Everything in an animal’s body is made out of cells. And these cells need chemicals, such as salt, in and around them to work properly. The chemical balance needs to be just right.
Alyse & Remi/flickr
Californians love their coast and strongly oppose offshore drilling. Will they support converting old oil rigs to artificial reefs – a policy that benefits both marine life and oil companies?
Climate change could further stress species such as Atlantic cod that already are threatened by overfishing.
Vladimir Wrangel/Shutterstock
Karin Limburg, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Tiny calcified formations inside fishes’ ears can be used to trace a fish’s life history – and potentially, how climate change has affected its growth and development.
A sperm whale goes down for a dive off Kaikoura, New Zealand.
Heidi Pearson
Protecting forests and wetlands, which absorb and store carbon, is one way to slow climate change. Scientists are proposing similar treatment for marine animals that help store carbon in the oceans.
A few decades ago Boston Harbor was one of the nation’s dirtiest water bodies. Now, healthier fish in the harbor underscore that a multibillion-dollar cleanup has succeeded.
Scalloped hammerhead entangled in a Queensland shark control net at Magnetic Island, Townsville.
Courtesy of Nicole McLachlan
Some media have reported shark numbers at ‘plague proportions’ in Australian waters. But a new analysis suggests the opposite: species such as hammerheads and white sharks have plummeted in number.
A massive new discovery this summer of miles of corals in deep waters off South Carolina shows how much we have yet to learn about life on the ocean floor.
Mangroves growing strong.
Ali Suliman/Shutterstock
The return of white sharks to Cape Cod, Massachusetts was a tourism success story – until a shark killed a swimmer. Can the Cape’s residents and visitors learn to share the ocean with these apex predators?
Inside a snailfish.
Newcastle University / Natural History Museum, London
Sea turtles contend with a contagious disease that causes debilitating tumors. Genetic analysis is helping researchers figure out precision medicine-based treatments for the turtles.