Ocean science news, explainers, and statistics covering marine environments, currents, climate, coasts, seafloor research, and the changing global ocean.
A Marine Biology study found that the Caribbean giant barrel sponge can grow so slowly that some individuals may live for thousands of years. Using repeated photographs and growth measurements, researchers estimated that one enormous specimen photographed off Curaçao may have been about 2,300 years old. The animal was a giant barrel sponge, known scientifically…
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A study in Current Biology has found that artificial light spilling into coastal waters can disrupt sleep in coral reef fish, change their nighttime behavior and leave biological signs linked to brain health. The research, led by scientists at Bar-Ilan University, shows how the glow from cities, ports, roads and hotels can reach below the…
A study in Nature has uncovered a hidden Arctic chain reaction: debris-filled icebergs are carrying rocks away from melting glaciers and dropping them onto the deep seafloor, where they can become rare footholds for bottom-dwelling life. The work links changes in land ice to changes in deep-sea biodiversity hundreds of kilometers from the glaciers where…
NASA Earth Observatory has revealed a striking ocean signal in the equatorial Pacific, where the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite detected a vast band of higher sea level tied to the developing El Niño. The warm-water feature, known as a Kelvin wave, stretched hundreds of miles and showed how the Pacific can quietly reorganize before weather…
