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Articles on Marine biology

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It’s OK, I’m a filter feeder: Whale shark off Indonesia. Marcel Ekkel/Flickr

Shark Week looms, but don’t panic

Media coverage of sharks often exaggerates risks to people, but more than 500 shark species have never been known to attack humans, and there’s lots to learn about them.
Anglerfish have an enlarged fin overhanging their eyes and their mouth that acts as a lure – much like bait on a fisherman’s line. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: how would the disappearance of anglerfish affect our environment?

We know very little about the deep sea and how its inhabitants, including anglerfish, will respond to change. In fact, more people have walked on the Moon than have been to the bottom of the ocean.
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

Curious Kids: how do sea creatures drink sea water and not get sick?

Some animals, such as ghost shrimps can even cope with water that is saltier than normal seawater. It’s all down to evolution.
A school of juvenile bocaccio in the midwaters of Platform Gilda, Santa Barbara Channel, Calif. Scott Gietler

Retired oil rigs off the California coast could find new lives as artificial reefs

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

How is climate change affecting fishes? There are clues inside their ears

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.
Scalloped hammerhead entangled in a Queensland shark control net at Magnetic Island, Townsville. Courtesy of Nicole McLachlan

Some sharks have declined by 92% in the past half-century off Queensland’s coast

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.

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