In a new study, University of Washington scientists eavesdropped on Cook Inlet belugas to better understand the context of their calls and how human noise is impacting their ability to communicate with each other.

How do fish survive relentless sunlight in the open waters without getting burned? They make their own natural sunscreen—and now, humans could be one step closer to using it too.

Reporting in the Cell Press journal Trends in Biotechnology, researchers engineered microbial “cell factories” to sustainably produce the UV-protective compound gadusol, which could eventually serve as a sunscreen ingredient and an antioxidant additive. 

A study led by Qiujie “Angie” Zheng from the University of Maine found that consumers are willing to pay an average of $3.42 more for a lobster roll made with lobster harvested using ropeless fishing technology designed to reduce whale entanglement risks when presented with information on animal welfare. Researchers tested how information about whale conservation, animal welfare and Maine’s lobster industry shaped consumer willingness to pay more for lobster harvested using ropeless technology. Messaging focused on whale welfare and entanglement impacts proved most effective at increasing support for ropeless technology, with consumers willing to pay more.

A new study by University of Victoria and Pacific Salmon Foundation scientists has uncovered what adult Chinook salmon in the Salish Sea are eating—and revealed diet can differ according to region. 

When the Atlantic herring colonised the Baltic Sea thousands of years ago, it needed to adapt to the low salinity. Genes with a vital role in the functioning of sperm, eggs and embryos were crucial to this adaptation. In this new study, the researchers sequenced the whole genome of a large number of herring, Atlantic as well as Baltic, and show that genetic changes in genes expressed in sperm, eggs and early embryos were crucial for adaptation to the Baltic Sea. The results make perfect sense given that in species with external fertilisation, sperm, eggs and embryos are directly exposed to the environment and must therefore adapt to the local conditions. Four specific genes were highlighted as particularly important (listed below)

Harbour porpoises were once found across a much wider area of the Baltic Sea than they are today, including regions where they are now rare or absent. This is shown in a new study that uses centuries-old Swedish newspapers to reconstruct past distribution patterns.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology discover that a group of beneficial gut bacteria and their marine relatives use the same feeding strategies. This sheds new light on the potential of these bacteria for gut health research, as well as their role in marine carbon cycling.