Tampa has found a way […]
The American pocket shark glows in the dark
CNN was among the news outlets celebrating the discovery of a small, glow-in-the-dark shark species: The 5 1/2-inch American Pocket Shark is the first of […]
Science Art: Cephalopoda (Figs. 441-443), from The Depths of the Ocean, 1912
Click to embiggen Three kinds of squid-kids (I think; at least one is identified as a juvenile), from the research expedition of the Norwegian steamer […]