(Natural News) Undersea eruptions happen more often than people think. These eruptions are thought to shape features of the ocean, such as ridges and rises. Nonetheless, undersea eruptions are a lot less spectacular than their land counterparts, and it isn’t often that people get to see their ramifications on the ocean surface. So much to both […]

(Natural News) Scientists and conservationists make an alarming statement: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is on the brink of another major coral bleaching. As per official records, this will be the third bleaching event happening in the reef system within the last five years. “Bleaching” is a phenomenon wherein coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae or algae […]

(Natural News) New findings from a team of researchers from the University of Miami (UM) revealed significant damage to anywhere between 50 to 90 percent of Miami’s coral reefs during the 16-month dredging operation at the Port of Miami. This study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, found that upwards of 560,000 corals within 500 meters of the dredged channel were […]

(Natural News) Researchers have discovered that fish living in damaged coral reefs have an alternative source of sustenance aside from the reefs where they live. An Australian study recently found that ocean currents haul in considerable amounts of food to reef structures; enough to keep the remaining population fed. A healthy coral reef produces large amounts […]

(Natural News) Vertebrates are not the only marine organisms that accidentally gulp down mouthfuls of the growing number of microplastics in the ocean. Invertebrates like corals and sea anemones also ingest tiny pieces of plastic that they have mistaken for their prey. In a study supported by the Carnegie Institution for Science (Carnegie), researchers learned that […]

(Natural News) What do you call a tiny critter that lives in most corals and creates chlorophyll but doesn’t bother using it to turn sunlight into energy? Dubbed corallicolid, this unusual creature is the first known organism that is capable of phototropic behavior yet doesn’t perform photosynthesis. Corallicolids belong to the phylum Apicomplexa. Its relatives […]

(Natural News) Given its gelatinous body, a primitive skeleton, and a mouth ringed by 18 tentacles, the fossil of Daihua sanqiong might be mistaken for a sea monster – were it not for its small size. Its discoverers believe the extinct animal to be an ancestor of comb jellies. D. sanqiong lived 518 million years ago […]

(Natural News) In recent years, an increasing number of decommissioned oil rigs underwent conversion into artificial reefs that became habitats for marine life. Researchers recently evaluated the practice to help California residents and policy-makers make informed decisions about other aging oil platforms off the coast. There are around 6,000 oil rigs around the world. As the floating facilities go about the work of extracting oil […]

(Natural News) When a family is thinking about moving into a new neighborhood, they will scope out the area first and see if it is any good. In a similar vein, the larvae of coral pick a place to call home based on the sounds made by the animals there, said American researchers. Once a larva decides […]

(Natural News) The sun is out and you’re raring to wear that pair of shades that has been languishing in your cabinet drawer for months. It’s also about time to resurrect that pair of slippers, your swim gear, picnic mat, barbecue grill, and other summer must-haves. Of course, sunscreen is part of these summer staples. […]