Science

June 6, 2014 — The northern stargazer (Astroscopus guttatus) is a species of fish inhabiting the shores between North Carollina and New York, United States. It can be found to depths of 120 feet on sandy bottoms. The scientific name Astroscopus guttatus translates to Astroscopus meaning “one who aims at the stars” and guttatus means “speckled” for the spots on the fish’s back.

The length of the northern stargazer can reach 22 inches. They have a flat forehead with most of its body weight toward the head. The mouth faces up so when they are buried in the sand they can ambush their prey as it swims by. The color of the stargazer’s skin is blackish brown with uniformly sized white spots on its head and back. There are three dark stripes horizontally on its white tail. In its eye sockets, there are organs that can release an electric shock.

Read the full story at Red Orbit 

 

June 5, 2014 — The Seacoast Science Center will celebrate World’s Ocean Day on Sunday, June 8.

This is an internationally recognized day to honor the world’s ocean and celebrate all it provides. The celebration provides a great opportunity for families to have an exciting shared learning experience focusing on the important role ocean health plays in our everyday life.

You can learn all about the center’s new drifter at 11 a.m. In partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the Center will deploy its own ocean-going drifter.

Like a high-tech “message-in-a-bottle,” the drifter will ride ocean currents and use a satellite beacon and Global Positioning System receiver to report its location in real-time. Participants will help assemble the drifter, prepare it for deployment, and learn how to keep tabs on the drifter and its data transmissions.

Read the full story at NewHampshire.com

RALEIGH, N.C. — June 4, 2014 — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission recently received the 2013 Sport Fish Restoration Outstanding Project award in the category of Research and Surveys, for its evaluation of fish attractors.

Mike Stone, president-elect of the American Fisheries Society Administration Section, presented a commemorative plaque to Jessica Baumann, the Commission's fisheries biologist who oversaw the fish attractor study, at the Commission's May business meeting in Raleigh.

Baumann's research project was entitled "Using the DIDSON to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Different Fish Attractors in Turbid Reservoirs." She worked with other Wildlife Commission staff to evaluate the effectiveness of four different types of fish attractors – both natural and artificial – to assess how well they congregated fish and how well they held up over a three-year period.

"Sport Fish Restoration Outstanding Project awards are given annually to recognize excellence in fisheries management, research and education," said Mike Stone. "We selected the Commission's project for this award from a field of strong contenders nationwide."

Read the full story at The Outdoor Wire

 

 

June 2, 2014 — The fish that live off the Malay Archipelago, between Southeast Asia and Australia, are among the most diverse in the world. Now researchers are reporting that the area owes its diversity to the stability of coral reefs over the past three million years.

The reefs provided fish a safe home and the means to diversify and evolve into new species, said Peter F. Cowman, an evolutionary biologist at Yale and an author of the new research, which appears in the journal Science.

“It really drives home the fact that the past shapes the present,” he said.

Using information from underwater sediment, the scientists were able to estimate changes in surface temperatures over time. From that information, they inferred where coral reefs were and how stable they were over time. They then compared those data with the current geographic distribution of more than 6,000 species of fish.

Read the full story from the New York Times

May 30, 2014 — Taped by WGBH Forum Network, senior scientist John Mandelman visited the New England Aquarium to discuss his research on cod in the New England area and protecting the area's population.

Mandelman talks about why catch and release can be harmful for cod populations and his research tracking where cod are and why overfishing is still a problem (particularly recreationally).

Read the full story and watch the video from WGBH

DARTMOUTH, Mass. — May 29, 2014 — Next year's state budget funds critical SouthCoast efforts at UMass Dartmouth. These include tuition affordability, fisheries research and leasing the Star Store campus in downtown New Bedford, according to a press release from the university.

The two versions of the fiscal year 2015 budget are being negotiated by the House and Senate. Funding includes support for the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center in Fall River, fisheries research at the School for Marine Sciences and Technology and cranberry research.

