#Marine Environment

[protectoursharks]

OMG I FOUND ANOTHER BIOLOGIST BLOG!!!!

PLEASE GIVE ME FUN FACTS ABOUT GIANT ISOPOD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏🙏🥺

ALWAYS HAPPY TO DISCUSS THESE LITTLE GUYS I LOVE THEM!

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There are 20 known species of giant isopods (Genus: Bathynomus). The largest species is Bathynomus giganteus which can grow, on average, between 19 and 40 cm (7.5 - 15.5 cm).

What seperates the genus Bathynomus from other isopods is their location and depth. They're located specifically "from about 35° north to 35° south in the Indo-West Pacific and western Atlantic Ocean." They also are confined to the deep sea (170–2140 m or 550–7020 ft). Bathynomus are also between 8-15 cm (3-6 in) in size.

The reason these isopods are so giant is because of deep-sea gigantism, which (as the name suggests) is the phenomenon of deep sea creatures to grow larger than shallow water animals. We don't really know what causes this, but the proposed theory is that it has something to do with the rich supply of oxygen and slowed metabolism

They can be found in colors like beige, brown, cream, and even pink and lilac! And even though they're mostly scavengers, they have been observed to prey on some of the slower-moving creatures of the deep like sponges or sea cucumbers. Because of their deep sea slow metabolism, they can go a long time without eating (at least up to five years!)

[thoughtlessarse]

In his latest move to secure supplies of critical raw materials, the US president has instructed federal officials to expedite the opening up of America’s continental shelf to mining companies, and in a potentially explosive move, wants to allow US firms to mine in international waters. Although expected, Trump’s executive order on “unleashing” America’s offshore critical minerals and resources means the US is poised to extend the global scramble for critical minerals like lithium and rare earth metals to the high seas, while the majority of countries are still negotiating rules on how to ensure mining is done safely and without potentially massive environmental destruction. “The United States faces unprecedented economic and national security challenges in securing reliable supplies of critical minerals independent of foreign adversary control,” runs the preamble to the president’s 139th executive order since taking office in January. China is specifically named later in the document. The order, published on Thursday, requires government officials to assess “private sector interest and opportunities for seabed mineral resource exploration, mining, and environmental monitoring in the United States Outer Continental Shelf; in areas beyond national jurisdiction; and in areas within the national jurisdictions of certain other nations that express interest in partnering with United States companies on seabed mineral development”. The scale of Trump’s ambition goes well beyond that of Norway, which last year announced its own plans – now shelved after a backlash by environmentalists – to open up swathes of its Arctic territorial waters to exploration by mining firms.

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[wikipediapictures]

Nudibranch

[kvetch19]

[nnctales]

Monel Sheathing: Enhancing Corrosion Resistance in Offshore Structures

Offshore structures face a myriad of challenges, with one of the most formidable being the corrosive forces unleashed by the marine environment. In the relentless battle against corrosion, engineers and designers turn to innovative solutions, and one material that has proven its mettle in this arena is Monel. This nickel-copper alloy, celebrated for its exceptional corrosion resistance, finds a…

[reasonsforhope]

When self-described “ocean custodian” Boyan Slat took the stage at TED 2025 in Vancouver this week, he showed viewers a reality many of us are already heartbreakingly familiar with: There is a lot of trash in the ocean.

“If we allow current trends to continue, the amount of plastic that’s entering the ocean is actually set to double by 2060,” Slat said in his TED Talk, which will be published online at a later date. 

Plus, once plastic is in the ocean, it accumulates in “giant circular currents” called gyres, which Slat said operate a lot like the drain of the bathtub, meaning that plastic can enter these currents but cannot leave.

That’s how we get enormous build-ups like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant collection of plastic pollution in the ocean that is roughly twice the size of Texas.

As the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Slat’s goal is to return our oceans to their original, clean state before 2040. To accomplish this, two things must be done.

First: Stop more plastic from entering the ocean. Second: Clean up the “legacy” pollution that is already out there and doesn’t go away by itself.

And Slat is well on his way.

Pictured: Kingston Harbour in Jamaica. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup Project

When Slat’s first TEDx Talk went viral in 2012, he was able to organize research teams to create the first-ever map of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. From there, they created a technology to collect plastic from the most garbage-heavy areas in the ocean.

“We imagined a very long, u-shaped barrier … that would be pushed by wind and waves,” Slat explained in his Talk. 

This barrier would act as a funnel to collect garbage and be emptied out for recycling. 

But there was a problem.

“We took it out in the ocean, and deployed it, and it didn’t collect plastic,” Slat said, “which is a pretty important requirement for an ocean cleanup system.”

Soon after, this first system broke into two. But a few days later, his team was already back to the drawing board. 

From here, they added vessels that would tow the system forward, allowing it to sweep a larger area and move more methodically through the water. Mesh attached to the barrier would gather plastic and guide it to a retention area, where it would be extracted and loaded onto a ship for sorting, processing, and recycling. 

It worked. 

