An international team of researchers has investigated the biting capabilities of extinct predatory marine reptiles, revealing how these formidable predators could coexist within the same ecosystem. This work sheds new light on the hunting strategies of long-extinct predators that dominated the seas during the Age of Dinosaurs.

A machine-learning strategy has generated a new class of ultra-high strength and ductility steel for 3D printing that costs less, resists rust, and requires only a fraction of the usual processing time.

Researchers from the University of Maine, in partnership with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, analyzed more than two decades of fishery survey data from the Gulf of Maine to assess how environmental change is reshaping coastal marine ecosystems. The study identified an increase in bottom and surface water temperatures between 2010 and 2012 and used that shift to compare ecosystem conditions before and after the warming period. The researchers found that many species are moving deeper and farther northeast, while the community of dominant, fishery-relevant species has become less diverse. The work also evaluates how environmental change may influence the effectiveness of long-running fishery surveys and offers a framework for adapting monitoring methods used to guide science-based management of key marine resources.

Oxygen is generally harmful to many photosynthetic bacteria; however, certain marine purple nonsulfur bacteria can grow even under oxic conditions. Researchers at University of Tsukuba used cryo-electron microscopy to visualize the structure of the protein complex responsible for photosynthesis in one such bacterium, Rhodovulum sulfidophilum. Their analysis uncovered a previously unrecognized membrane protein and revealed structural features that could explain how this organism achieves efficient energy conversion despite the presence of oxygen.

Ocean Discovery League (ODL) announces the launch of the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals, an ambitious international effort to visually explore 10,000 strategically selected locations across the deep seafloor. When completed, this initiative will nearly double the number of unique seafloor locations ever visually observed and produce the first globally representative visual dataset of the deep ocean floor. 

As biologists know, nature can take its sweet time explaining itself. Andrew Gillis, associate scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), has been investigating how the paired fins of fishes evolved for nearly 20 years - ever since he was a PhD student with Neil Shubin at the University of Chicago. A new study from Gillis and the MBL-UChicago Graduate Research Fellowship Program doesn’t quite put the matter to rest – but it gives important insight to a broader question in evolutionary biology.

The study, published in Fish and Fisheries, analyzed global aquaculture production from 1950 to 2023 and found that, since the 1980s, the industry has shifted toward a smaller number of intensively farmed species—particularly finfish—that tend to have lower overall sustainability potential.

A new study published in Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria documents the rapid expansion of the non-indigenous Indo-Pacific crab Gonioinfradens giardi in the central Mediterranean. Working closely with local fishers, researchers collected a dozen crabs along the Ionian coast of Sicily within just two months. This marks the species' westernmost occurrence to date, indicating the rapid establishment of this species in the Mediterranean Sea and highlighting its potential invasiveness.