A new Reef Site in Coral Reefs (Green and Cote 2009) describes the striking densities of non-native lionfish on coral reefs in the Bahamas. Lionfish (Pterois volitans), a predator from the central and western Pacific ocean, were first sighted in 1992 off Florida and have been spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean (USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database 2009). On deep offshore reefs off of North Carolina, they are now the second most abundant fish (Whitfield et al. 2007).

Go check out these incredible photographs by National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak of mantaray feeding frenzies in the Maldives. Apparently this swirling ‘cyclone‘ feeding behavior is rarely seen outside of the Maldives. Click here for a previous post on Climate Shifts for more details and video footage of Mantaray feeding behaviors.

TED, a nonprofit devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ hosts an annual conference bringing together ‘world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives’. I’ve watched quite a few incredible talks (Al Gore, Tierney Thys, & Jane Poynter to name but a few), but the one that stood out for me was the incredible Sylvia Earle, who is due to host a seminar on marine ecology and conservation in Brisbane in August (link). See below for her bio from the TED website:
Why you should …

The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is one of the worlds rarest sharks – spotted only 43 times since its discovery back in 1976 off Oahu, Hawaii. These sharks are huge and bizzare creatures, capable of growing upwards of 5m in length, with luminescent light organs surrounding the mouth to attract plankton and small fish. So rare is the megamouth shark, that apparently scientists were surprised to find the 44th megamouth shark (caught by mackeral fishers in the Phillipines) had been cooked and eaten by local villagers before anyone could take …

A fluff piece in more ways than one! The Institute For Figuring have been developing the ‘hyperbolic crochet coral reef’, a collective of crochet coral reef organisms knitted by hundreds of people across the globe. By altering the style of crochet through differing algorithms, the crochet reef has ‘evolved‘ an impressive diversity of reef associated organisms. The crochet reef has been shown at exhibitions across the US, and carries with it a serious message:
As part of the Crochet Coral Reef project the IFF has constructed a Bleached Reef, a handicrafted …

A harbor seal, presumably from the north Atlantic, showed up in Bermuda this week and effectively debunked the global conspiracy known as AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming).  William Weaver of the group Americans for Climate Truth said in a statement “scientists have reported that thousands of species were moving away from the equator, but this sighting is proof that animals are now moving towards the equator to escape the current global cooling“.  Weaver added, “this discovery overturns that IPCC “report” and the thousands of “scientific studies” that formerly supported the AGW …

2008 was the year that scientists realised that the humble manta ray (Manta birostris) might not be a a solitary species as initially thought. First described by the naturalist Johann Julius Walbaum back in 1792, the manta ray grows in excess of 7.6m (>25ft) and weighs up to 2300kg (~5,000lbs) – about 4/5ths of the weight of a Hummer SUV.
Andrea Marshall, a PhD student at the University of Queensland has been studying the ecology of manta rays in Mozambique for over 5 years, and his since identified over 900 individuals. …

This is from a July 10 (2008) press release from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.  I think this and Terry’s plenary did a great job of covering the importance of people in the equation.  You can watch Terry Hughes’ plenary talk here.

The world’s coral reefs are not doomed – provided governments and communities take the urgent and necessary actions to preserve them.
That’s the message from eminent Australian marine scientist and recipient of this year’s Darwin Medal Professor Terry Hughes in his keynote address to the 11th …

Amongst the winners of the National Geographic “best wild animal photos of 2008″ (link) is this incredible photograph of a diver and a southern right whale, taken in New Zealand. Like most whale populations, the souther right whale was extensively hunted from the mid 18th century up until the early 1970′s, severely depleting the southern Pacific populations around the New Zealand coastal waters . Since the ‘official’ worldwide ban on hunting right whales in 1937, southern right whales began to appear off the coast of New Zealand from the early …

The Telegraph, 10th July
One third of the major reef-building coral species are vulnerable to extinction, and the pace of destruction is increasing so it is conceivable that the "rainforests of the ocean" could be wiped out this century.
The warning that coral communities are faring even worse than their terrestrial counterparts, notably tropical rainforests, is given by an international team led by Prof Kent Carpenter, Director of the Global Marine Species Assessment Of Conservation International And The International Union For Conservation Of Nature, IUCN.
Built over millions of years, coral reefs are …

So the results on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning are in, and according to new research published in Current Biology, the evidence strongly suggests a rapid increase in fish numbers in no-take areas. Not that this in itself should be so surprising (a decrease in fishing = increase in fish numbers!), but to date previous studies have shown varying results as to the effectiveness of no-take reserves. The rezoning of the GBR back in 2004 resulted in 33.4% of the reef being declared as a no-take marine reserve, …