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times

May 28, 2014 — IQinVision, market leader in high-performance HD megapixel IP cameras, today announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWSFC), in La Jolla, CA, has installed IQinVision megapixel cameras to provide surveillance of the experiments conducted in their new Ocean Technology Development Tank.

The new SWFSC laboratory houses the large-scale, controlled-environment Ocean Technology Development Tank. This world-class facility will expand NOAA's ability to develop and apply advanced technologies for ecosystem-based surveys of fish and protected species and will foster collaborations on ocean sampling technologies with local, regional and international partners.

Although several facilities in the US and abroad have some form of a test tank, no tank currently exists that has all the characteristics required to realize the advanced technologies essential for achieving NOAA's current and future missions. The SWFSC Ocean Technology Development Tank will be the only large (10 m wide x 20 m long x 10 m deep), thermohaline-controlled test tank facility in the world, which is also able to accommodate live animals.

Read the full story at the Bradenton Herald 

 

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — May 29, 2014 — "This will give us a much better understanding of where these fish are spending their time, when they're moving, where they're feeding, and whether they're affected by the construction," said Justin Krebs, a fish ecologist and a consultant on the study.

Chris Burnett is a sturgeon surgeon.

The biologist wore an orange slicker rather than hospital scrubs, and his operating room was a small fishing boat in the middle of the Hudson River. But Wednesday's operation was serious work as Burnett used a scalpel to make a 3-inch incision in the belly of a gasping shortnose sturgeon, inserted an electronic tracking device and quickly stitched up the wound.

After a few minutes in a holding tank to make sure the sturgeon was OK and a test with a monitor to make sure the new transmitter was working, the 25-inch, 3-pound patient was dropped back into the river.

If all goes well, its movements will be tracked for months by underwater receivers. And the fish will play its part in a study that stems from the construction of an immense new bridge in the New York City suburbs, right in the middle of its habitat.

Read the full story at Fox News

 

May 28, 2014 — The following was released by MIT Sea Grant:

It's Hurricane Preparedness Week, and as we draw nearer to our Climate Change Symposium on Sustaining Coastal Cities next month, we invite you to read this special profile of two of our guest speakers.

Robert Beardsley is a scientist emeritus of physical oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), and Changsheng Chen leads the Marine Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling Research Laboratory at UMASS Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology. Through a close and long-term partnership, they have worked together on several projects, including the development of FVCOM, which has received MIT Sea Grant sponsorship since 2006. They will present this work at the symposium as part of a discussion on predictions, scenarios, and downscaling global models for local communities.

Sign up today to meet Beardsley and Chen, along with a large array of other impressive leaders in academia, government, and private industry during the symposium next month. They will address concerns for change in sea level, storm surges, extreme precipitation and flooding and options for adapting to these risks. The noted speakers with vested interests in public health and safety will share the latest scientific, technical and social information in the following three general thematic areas:

– Current knowledge of the science and uncertainty associated with predictions and future scenarios of sea level rise, storms, precipitation, models, and tools as they apply to coastal cities and populations in Boston, Cambridge and surrounding towns.

-Understanding risks and responsibilities for public health and safety and the politics and policies that limit what can be done within current practices and regulations.

– Evaluating adaptation measures that include green landscaping, planning and implementation, communicating with the public, and identifying efforts to mitigate human-related impacts on climate.

Please spread the word about this conference and sign up today! We look forward to seeing you here next month.

 

May 28, 2014 — Researchers have found that inebriated Zebra danios convince sober fish to follow them about.

Earlier studies have found that a moderate dose of alcohol makes fish more active, while a higher dose has more of a sedative effect and slows them down. But Maurizio Porfiri, an associate professor at the New York University Polytechnic Institute of Engineering, wanted to see how drunk fish would behave when they were placed in an aquarium with sober ones.

Porfiri and his team subjected the fish to three different alcohol concentrations: 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1%.

The study showed that swimming in a high concentration of alcohol made the fish swim faster and become bolder — and when they were placed in alcohol-free water with clearheaded fish, the sober individuals followed the inebriated ones, and even sped up to keep pace.

Read the full story at Practical Fishkeeping