“For 60 years, humanity had been putting plastic into the ocean, but from that day onwards, we were also taking it back out again,” Slat said, with a video of the technology in action playing on screen behind him.

To applause, he said: “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, honestly.”

Over the years, Ocean Cleanup has scaled up this cleanup barrier, now measuring almost 2.5 kilometers — or about 1.5 miles — in length. And it cleans up an area of the ocean the size of a football field every five seconds.

Pictured: The Ocean Cleanup's System 002 deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

The system is designed to be safe for marine life, and once plastic is brought to land, it is recycled into new products, like sunglasses, accessories for electric vehicles, and even Coldplay’s latest vinyl record, according to Slat. 

These products fund the continuation of the cleanup. The next step of the project is to use drones to target areas of the ocean that have the highest plastic concentration. 

In September 2024, Ocean Cleanup predicted the Patch would be cleaned up within 10 years. 

However, on April 8, Slat estimated “that this fleet of systems can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in as little as five years’ time.”

With ongoing support from MCS, a Netherlands-based Nokia company, Ocean Cleanup can quickly scale its reliable, real-time data and video communication to best target the problem. 

It’s the largest ocean cleanup in history.

But what about the plastic pollution coming into the ocean through rivers across the world? Ocean Cleanup is working on that, too. 

To study plastic pollution in other waterways, Ocean Cleanup attached AI cameras to bridges, measuring the flow of trash in dozens of rivers around the world, creating the first global model to predict where plastic is entering oceans.

“We discovered: Just 1% of the world’s rivers are responsible for about 80% of the plastic entering our oceans,” Slat said.

His team found that coastal cities in middle-income countries were primarily responsible, as people living in these areas have enough wealth to buy things packaged in plastic, but governments can’t afford robust waste management infrastructure. 

Ocean Cleanup now tackles those 1% of rivers to capture the plastic before it reaches oceans.

Pictured: Interceptor 007 in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

“It’s not a replacement for the slow but important work that’s being done to fix a broken system upstream,” Slat said. “But we believe that tackling this 1% of rivers provides us with the only way to rapidly close the gap.”

To clean up plastic waste in rivers, Ocean Cleanup has implemented technology called “interceptors,” which include solar-powered trash collectors and mobile systems in eight countries worldwide.

In Guatemala, an interceptor captured 1.4 million kilograms (or over 3 million pounds) of trash in under two hours. Now, this kind of collection happens up to three times a week.

“All of that would have ended up in the sea,” Slat said.

Now, interceptors are being brought to 30 cities around the world, targeting waterways that bring the most trash into our oceans. GPS trackers also mimic the flow of the plastic to help strategically deploy the systems for the most impact.

“We can already stop up to one-third of all the plastic entering our oceans once these are deployed,” Slat said.

And as soon as he finished his Talk on the TED stage, Slat was told that TED’s Audacious Project would be funding the deployment of Ocean Cleanup’s efforts in those 30 cities as part of the organization’s next cohort of grantees. 

While it is unclear how much support Ocean Cleanup will receive from the Audacious Project, Head of TED Chris Anderson told Slat: “We’re inspired. We’re determined in this community to raise the money you need to make that 30-city project happen.”

And Slat himself is determined to clean the oceans for good.

“For humanity to thrive, we need to be optimistic about the future,” Slat said, closing out his Talk.

“Once the oceans are clean again, it can be this example of how, through hard work and ingenuity, we can solve the big problems of our time.”

-via GoodGoodGood, April 9, 2025

[dropsofsciencenews]

Long-distance relationships don’t work for corals

ESP version ITA version

Corals, like all organisms with male and female gametes, need these to meet to form fertilized embryos and create new individuals. Being immobile, they cannot seek a partner but rely on evolutionary strategies that allow their gametes to move. In many species, including table coral Acropora hyacinthus, eggs and sperm are released into the water in a synchronized manner, using currents to meet and fertilize. However, this strategy can fail if corals are too far apart or if environmental factors, such as rising sea temperatures and heatwaves, disrupt the process.

A recent study conducted in Palau, Micronesia, in March 2024 analyzed how the distance between colonies of A. hyacinthus affects reproductive success. Researchers studied 210 colonies and used floating containers to collect gametes released during two consecutive nights. Twenty-six colonies were regularly monitored by divers, and approximately 200 eggs per colony were analyzed in the laboratory to calculate the proportion of fertilized embryos and assess potential damage.

The results showed that eggs were released shortly after high tide, with significant differences between the two deposition nights. During the first night, 74% of the colonies released eggs, but only 34% did so intensively; on the second night, 77% of the colonies released eggs, and nearly twice as many showed intense deposition. Furthermore, eggs behaved differently: on the first night, they split into two groups—one crossing the reef and the other remaining at the edges—while on the second night, they gathered into a single group and moved faster offshore.

When it comes to fertilization success, distance between colonies proved crucial. Colonies less than 1 meter apart had a fertilization rate of 30%, which dropped to 10% at 8–10 meters and plummeted to 1% beyond 15–20 meters. Additionally, closer colonies were better synchronized in their egg release, improving fertilization success. This shows that corals must be in close proximity to reproduce effectively. In isolated coral reefs, local reproductive failures cannot be compensated without greater connectivity between colonies. Restoration efforts, such as replenishing depleted populations or linking isolated colonies, can improve reproduction and protect these vital ecosystems.

