“WE HAVE UNREALISTIC BEAUTY STANDARDS FOR CORAL, TOO” Hakai Magazine Encouraged by enhanced videos and PhotoShopped images in ads and travel magazines, we’re conditioned to think that vivid colors are a sign of healthy coral reefs. But beautiful doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. Bright coloring may be the first sign of bleaching.
“THE WORLD’S FIRST UNDERSEA VILLA IS SET TO OPEN IN THE MALDIVES” The Globe and Mail You can brush your teeth while eagle rays and parrotfish swim by, it says. For $63,000 a night.
“BRING SUSTAINABLE FLOATING CITIES TO YOUR COUNTRY” Blue Frontiers Global If an expensive night in an undersea villa doesn’t float your boat, here’s a company planning to build floating cities, with their own cryptocurrency.
“DUGONG AND SEA TURTLE POO SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON THE GREAT BARRIER REEF’S SEAGRASS MEADOWS” The Conversation The upshot: green turtles and dugongs eat seagrass, transport viable seeds long distances, deposit them and aid the genetic diversity and health of the reef.
“WITHOUT SEAGRASS, WE’D LOSE ONE-FIFTH OF OUR BIGGEST FISHERIES” Anthropocene See! Seagrasses are important. They serve as nurseries for juveniles of many species, and as food habitats for many more.
“’TWO GUYS ARE DOING ALL OF THE WORK’; SOUTHERN-RESIDENT ORCAS’ INBREEDING MAY DEVASTATE THE POPULATION” Seattle Times Southern resident killer whales are a group of 76 orcas that live in the Pacific around Puget Sound. Scientists were shocked to find that less than half of newborn orcas were fathered by only two males. The implications are not good.
“HOW DO MARINE MAMMALS AVOID THE BENDS?…” phys.orgWhales, dolphins and possibly other deep-diving vertebrates create compressed areas of their lungs that allow their bodies to filter oxygen but not nitrogen, a study suggests.
“A MASTER TELLER OF FISH STORIES” Knowable Magazine A scientist studies life through the genes of sharks and fishes. (Warning: somewhat wonkish).