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Categories: Ecology: Sea Life, Paleontology: General

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Geologists studying the Bakken Shale Formation discovered a critical kill mechanism behind a series of extinctions some 350 million years ago.

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Billions of sea anemones adorn the bottom of the Earth's oceans -- yet they are among the rarest of fossils because their squishy bodies lack easily fossilized hard parts. Now a team of paleontologists has discovered that countless sea anemone fossils have been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years. It turns out that fossils long-interpreted as jellyfish were anemones. To do so, a team of scientists has simply turned the ancient animals upside down.

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It's not just humans who enjoy eating shellfish, so do marine rays. They like to 'crunch' on clams, which can sometimes take a big bite out of clammers' profits. Using aerial and underwater videos, researchers assessed the ability of the whitespotted eagle ray to interact with clams housed within a variety anti-predator materials. Whitespotted eagle rays have strong jaws, plate-like teeth and nimble pectoral fins, which make them formidable and highly maneuverable predators of clams.

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Mineral particles played a key role in raising oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere billions of years ago, with major implications for the way intelligent life later evolved, according to new research.

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Toothed whales, such as dolphins, killer whales and sperm whales communicate and catch food exclusively with sound. Now researchers have for the first time found they evolved a new sound source in their nose that is functionally the same as the human larynx.

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A newly published study of a stalagmite found in Cave of the Mounds reveals previously undetected history of the local climate going back thousands of years. Researchers describe evidence for an ice age punctuated by massive and abrupt warming events across much of the Northern Hemisphere.

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A world-first model of paleoclimate and hydrology in Iran has highlighted favourable routes for Neanderthals and modern human expansions eastwards into Asia. The findings reveal that multiple humid periods in ancient Iran led to the expansions of human populations, opening dispersal route across the region, and the possible interactions of species such as Neanderthals and our own Homo sapiens.

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A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.

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Researchers have developed a prototype for coral-reef-friendly sunscreens by using polymerization to create large molecules that still block UV radiation but are too big to penetrate our skin, coral, and algae. The polymeric UV filter was more effective at preventing sunburn in mice than existing sunscreens.

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Centuries-old whaling records show how southern right whales are altering their feeding habits.

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A new study of New Zealand blue whales' vocalizations indicates the whales are present year-round in the South Taranaki Bight and their behavior is influenced by environmental conditions in the region.

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In 2011, scientists recorded a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales around the world. Now, researchers in Australia think they may have found evidence of this behaviour being described in ancient accounts of sea creatures, recorded more than 2,000 years ago. They believe that misunderstandings of these descriptions contributed to myths about medieval sea monsters. Whales are known lunge at their prey when feeding, but recently whales have been spotted at the surface of the water with their jaws open at right angles, waiting for shoals of fish to swim into their mouths. A clip of this strategy was captured in 2021 and went viral on Instagram. This strategy seems to work for the whales because the fish think they have found a place to shelter from predators, not realising they are swimming into danger. It's not known why this strategy has only recently been identified, but scientists speculate that it's a result of changing environmental conditions -- or that whales are being more closely monitored than ever before by drones and other modern technologies.

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Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.

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The sustained loss of a once abundant species of sea urchin in the Caribbean could also result in the functional extinction of diverse coral species from the region's reefs, according to new research.

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What is the origin of the ancestors of present-day fish? What species evolved from them? A 50-year-old scientific controversy revolved around the question of which group, the 'bony-tongues' or the 'eels', was the oldest. A study has just put an end to the debate by showing through genomic analysis that these fishes are in fact one and the same group, given the rather peculiar name of 'Eloposteoglossocephala'. These results shed new light on the evolutionary history of fish.

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Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.

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Scientists reveal that a warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts globally. They show that climate shifts can drive conflicts by altering animal habitats, the timing of events, wildlife behaviors and resource availability. It also showed that people are changing their behaviors and locations in response to climate change in ways that increase conflicts.

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By returning to spawn in the Sacramento River at different ages, Chinook salmon lessen the potential impact of a bad year and increase the stability of their population in the face of climate variability, according to a new study. Unfortunately, spawning Chinook salmon are increasingly younger and concentrated within fewer age groups, with the oldest age classes of spawners rarely seen in recent years. The new findings suggest changes in hatchery practices and fishery management could help restore the age structure of the salmon population and make it more resilient to climate change.

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A team of researchers is working to understand the details of the climate for the eastern portion of the United States from the Miocene, which unfortunately is a blank spot on paleo-climate maps. New findings suggest the future climate will be very close to the warmer, wetter, and more homogeneous climate similar to conditions experienced 5 million years ago.

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By exploring the stability and collapse of marine ecosystems during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, researchers gain insights into modern biodiversity crisis.