Marine Biology

Normally, you would think most male species would be the one fighting for their girl. Not in this case apparently. In this interesting article, researchers have found that female gobies are more desperate in breeding during the summer season than in the spring. It’s funny because the males have the opposite reaction. The males are only interested in mating during the spring season and tend to be more picky in the summertime. This puts a strain to the females, making competition even more fierce. Talk about a turnabout!

It made me curious as to why the number of male gobies decreases during the spring and early summer. Researchers say that they have a hard time defending their territory while caring for the eggs at the same time. It’s probably why there is more work for the males’ part. They are more exposed to predators and being a stay-at-home dad can be tiresome! This imbalance of low males- high females ratio might be nature’s way of regulation.

Do you think the behaviors of the female gobies would be reversed if the amount of male gobies were to suddenly increase?

What other species share the same behavior where females compete for their guys?

I thought this article was fascinating. What caught my eye was the article’s picture of the endangered crab(You guys have to see it!). According to the article, scientists found four new crab species of the colorful crab called Insulamon. They were found in the Philippines in an island called Palawan. These crabs are unable to spread elsewhere because all the stages of their development relies on freshwater all their life. This means you can’t find them anywhere else other than this island.

This is a concerning matter because there are mining projects very close to their habitats, so with these risks, there’s a chance this might lead to their extinction! This is shockingly disappointing; we discover a cool new species, only to find out they’ll become extinct soon if no one stops the mining activity there! On the bright side, students are trying to create awareness for these poor crabs and their unique habitat.

Do you think the awareness is enough to stop the mining activity?

Are there any benefits in learning about these unique species?

According to this article, scientists are trying to understand the ancient nervous systems by studying the patterns on mollusk shells. They think the patterns on the shells are some kind of ancient records which might give clues on how they evolve. In a similar way, it is like trying to record brain wave patterns. Through complex equations and simulations,  researchers use 19 different species of the sea snail Conus to create a model of the pigmentation patterns of mollusk shells.

They use a computer to imitate the patterns on the shells of different species, creating different models. “Since the parameters are telling the researchers something about the circuitry of the mollusks’ nervous system, this is an indirect way to study the evolution of a simple nervous system.“ This is fascinating because I always thought patterns on shells was something natural. I did not know patterns on external shells could have any relation to their nervous system. Evolution sure does bring about unnatural characteristics.

What do you think about the relationship between an animal’s nervous system and their patterns?

How are mollusk shells similar to octopus and cuttlefish?

In this article, I read about the mysteries and wonders of a nautilus. To start off, there is only 1 surviving subclass left, the Nautiloidea, since the Ammonoidea group are already extinct. Surprisingly, there are only 7 species of nautilus left in the world!  What’s more surprising is that we still do not know how long their life span is or how long it takes for them to mature. This is very interesting since the very little information that we have about them makes it even more intriguing.

I think that nautilus’ should be protected in a way if humans are collecting them for accessories, collection, or other means. Since nautilus are rare, grows slowly, and lays only a few eggs, about 12 each year, then shouldn’t we try to enforce some sort of regulations? If humans do use nautilus for some purpose, it should be mainly for research, medicine, or other useful purposes. We barely know anything about them and yet we could learn so much about them! What if they held solutions to problems we are trying to solve today? There are endless possibilities that we might discover of a nautilus.

Major news! According to this article, carbon dioxide is affecting the brains and nervous system of fishes and other living things in the ocean. High CO2 levels in sea water disrupts a key brain receptor in fish, causing odd behavior and changes in their sensory ability. Professor Philip Munday reports that, ” By the end of this century, CO2 concentrations will interfere with fishes’ ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators.” This is terrible! This won’t be good for our fishing industries since we depend a lot on fish resources.

They did a research on baby clown and damsel fishes and how they performed alongside their predators in high-concentrated Co2 water. They found out that even though the predators were affected, the baby fishes were the ones who suffered higher rates of attrition. This is unbelievably something we have to concern ourselves with. Already the natural order of balance is starting to shift rapidly.

More useful info: Click Me!

In what ways are CO2 affecting marine wildlife?

How will this sudden change impact humans?

I found this interesting article, which talked about cleaner shrimps killing one another. A research shows that any group larger than two shrimps would result in a vicious brawl. I thought this was rather surprising because I never thought that shrimps could behave so violently. Researcher Janine Wong did a study in which he separated shrimps into groups of twos, threes, and fours. They put unlimited food supply and other means to minimize competition for resources.

After 42 days, they found the groups containing more than one or two shrimps had been attacked and murdered. Who knew that shrimps would become a potential killer among their kind! One shrimp was usually spared because of mating reasons. A larger group would decrease the chances of each shrimp being able to produce offspring. He explained his theory as a behavior they develop due to competition of food. They seem to resemble the thinking of wolves, big cats, and other predators where they fight for territories.

Do all cleaner shrimps carry this “killer” behavior?

Is this behavior self-taught?

Other info:

http://www.oceanleadership.org/2011/violent-passions-jealous-cleaner-shrimp-murder-their-rivals/

I chose this article because I thought it was amusing and interesting to read. As stated in the title, gummy bears have been one of the lucky (or should I say unlucky) items chosen to take part in underwater crush tests. University of Washington researchers in the South Pacific near Samoa plans to send down gummy bears and other ordinary items, such as  Styrofoam cups, cell phones, and soda pop cans to the crush test so that they can find out more about underwater waves.

I thought it was fascinating to know that these mysterious waves were “as tall as skyscrapers and moved thousands of feet below the ocean surface.” It was something I never really thought of when considering waves and the idea still baffles me. Associate Professor of Applied Physics, Matthew Alford, filmed the items that were sent down below the ocean surface with his “crush cam.” Unfortunately, it had been crushed itself due to massive forces from the ocean. He hopes that in the future he would be able to develop an underwater camera to observe the outcome results of the gummy bears.

What do you think the outcome of the gummy bears will be in these crush tests?

In what ways can we benefit from this research project?

Additional info:

http://www.ksee24.com/news/ksee-sunrise/Gummy-Bears-Used-To-Test-Underwater-Waves-133345573.html

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=574299

I thought this article was intriguing. I knew that some seafood weren’t safe to eat, but dangerous enough to cause ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases? Now that’s crazy.

A neurologist, Elijah Stommel, was doing a research project about ALS (a disease that kills motor neurons in the brain and the spinal cord, paralyzing the body until swallowing/breathing becomes impossible), and found out that the homes of ALS patients lived near lakes and other water bodies.He suspected that it had to do with something in the water.

That “something” was suspected to be a toxin called BMAA, which is produced by cyanobacteria eaten by fishes and other sea creatures. It can also kill motor nerve cells in the spinal cord. I thought it was horrifying when they did a study of monkeys where they had been fed high doses of BMAA. It showed that the monkeys trembled, moved slower, and their faces froze in masked expressions. It had definitely killed their motor neurons.

How will this affect restaurants and food businesses?

Should there be stricter regulations concerning seafood?