Tag: Fish and Other Marine Life

Orcas Are Considered One Species. Should They Be?

Killer whales are some of the most cosmopolitan creatures on the planet, swimming through every one of the world’s oceans. They patrol the frigid waters near both poles and periodically pop up in the tropics, in locations from western Africa to Hawaii. Although their habitats and habits vary widely, all killer whales are considered part […]

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Saving Seals From a Sea of Plastic and Marine Garbage

A group of men sprints across a windswept beach, holding what look like outsize butterfly nets, and close in on a colony of seals trying to escape into the sea. The pursuers wrestle with their quarry: Seals entangled by fishing gear and other maritime garbage, whose fortunes are about to be reversed. As one man […]

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100 New Marine Species Discovered Off Coast of New Zealand

A team of 21 scientists set off on an expedition in the largely uncharted waters of Bounty Trough off the coast of the South Island of New Zealand in February hoping to find a trove of new species. The expedition paid off, they said on Sunday, with the discovery of 100 new species, a number […]

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Orphaned Manatees Return to the Wild After 3 Years of Rehab

The orphans, three baby females, arrived one after the other at ZooTampa’s manatee hospital. The first had been found swimming alone in shallow waters, her umbilical cord still attached. Two months later, another was rescued from a canal. Then came the smallest they’d ever gotten: Manatees typically should weigh about 65 pounds at birth, but […]

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A Rare North Atlantic Right Whale Is Found Dead Off Georgia

A rare North Atlantic right whale was found dead this week off the coast of Georgia, the second fatality in recent weeks involving the critically endangered species, the federal agency that monitors the oceans said. North Atlantic right whales, which can grow to be larger than some motor yachts, are usually found feeding and breeding […]

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Scientists Use Sea Sponges to Study Global Warming Back to 1700

Since the dawn of the industrial age, our species has warmed the planet by considerably more than today’s most widely accepted estimates imply, according to a team of scientists who have gleaned detailed new information about Earth’s past climate from an unusual source: centuries-old sponges living in the Caribbean Sea. Networks of satellites and sensors […]

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California Farms Dried Up a River for Months. Nobody Stopped Them.

During California’s most recent drought, officials went to great lengths to safeguard water supplies, issuing emergency regulations to curb use by thousands of farms, utilities and irrigation districts. It still wasn’t enough to prevent growers in the state’s agricultural heartland from draining dry several miles of a major river for almost four months in 2022, […]

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The Ancient Back Story of the Slimiest Animal in the Sea

The hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger about the size and shape of a tube sock, has the curious ability to smother itself in its own snot. The mucus is a defense mechanism, released into the water (or in one unfortunate incident, all over an Oregon highway) when the fish feels threatened. Once it hits seawater, a […]

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A Quarter of Freshwater Fish Are at Risk of Extinction, a New Assessment Finds

A quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the animals by the world’s leading scientific authority on the status of species. The findings, issued on Monday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, […]

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What It Feels Like To Be the Target of China’s Water Cannons

The Filipino fishers on wooden boats waved at our vessel, a Philippine fisheries boat, from less than a mile away, but no one on our ship dared to move. Encircling us were two Chinese Coast Guard ships and five Chinese militia vessels. Then came the water cannon. One of the Chinese Coast Guard ships had […]

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What It Takes to Save the Axolotl

Xochimilco is a large, semirural district in the south of Mexico City, home to a vast network of canals surrounding farming plots called chinampas. Starting around A.D. 900, this maze of earth and water produced food for the Xochimilcas, a Náhuatl speaking people who were among the first to populate the region and engineer its […]

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Mucus-Covered Jellyfish Hint at Dangers of Deep-Sea Mining

A treasure trove of metal is hiding at the bottom of the ocean. Potato-size nodules of iron and manganese litter the seafloor, and metal-rich crusts cover underwater mountains and chimneys along hydrothermal vents. Deep-sea mining companies have set their sights on these minerals, aiming to use them in batteries and electronics. Environmentalists warn that the […]

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Pond in Hawaii Turned Pink, Raising a Red Flag for the Environment

A pond in Hawaii became a social media spectacle this week after turning bubble-gum pink. However, experts said the new hue was not just a photo opportunity but an indicator of environmental stress. Staff members at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui have been monitoring the pink water for the last two weeks, […]

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New Mosasaur Found in North Dakota: Jormungandr Walhallaensis

In Norse mythology, a monstrous sea serpent wrapped itself around the world’s waters. Its name was Jormungandr. The ancient Norse also believed in a place called Valhalla, or heaven. And in North Dakota, there’s a small town called Walhalla, a name that reflects the area’s Scandinavian heritage. It was near there that a new kind […]

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Ambler Access Project Would Cause Environmental Harm Analysis Finds

A proposed 211-mile industrial road that would cut through pristine Alaskan wilderness to reach a planned copper and zinc mine would disrupt the way of life in Native Alaska communities, harm fish and caribou, and likely speed the thawing of permafrost, according to an environmental review released by the Biden administration on Friday. The road, […]

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Whales, From Above

Sutton Lynch rises most days before the sun, arriving at Atlantic Beach in Amagansett, N.Y., for the early-morning calm. It’s the same beach he’s been going to since he was a child, and where he worked as a lifeguard for years as a teenager. Now 23, he spends his mornings surveying the horizon. When he […]

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