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Latest

"Jellyfish joyride" a threat to the oceans

“Fish normally keep jellyfish in check through competition and predation but overfishing can destroy that balance.

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Bioluminescent ‘green bombers’ from deep sea

Researchers describe the bizarre "Swima worms" in Science journal.

The creatures, which the scientists say could be widespread in the deep sea, indicate the extent of biodiversity yet to be discovered in the oceans.

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Prince Edward Islands to become a Marine Protected Area

The gazetting of the proposal followed a five years process during which a scientific plan and a draft management plan were developed in collaboration with other role players.

The objectives of the MPA are:

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British Columbia’s Reefs of Steel

It is the winter of 2009, and I have joined a few friends to make my annual inspection and photo documentation of the ship’s wondrous conversion into a thriving living reef.

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X-Ray Mag #30

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Great white shark attacks are planned

The researchers observed 340 attacks by great whites on fur seals within 2km of Seal Island, in False Bay, South Africa.

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Octopus and squid can hear you

The question of whether cephalopods can perceive sound has been controversial since the early 20th Century.

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X-Ray Mag #29

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All cephalopods are venomous

A broad study of cephalopods - more commonly known as octopuses, cuttlefish and squid - has show that they all possessed toxic proteins that performed functions such as paralysing the nervous system of prey.

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Crustaceans feel and remember pain

The research, which is just published in the journal Animal Behaviour was carried out by Professor Bob Elwood and Mirjam Appel

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Ancient sharks had colour vision

Until now, ancestors of modern sharks from 374 million years ago were the oldest known creatures to have both rods to see in dim light and cones, for bright light.

Recently, the genome of the elephant shark, Callorhinchus milii, a chimaerid holocephalan, has been sequenced and therefore becomes the first cartilaginous fish to be analyzed in this way. The chimaeras have been largely neglected and very little is known about the visual systems of these fishes.

By searching the elephant shark genome, Hunt's team have identified gene fragments encoding a rod visual pigment and three cone visual pigments. It also has two copies of the long-wavelength cone pigment gene, a duplication which may have given them trichromatic vision like primates.

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X-Ray Mag #28

Plus...

News and discoveries, wrecks, travel news, equipment and training news, books and media, underwater photo winners, turtle tales, whale tales, jellyfish tales, business directory and much more...

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Wreck of HMS Victory may be found

Brass cannons

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Want to dive a WW2 German aircraft carrier?

A research ship belonging to Polish oil company Petrobaltic found the 250-metre wreck 55 km north of the Polish port Wladyslawowo at a depth of more than 80m.

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Australia adds leatherback turtle to national endangered species list

"With warmer temperatures and changing climatic conditions increasing the pressure on water availability, ecological communities such as this must be protected," Mr Garrett said.

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Sponges regenerate the reefs

Dutch researcher Jasper de Goeij investigated how caves in the coral reef in Curacao and Indonesia ensure the reef’s continued existence.

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