VIRUS

It seems as though the ocean has developed a virus that is somewhat similar to the "superbug" we have on land.

The Cafeteria roenbergensis virus infects a major marine zooplankter which occupies a key position in marine food webs. It has been identified as the world's largest marine virus and also boasts a genome larger than those found in most cellular organisms.

Scientists are unsure as to what it does, as it borders along the lines of "unliving" and "living." Weird.

=)

"The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them." - Rachel Carson

New snailfish

A team of marine biologists from Aberdeen, New Zealand and Tokyo discovered a crazy looking fish while on an expedition to the Peru-Chile trench, one of the world's deepest ocean trenches, last week.

The snailfish was living at 7,000 meters deep, and was caught on film for the first time.

They found a number of other crustacean-esque species while on this three week scavenger hunt, in which they didn't expect to find anything seeing as how they didn't think the waters were inhabited by any fish at all.

I love things like this!

Picture of the snailfish: http://conservationreport.com/2010/10/18/new-species-of-snailfish-discovered-in-one-of-the-world’s-deepest-ocean-trenches/

Global WarNing?

Since May of this year, up to 50 percent of Acropora colonies, which are extremely rare, along with 50 percent from other species have died in the Indian Ocean and the Coral Triangle (bounded by Phillipines, Malasia and Indonesia, often referred to as the 'Amazon Rainforest of the ocean,') two of the most rich and diverse areas of bodies of water on our planet.

With the death of the coral, death of the political and economical stability in the areas will be a result beginning over the course of the next few years.

The coral died from bleaching, in a particular situation where a pool of too-hot water came through and because of being so shocked from the temperature change, lost its symbiotic algae that protects them from starving to death via malnourishment.

This outbreak has been named one of the worst in marine life history.

As the waters continue to move it is unsure whether Australia will be affected in early 2011. Similar situations have happened there; in 1998 and 2004 40 percent of the reefs along the Great Barrier Reef were affected.

Scary stuff.


More information on the Coral Triangle:http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/coraltriangle/

Who knew?

The East Kozmino Bay, a body of water east of Moscow is soon going to be home to a scallop garden to detect contaminants in the water. Who knew those little guys could do such a thing? It is the first Russian port to use the mollusks as a water-monitoring instrument. They can detect oil and heavy metal, and if detected they will imbibe it back to clean water. How cool is that to have such environmentally sanitary capabilities?

Why?

http://www.bahamasb2b.com/news/2010/10/exuma-marine-park-development-might-be-approved-2614.html

Dredge 9 acres of a pristine area. Ok, cuz that makes sense. WHY.

Fractals

I love fractals and although the intro to this video is pretty lame, the video itself is neat to look at.

Something else to smile about

Today the Chilean government announced they will reserve a large amount of Pacific Ocean waters around a tiny island, Sala y Gómez Island. This is great news considering less than 2 percent of the global ocean is protected. The Island is one of the most pristine places on the planet and the country is in talks to even expand the reserve in the upcoming years. Sa weet.

Sala y Gómez Island