Most species of tiny coral reef fish are overlooked because of their small size. Now, their importance for coral reef ecosystems has put these fish and their unique way of life in the limelight.
(Sinclair-Taylor Tane)
New research reveals that miniature, brightly coloured fish play an outsized role in the marine food chain in coral reefs.
Fish fences are typically positioned on tropical seagrass meadows, which are important ecosystems for fish communities and the health of neighbouring habitats.
Benjamin Jones/Project Seagrass
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.
What you find depends on what you’re looking for.
Ray Bond/Shutterstock
Some people argue the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, you just need to keep looking. But there are occasions where finding no evidence is all you can do.
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 report has found the causes of mass fish deaths in the Darling river.
Dean Lewins/AAP
For decades, New England students took field trips out into the Long Island Sound. Their data show how quickly the sound is warming, leading to fewer American lobster, rock crab and winter flounder.
Drug discovery can get an assist from what nature’s already devised.
Annie Spratt/Unsplash
As antibiotic resistance increases globally, the heat is on to find new alternatives to treat infections. Chemists can get a head start by looking at compounds produced in nature by fishes’ microbes.
The pressure in the deepest part of the ocean can be 1,000 times greater than the pressure we experience at sea level – but creatures that live and visit there have some very special features.
Male plainfin midshipman fish take care of the nest, but climate change is affecting their ability to raise their offspring.
Björn S...
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.
An aerial photo of a 2009 algae bloom in the Murray Darling Basin.
MINISTER PHIL COSTA'S OFFICE/AAP
For the most nutritious and sustainable seafood option, try small ocean fish.
The Giant Sea Bass at the California Academy of Sciences. Fishes'sense of smell is highly affected by high level of carbon dioxide in the ocean.
Togabi/Wikimedia
Increase of carbon dioxide in the ocean affects the way fish detect predators, mates or food and could threaten not only individual fish but entire populations.
Surgeonfish on a reef in the Maldives.
Uxbona/Wikimedia
Drastic oxygen losses in the world’s oceans millions of years ago coincided with mass extinctions. Scientists see this as a warning about how climate change could affect oceans today.
Executive Director and Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Charles Sturt University