The catfish L239 has finally been described by science and given a proper name: Baryancistrus beggini. Ichthyologists Lujan, Arce and Armbruster described the species in a paper[1] published in the journal Copeia[2]….
War on clams has been declared at Lake Tahoe, a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the United States. Scuba divers have been enrolled in a 400,000 USD project aiming to completely rid the lake of all Asian clams. The anti-clam endeavour is scheduled to begin in mid-March and is a combined effort by the governments of Nevada and California.
A new disease has been discovered; a disease that effects both Leafy seadragons (Phycodurus eques) and Weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus).
The disease, which as now been described by veterinary pathologists, is a type of melanised fungus that causes extensive lesions and necrosis of the gills, kidneys and other areas of the body in seadragons. The disease was discovered in seadragons kept in aquariums.
The Census of Marine Life[1] has now documented 7,500 species from the Antarctic and 5,500 species from the Arctic. A majority of the species encountered by the census was previously known by science, but at least a few hundred species are believed to be entirely new discoveries. Researchers did for instance encounter an impressive amount of sea spiders species where the
This Thursday, the Anchorage-based North Pacific Fishery Management Council[1] approved an unprecedented plan to ban commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean, as a part of their Arctic Fishery Management Plan. The council voted 11-0 in favour of the plan, which essentially bans all commercial fishing from the Canadian border down to the Bering Strait, and it is now up to the U.S. Commerce secretary to approve or reject the ban.
A new species of catfish belonging to the genus Lithogenes has been described by ichthyologists Scott Schaefer and Francisco Provenzano in a recent issue of the journal American Museum Novitates[1].
The new fish has been given the name Lithogenes wahari…
The cichlid genus Crenicichla now has two new described members: Crenicichla tesay and Crenicichla mandelburgeri.
The hydrothermal vents that line the mid-ocean ridges are a major source of iron for the creatures living in the sea. Humans are not the only ones who suffer when iron becomes scarce; creatures such as phytoplankton are known to grow listless in waters low in iron, even if they are drifting around in an environment rich in many other types of nutrients.
I always enjoy seeing new marine and freshwater blogs emerging and in an attempt to support one new blogs I welcome David Shiffman as a guest author:
Hello!
My name is David, and I’m new to the world of science blogging. I’m a graduate student in Charleston, South Carolina, and my research focuses on shark ecology and conservation.
The Indian government’s Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is now launching a breeding program for the threatened Red line torpedo barb (Puntius denisonii).
Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest lake and the world’s largest tropical lake, has long been plighted by environmental problems caused by pollution and exotic species being introduced to the lake. On of the most well know of these problems was the introduction of Nile perch to the lake; a large predatory fish that all but wiped out the lakes wide variety of native, endemic species.
Zoology Prof. Yossi Loya at the Tel Aviv University in Israel has discovered that corals changes sex to survive periods of stress, such as high water temperatures. By observing the behaviour of Japanese sea corals he discovered that stressed female mushroom coral (fungiid coral) change gender to become males, and that male corals are much better at handling stress and fare better at surviving on limited resources. Not all females go through his change but many do and most of the population is therefore male during periods of intense stress….
This year, fishermen in the southern ocean of Australia report seeing more tuna than in 20 years. They report not only bigger catches, but also that the average tuna is about 20% lager than previous years.
The oceans of the world absorb a large part of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by us burning fossil fuels, burning forests to make room for fields, etc. This have helped slow down global warming, but new studies shows that it might have a devastating effects on certain fish species such as clown fish. Tests performed on clown fish larvae have shown that increased levels of carbon dioxide can make them disoriented an unable to find a suitable home and avoid predators. The pH level in the ocean has dropped 0.1 since pre-industrial times due to the absorption of carbon dioxide and researchers believe that it will fall another 0.3-0.4 before the end of this century…
The yearly manatee count revealed a record number of manatees this year. The survey counted 3807 manatees which is about 500 more than the previous record from 2001……..
