fish
Fooled Ya! How marine animals stay hidden in plain sight
It’s April Fools’ Day! Today’s the day when you try to prank people, convince them your lies are true, and generally make mischief and act sneakily! Animals have to act like it’s April Fools’ Day everyday, and it probably isn’t nearly as much fun since their lives depend on it. Predators sneak up on their […]
Oxygen favours the bold
It takes personality for the African sharptooth catfishes to breathe air. But they also consider their surroundings before visiting the surface. Photo: Wikimedia. Brittney G. BorowiecBrittney 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 […]
Disoriented fish are getting lost at sea!
Young fish rely on sound cues to navigate the vast ocean, but as our oceans acidify, the journey home to safely settle becomes much more difficult. Disoriented and slow, these fish are getting lost at sea Valeska UphamFor my fisheries and aquatic science PhD I am working on how to tank raise urchins and transplant […]
Rising above the noise
Oceanbites is still “ringing” in the New Year! Find out how in a sea full of noisy fish one can stand out from the crowd. And yes, fish can make noise! Gordon OberPostdoctoral Researcher, Claremont McKenna College I am currently a postdoc at Keck Sciences, Claremont McKenna College. I work with Dr. Sarah Gilman, measuring […]
Echoes in the deep: Robots with fish finders
You might call it the Batmobile of the sea: Scientists put sound based fish finders into an underwater robot to get closer to the creatures they want to study. Austen BlairAusten Blair is a MS candidate at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. While his current research focuses on the influences of […]
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, and that this may drive the evolution of commercially-important fishes (Photo: Wikimedia). Brittney G. BorowiecBrittney is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada, and joined Oceanbites in September 2015. Her research focuses […]
Small boats drowning out natural reef noise?
Don’t you hate when noises interfere with your daily activities and conversations? We create lots of noise in the environment and need to know more about it. Today’s oceanbites focuses on a study of man-made noise on coral reefs. Check it out! Rebecca FlynnI am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.S.) and […]
Always follow your gut, or in this case, follow the fish guts
Following the guts of fish species is sometimes the best way to track small, mobile crustacean prey. Valeska UphamFor my fisheries and aquatic science PhD I am working on how to tank raise urchins and transplant them onto reefs across the Florida Keys in order to help reverse the phase shift from algae dominated back […]
Icefish can’t keep their cool in warm water
The Antarctic climate is changing, and the increasing temperature is wreaking havoc on the physiology of endemic species. Will icefish, the Southern Ocean’s most abundant group of fishes, be able to cope with the metabolic consequence of life in warm water? Brittney G. BorowiecBrittney is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada, […]
Better Together: Mutualisms contribute to reef fish recruitment
All other things being equal, would you rather live where mutually beneficial relationships are available or where they aren’t? Well, if you’re like me, you’d prefer beneficial relationships. And I’m not alone in that. It turns out that damselfish on reefs prefer to settle where there are cleaner wrasses to keep them parasite-free. Read on […]
I’ll stand guard for you!
When it comes to helping each other out, it turns out that some fishes are better at it than we thought. New research shows how when foraging for food some rabbitfish species stand guard for one another, demonstrating how fishes can posses the cognitive ability to carry out reciprocal altruism acts. Valeska UphamFor my fisheries […]
The coelacanth and its leftover lung
The coelacanth keeps surprising us! Rediscovered off the South African coast in 1938, these animals were once thought to have died out 66 million years ago. Newly characterized lung and fatty structures may have been a key adaptation for their survival in deep-water environments. Brittney G. BorowiecBrittney is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in […]
Counterfeit fish: the extent of seafood mislabeling in the United States
Media coverage of a seafood mislabeling study in the U.S. has popularized the 2013 finding that one-third of U.S. seafood is mislabeled. What is the mislabeling situation now? Is it still as bad as we think, even worse, or better? Read more to find out! Megan ChenI graduated with a Masters of Coastal & Marine […]
Switching it up: When do predation and habitat control damselfish abundance?
Another tale of how the loss of predators due to overfishing might impact coral reefs, but this one has a twist! Instead of the emphasis being on who’s eating whom, prey fish behavior is the key to what happens to the corals! Learn more in today’s oceanbites! Rebecca FlynnI am a graduate of the University […]
Sponges Out of Control: Another Effect of Overfishing
When you think about threats to coral reefs, you don’t think “Sponges!”, do you? But you might come up with “overfishing.” While the overfishing of herbivorous (algae-eating) species has grabbed attention, we may need to consider the loss of sponge-eating fish too. Check out some new research that shows an increase in sponge-coral interactions where […]
Do fish communities need natural shorelines, or are artificial structures ok?
Due to coastal development and natural erosion, shoreline fish communities are stressed. Several versions of artificial structures have been built to help mimic natural shoreline habitats, but are they all equally helping to conserve the fish species, or are some better than others? Valeska UphamFor my fisheries and aquatic science PhD I am working on […]
North Sea fish stick to warming shallows rather than cooling off at depth
Models based on historical survey data indicate that with long term warming trends, fish distributions in the North Sea will remain at nearly the same depths while abundances across species may change considerably. Lis HendersonI am studying for my doctoral degree at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. My research addresses […]
The first evidence of a warm blooded fish
Fish are cold blooded, right? Their body temperature is regulated by the temperature of the surrounding water. Well, this may not be the case for all fish. New evidence suggests a species of fish, the opah, is warm blooded! This is the first evidence of full body endothermy in fishes, making this fish kind of […]
Offspring inherit trait developed in parents
Damselfish offspring inherit a trait developed by parents raised in warmer temperatures. Lis HendersonI am studying for my doctoral degree at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. My research addresses fisheries and climate change in the Northwest Atlantic. In my free time, I like to cook and spend time outdoors, sometimes […]
Leaving the nursery: fish migration between juvenile and adult habitats
Many fish utilize different habitats as adults than they do as juveniles, but little research has shown how they make the shift between the two habitats. This recent study did just that using acoustic tags! Read to learn more! Rebecca FlynnI am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.S.) and the University of […]
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