Biology
Sea snakes join the dark side to cope with pollution
Black sea snakes are more common in contaminated sites. Why?
Author: Brittney G. Borowiec
Brittney is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada, and joined Oceanbites in September 2015. Her research focuses on the physiological mechanisms and evolution of the respiratory and metabolic responses of Fundulus killifish to intermittent (diurnal) patterns of hypoxia.
Human impacts
Crude oil cripples sandpiper flights
Maggini, I., L.V. Kennedy, A. Macmillan, K.H. Elliott, K. Dean, and C.G. Guglielmo. 2017. Light oiling of feathers increases flight…
Biology
Seaweed antioxidants protect fish too
A new study suggests that feeding fish small amounts of antioxidant-rich seaweed can protected them from environmental challenges.
Biology
Candidate compass genes in fish
A team of American researchers use next-generation sequencing to ask: "magnetoreception, how does it work?"
Biology
Now we got bad blood: Oxygen binding is not affected by haemoglobin subtype in Atlantic cod
Why do northern and southern populations of Atlantic cod have different haemoglobin subtypes? A recent study upsets over 50 years…
Biology
What killer whales tell us about menopause
Killer whales, or orcas (Orcinus orca), are amazingly intelligent and social animals. What can they tell us about the evolution…
Biology
Warm water curtails sea snakes’ dives
Like frogs, sea snakes can uptake oxygen through both their lungs and their skin. How will these “bimodal breathers” cope…
Evolution
Swashbuckling spiders sailed the high seas
Long before the Vikings reached North America, a group of coastal spiders was already sailing around the world using prevailing…
Biology
Long-lived sharks challenge ageing theory
Greenland sharks can live to be over 400 years old. What can they tell us about ageing?
Conservation
Do algal blooms kill whales?
Since 2005, southern right whale calves have been found dead in historic numbers off the Patagonian coast in Argentina. Scientists…
Biology
Pet trout: domestication rapidly alters gene expression
The impact of domestication can be detected within one generation in steelhead trout, and may involve adaptation to highly crowded…
Biology
Young whales build baleen out of ribs
Juvenile bowhead whales put off gaining length and undergo severe bone loss to invest in growing their massive heads and…
Biology
With a little help from my friends: sea turtles hatch together to save energy
Sea turtle hatchlings face long odds when they emerge from their buried nests. But at least they don't have to…
Biology
Why don’t sharks go deep?
Happy Shark Week! Today we examine a persistent and interesting biogeographical puzzle: why are there so few deep sea sharks?
Fisheries
You look like your mom: parental effects in Atlantic salmon
In honour of our Mother's Day theme week, we'll look at how the environment experienced by parents during reproduction and…
Human impacts
Go Green for Earth Day!
Do Mother Nature a solid with these helpful tips & tricks to go green today!
Physiology
Turtles turn heat exchange topsy-turvy
Counter-current heat exchange is a classic example of an elegant anatomical solution to this physiological problem. Leatherback sea turtles do…
Biology
Odd Couples ♥ Tales of Symbiosis in the Ocean
Our Sea of Love theme week kicks off with tales of symbiotic partnerships in the ocean. [Feature image from Wikimedia]
Physiology
Oxygen favours the bold
It takes personality for the African sharptooth catfishes to breathe air. But they also consider their surroundings before visiting the…
Physiology
Trawling selects for faster fish
A new study suggests that differences in exercise performance make some individuals more vulnerable to capture by trawling than others,…