All articles tagged with #marine life
Hayden Panettiere's last PETA campaign was filmed in Los Angeles weeks before her death at 36, featuring her in a bathtub protest against marine parks as a capstone to a lifelong animal-welfare career that included protests against dolphin hunts in Taiji and activism with the Whaleman Foundation; authorities say autopsy found no trauma and the cause of death remains under investigation, with the DEA assisting.
Human-caused climate change is driving record sea temperatures around Europe, with the Mediterranean averaging 27C in July and a Mallorca buoy reaching 33C in August. The World Weather Attribution analysis estimates warming of about 2C in the Mediterranean and 1.4C in western European seas would be unlikely without human influence, fueling marine heatwaves that threaten ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal communities as species shift north or die off.
The article spotlights Gizmodo’s picks from the Ocean Photographer of the Year Awards finalists, showcasing dramatic marine scenes—from orca hunts and octopus courtship to seal pups, sea turtles, and tiny reef life—while also noting how human activity impacts ocean ecosystems.
A Brighton skipper aboard the Yellowfin filmed two sunfish—large, pancake-shaped giants—seen just five feet from his boat in the shipping lanes off Sussex. Birds circled to pick parasites, while the sunfish flopped at the surface, offering a rare glimpse of unexpected marine life in UK waters and a reminder of the sea’s surprises.
A feature listing the planet’s longest-living animals, from Seychelles giant tortoise and Ming the clam to Greenland sharks, bowhead whales and glass sponges, highlighting lifespans ranging from centuries to thousands of years and the biological traits—slow metabolism, cold depths, indeterminate growth—that underpin extreme longevity.
BBC science feature reveals nine surprising shark traits—from learning and basic math to a taste for jazz, belly buttons in some species, intrauterine cannibalism, social bonds, and skin denticles that reduce drag—along with advanced electroreception and magnetoreception that aid hunting and navigation, underscoring sharks as an ancient and diverse lineage.
A photo gallery spotlights whale sharks—the world’s largest sharks and fish—docile filter feeders that grow to about 9–12 meters, feed by filtering vast volumes of water for tiny prey, migrate across oceans, and gather at key sites; the piece also notes reports of orcas hunting whale sharks in an astonishing new interaction.
Lebanese marine ecologist Mona Khalil, renowned for protecting nesting sites of endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles along Lebanon’s southern coast, died from injuries after an Israeli strike hit her Tyre-area home; her death comes amid renewed attacks in southern Lebanon.
Nine ocean crustaceans nicknamed crabs—many aren’t true crabs—showcase toxic defenses, colossal sizes, and unusual adaptations: from the toxic xanthid crabs and the car-sized Japanese spider crab to porcelain and hermit crabs, boxer crabs that wield anemone “gloves,” spiny spider crabs’ debris camouflage, devil crabs’ neurotoxins, spanner crabs’ tool-like claws, and zebra crabs that parasitize venomous urchins; the piece also explains what defines a true crab and how evolution can reshape crustaceans.
El Niño has arrived and could be among the strongest on record, likely bringing a wetter winter to California, higher coastal flooding risk, and warmer coastal waters that may draw more sharks and other marine life nearshore, while also stressing ecosystems and potentially triggering harmful algal blooms and fishing impacts.
El Niño has arrived with a 63% chance of a very strong event later this year, increasing the odds of a wetter-than-normal California winter. Past very strong El Niños brought heavy rain and damage, though rainfall isn’t guaranteed and coastal hazards like large waves and rip currents can accompany wetter years. Beyond weather, warmer Pacific waters and marine heat waves linked to El Niño may affect ocean life—with more jellyfish and sharks, kelp loss, and stress to other species—likely keeping ocean conditions unsettled into next winter.
A quahog believed to be about 507 years old—famously nicknamed Ming—outlived empires for centuries, until researchers, attempting to confirm its age by counting shell rings, opened its shell and inadvertently killed the ancient mollusk.
Cone snails are a diverse group of venomous sea snails that hunt with a harpoon-like tooth that injects neurotoxins, quickly paralyzing prey and sometimes causing death in humans; their striking shells attract collectors, but even empty shells can injure due to residual venom, so people are advised to avoid handling them and to photograph instead, with some areas even restricting shell removal.
A Hawaiian local was hailed as a hero after a Seattle tourist threw a large rock at Lani, an endangered monk seal off Lahaina. The attacker was detained and later released; the incident drew wide praise for citizen intervention and prompted a letter of recognition from a Maui official. The Hawaii Dept. of Natural Resources turned the case over to NOAA for possible federal charges under wildlife protection laws. Lani has become a symbol of Maui’s recovery following the Lahaina wildfires.
A photographer’s ongoing project magnifies individual sand grains from beaches worldwide, revealing a surprising range of shapes and colors—fragments of volcanic rock, coral, shells, and microfossils—turning beach debris into a tiny, global museum of Earth’s geology and marine life.