See You Soon and Good Science!

source

photo by Holobionics

[techdriveplay]

The Shocking Truth About Sunscreen: Why Reef-Safe Sunscreen Is a Traveler’s Must-Have

Ecotourism may be a new trend, but it mustn’t be a passing one. When planning an ocean destination vacation, few people consider it their responsibility to maintain that beauty for future generations. With one tiny change to the packing list, beach-goers can help protect our oceans and reduce the loss of coral reefs. The secret isn’t taking a reusable water bottle instead of a disposable one. It…

[csacademycoimbatore]

Aadhya's Ted Ed Talk on "The Shrink in Marine’s Ambient Chemistry

Aadhya investigates the alterations in the chemical composition of marine environments due to various factors such as pollution and climate change. She explains the implications of these changes on marine life and ecosystems, highlighting the importance of preserving ocean health.

[whoisandyloam]

[thoughtlessarse]

Urgent investigation is needed into the potential impact sunscreen is having on marine environments, according to a new report. Sunscreens contain chemical compounds, known as pseudo persistent pollutants, which block the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and can lead to bleaching and deformity in coral or a decrease in fish fertility. The global sunscreen market is booming, with sales predicted to reach $13.6bn by 2028. The products are washed off into the world’s oceans in surprisingly high volumes, according to the review. One featured study calculated that, assuming that 50% washes off, if the average person applies 36g of sunscreen with a reapplication of the same amount occurring after 90 minutes, a single beach with 1,000 visitors could lead to 35kg entering the ocean. The review, published by the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, looked at more than 110 publications linked to sunscreen, UV filters and their environmental and ecotoxicological impact. An estimated 6,000-14,000 tonnes of UV filters are released each year into coral reef zones alone, leading scientists to emphasise the growing need for comprehensive studies into the effects of sunscreen pollution on marine life. “Current research has only scratched the surface of understanding how these chemicals can affect marine life,” says Anneliese Hodge, the study’s lead author and PhD researcher at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the University of Plymouth.

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Why is the article illustrated with a black hand? Black folks can get skin cancer, but it's mostly atypical and not the kind that sunscreen would prevent. I use sunscreen but with a low SFP which typically don't contain the pseudo persistent pollutants and I stop using it when I'm dark enough.

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

“The North Sea is one of the most pressured areas of ocean on planet Earth. There are relatively few other places that have a combination of industrialised countries around a largely enclosed sea, intensive agriculture, and pressures from fishing going back centuries. But the wonderful thing about nature is that it can recover pretty quickly if you give it the chance,” says Juniper. Bottlenose dolphins, along with humpback and minke whales, have been spotted in greater numbers in recent years along England’s North Sea coast, monitoring groups say. Their reasons for returning are not entirely clear. Grey seals – once in danger of disappearing around the UK – are flourishing. Visits to colonies on Norfolk beaches – where thousands of pups are born every year – have become a Christmas ritual for local people. Around the beach at Horsey, nearly 4,000 seal pups were born last year during a record-breaking season. “We know the grey seals are doing well, which is fantastic news, and we know that’s also true of other species in the North Sea,” says Bex Lynam, marine advocacy manager for North Sea Wildlife Trusts. “Bottlenose dolphins – which we weren’t seeing off the Yorkshire coast until the last five years – have been recorded in a huge number of sightings. It’s clear they have enough food. They are also calving down here, which is fantastic,” she says.

[protectoursharks]

How about the Port Jackson and its adorable smile! I think more people should know about it!

Love your blog! 🦈💖

Thank you so much!

Port Jackson Shark // Heterodontus portusjacksoni

These cute sharks grow to be approximately 1.65 m (5.4 ft) and are found exclusively in the waters of southern Australia. The conservation status for these sharks is unknown, but their eggs have a high mortality rate (only about 11-22% survive) because of high predation.

Unlike a lot of sharks, the Port Jackson shark doesn't have a mouthful of sharp, pointy teeth. They have a front row of small, pointed teeth that lead to wide, flat teeth in the back. These teeth are handy for catching and then breaking the shells of mollusks and crustaceans.

[mindblowingscience]

The human body's inability to break down sucralose, an artificial sweetener found in many zero-calorie food and drink products, is well established by scientific research. The compound is so stable that it escapes wastewater treatment processing and is in drinking water and aquatic environments. "We can't break down sucralose, and a lot of microorganisms can't break it down, either, because it's a really tough molecule that doesn't degrade easily. So there are a lot of questions about how it is affecting the environment and whether it's something that could impact our microbial communities," said Tracey Schafer, an assistant research scientist for the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and the soil, water and ecosystem sciences department, part of UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

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[considernature]

The world's smallest cetacean has been pushed to the brink of extinction by illegal fishing. Is it too late to save it? Consider: the Vaquita