10 Fascinating Marine Species

The peacock mantis shrimp.

For millennia, people have wondered just how many species live on Earth. The latest study looking to answer this question suggests there are about 8.7 million species, the majority of which scientists can’t even name.
The oceans, as almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, are home to millions of species—and only about 1 in 10 has been officially discovered by scientists. Here are ten ocean-dwellers we think are especially fascinating:
1. The box jellyfish, which lives in the waters off North Australia and Indonesia, is one of the most venomous species in the ocean. Its 10-foot-long tentacles can kill even cautious swimmers, yet some kinds of sea turtles can eat box jellyfish without even an upset stomach.
2. The lovely hatchetfish might be redefining lovely, but its thinness when viewed head-on helps it hide from predators, as does its silver color and bioluminescence.
3. Sailor’s eyeball is the oceanic equivalent of skinless grapes at Halloween. This seaweed lives in waters around the equator, where it reproduces by disintegrating once young plants have formed inside of it.
4. The blue-ringed octopus may look pretty, but its vivid colors, which become brighter when the animal is disturbed, mark it as extremely poisonous—it is the most dangerous cephalopod and its saliva can kill a human.
5. The stonefish, the most venomous fish, can also kill a human with one sting. It takes its name from the camouflage that allows it to lie in wait for passing fish.

Victory! California Senate Passes Shark Fin Trade Ban

Things continue to look up for sharks in the Pacific.
Last night the California Senate passed a ban on the sale, trade, possession, and distribution of shark fins in the state.  Oceana was instrumental in the passage of this bill to protect the ocean’s apex predators.
If the bill is signed into law by Governor Brown by October 9, a sweeping West Coast ban on the trade of shark fins will be complete. Washington passed similar legislation in May, followed by Oregon in early August. Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands have also passed similar bills.
While shark finning is illegal in the U.S., current federal laws banning the practice do not address the issue of the shark fin trade. As a result, fins are imported to the U.S. from countries with little to no shark protections in place. The only way to really address California’s contribution to the global declines in shark populations is to address the market demand for fins in the state.
The passage of this bill will help to protect global populations of at-risk shark species that are being targeted in unsustainable and unregulated fisheries worldwide

Shark Fin Ban Making Waves In The New York Times

Fans of sharks have undoubtedly noticed that protections for the oceans' great predators have really ramped up in the last couple of years - and now the New York Times has taken notice, too.
Reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal quoted Oceana's very own Elizabeth Wilson in yesterday's article about the proliferation of shark finning and trade bans. In the last year, the West Coast has neared a total ban on finning and trade, and the U.S. and Chile have passed national bans on finning. Oceana has been an integral part of advocating for shark protections, as tens of millions of sharks, including some rare and endangered species, are killed each year for their fins.

Thursday Trivia: Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

A Kemp's ridley sea turtle. © Oceana/Cory Wilson

Starting today, we’ll be doing a weekly trivia feature of one of the fascinating species that lives in the oceans. Today’s animal is the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle.
Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest and most endangered species of sea turtle. These turtles are usually solitary and live primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, sometimes venturing up the Eastern Seaboard.
The relatively small range of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is one of the reasons its population has been declining. When population concentrations are high enough, females come onshore to lay their eggs arrive together in mass landings (the name of these landings is our weekly trivia question on Twitter, so answer now to win!) Eggs and hatchlings make easy prey for dogs, herons, and humans—and some cultures believe sea turtle eggs are aphrodisiacs.
Adult sea turtles are particularly at risk of drowning after being accidentally caught in the nets of shrimp trawlers and other fishermen. Adding turtle excluder devices to nets allow turtles to escape and have made a difference in turtle bycatch deaths, although these rates are still high. Oceana’s sea turtle campaign focuses on preventing sea turtle bycatch, protecting habitat, and promoting legislation that keeps turtles safe.

Marine Monday: Queen Triggerfish

Happy Monday, ocean lovers! Today’s featured marine animal is the queen triggerfish. Found in coral reefs in the Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic shallow waters, this colorful fish is large and aggressive.
These fish greet intruders with throbbing sounds produced by special membranes. At night, they use their dorsal spine to lock themselves into their burrows so predators can’t pull them out to eat them.
Queen triggerfish are dedicated hunters and prey on lobsters, crabs, shellfish, and urchins. To avoid the sharp spines of sea urchins, they blow water under it to flip it upside-down and expose the safer underside. Sometimes they even pick a sea urchin up by one spine to perform this flip.
The species is considered vulnerable because of hunting pressure (it is popular for human consumption), and there is a possibility it would be at greater risk if its sea urchin prey experienced steep population declines.

New Study: Gulf Spill Oil Threatens Fish Biology

A soapfish in the Gulf of Mexico. © Oceana/Eduardo Sorensen

The first study showing the biological impacts to wildlife from last year’s Gulf oil spill has just been published in PNAS, and the news is not good for fish populations.
After being exposed to low levels of heavily weathered crude oil in marsh habitats, killifish, also called bull minnows, showed cellular changes in their livers which could impact reproduction and health. Killifish are an important part of the Gulf of Mexico food web, and impacts to their populations could have ecosystem-wide results.
"The message that seafood is safe to eat doesn't necessarily mean that the animals are out of the woods," said Andrew Whitehead, an assistant professor of biology at Louisiana State University and a lead researcher in the study.
These lesser-seen impacts to reproduction are predictive of more serious long-term threats to populations. In a way, these changes are even more tragic than the animals that washed up on the shore dead after the spill. The study found the same kind of cellular responses in killifish as were observed in herring, salmon and ducks that later had population crashes as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and some populations never recovered.    
The fish showed changes even when the water was seemingly clean and when there were very low levels of oil present. The researchers note that even when oil is not visible on the surface, the toxic components of the oil can remain in the sediment and get stirred up by waves and storms.
"Where's the oil? It's in the sediment," Whitehead said.
He’s right. A couple of weeks ago Tropical Storm Lee unearthed miles of tar balls, tar mats and abandoned cleanup equipment left from last year's oil spill, forcing BP cleanup crews back to the beaches.
As the science of the spill is just beginning to unfold and BP continues to clean up oil on the beaches, Congress is pushing hard for more risky offshore drilling in the same affected ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico, and new pristine environments like the Arctic where there is no capability to clean up after a spill.

The Ocean Hits the Big Screen

A cameraman navigates a smack of sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) in Monterey Bay.

CREDIT: © 2010 Walt Disney Pictures

It may be called Earth Day, but April 22nd is a perfect day to remind ourselves that we actually live on a planet dominated by water. In fact, with 71% of the earth’s surface covered by water, we might just as well call it Planet Ocean.
This year, we’ll have a chance to explore the other three quarters of our planet on the big screen with Disney Nature’s release of Oceans, opening on Earth Day in theaters around Canada and the U.S.
Originally a (longer) French film produced by Galatee Film Productions, Oceans promises stunning footage from all over the world and an unforgettable cast of marine characters. Catch the trailer or visit our friends at the Census of Marine Life to learn more about the making of the film.
An early review in The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “dazzling nature doc” that “chooses poetry and wonder over storytelling and effects.”
But we want to hear from you! If your Earth Day celebrations take you to the theater, let us know what you think. Big splash or major bellyflop? Post your review in a comment or join the discussion on Facebook.