Trawling – dragging heavy gear over ocean bottoms in search of fish near the sea floor – is arguably one of the most destructive human practices. Removing fish from the sea for an ever-hungry, growing…
About 18% of the world’s seagrass stocks have disappeared over 20 years.
Richard Unsworth
Seagrass is one of the most important coastal habitats where young ocean-going fish such as Atlantic cod can grow and develop before setting out on the journey of life. But these critically important habitats…
Coral reef ecosystem off Palmyra Atoll part of newly expanded Marine National Monument.
Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This fall, President Obama signed a proclamation that created the biggest marine reserve in the world. By extending the protective boundaries around Wake Island, Jarvis Island and Johnston Atoll from 50…
The intimate act of copulation is old – very old. In fact, it first evolved in ancient armoured placoderm fishes called antiarchs 385 million years ago. Fossils of the antiarch Microbrachius dicki show…
I hope the coral in Greenland is this nice.
Ed Bierman
Fish are acutely aware of sea temperature; it’s one of the key reasons particular species of fish live where they do. As the oceans warm however, many tropical species are moving towards cooler climes…
An artist’s reconstruction of Metaspriggina walcotti, the world’s oldest definite fish.
Artwork by Marianne Collins
It looked more like the worm on an angler’s hook than any living fish we might recognise today but it still takes the record for the oldest known fish to date. The first fossil fishes are known from scant…
Clive Fox, Scottish Association for Marine Science
Pity the poor consumer who wants to make informed decisions about eating cod. Conflicting reports on the state of cod stocks range from misinterpretation of the science – such as the Telegraph’s story…
Changing waves and currents can keep fish on the move.
Jordan Casey
Have you ever been snorkelling or scuba diving on a windy day when there are lots of waves? Did you notice how much that flow of water against your body affected your ability to swim and control your movements…
Baby salmon: TomTom not required.
Tom Quinn and Richard Bell
How does a young animal find its way to an unfamiliar location hundreds or thousands of kilometres from where it was born? A reasonable idea might be to find an older, experienced migrant and follow. This…
Increasing carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans could hamper fishes’ eyesight, slowing their reaction times and leaving them vulnerable to predators or unable to hunt, new research has shown. Experts say…
Air-breathing fishes such as Polypterus ornatipinnis laid foundations for modern ears.
Flickr/lapradei
A century-old mystery about how ancient freshwater fishes breathe has finally been put to rest, thanks to a study published today in Nature Communications by me and a team of ichthyologists. The fishes…
An predecessor to the tetrapods – the extinct lobe-finned fish Tiktaalik roseaeWikimedia Commons
It’s one of the most tantalising questions in evolutionary biology: how did our aquatic ancestors first move from water onto land? Thanks to research published today in PLOS Biology, new light has been…
It’s all uphill for salmon right now.
David Cheskin/PA
It is an enduring mystery how juvenile salmon, at 12cm long and weighing perhaps only 20g, can leave a Scottish river in springtime, undertake a sojourn of thousands of kilometres around the North Atlantic…
Maria Island’s protected waters have given us insight into how species respond to warmer temperatures.
Paul Benjamin
Southeast Australia is an ocean warming “hotspot” – a region where temperature at the ocean’s surface is increasing more rapidly than elsewhere. That means this part of Australia is like an outdoor laboratory…
Executive Director and Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Charles Sturt University