Amazing new photos of deep see oddities

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/22deep.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Dalhousie unveils new tool for Ocean Management

"The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), headquartered at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, will put in place infrastructure and a research network that will provide, for the first time, a clear and ongoing picture of marine life and ocean conditions around the globe."

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20072505-15922.html

Many new species found in the Antarctic

A new survey of marine life in the Antarctic Ocean has revealed a pile of new species.

"Of 674 species cataloged, more than 80 percent had never been previously identified. The expeditions also turned up 160 species of snail-like gastropods and bivalves, along with 76 types of sponges, 17 of them new to science."

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2007/05/treasure_trove_of_new_species.php

More Bad News for the Oceans

The Brooks Bulletin has a recent news item about how the mining industry is now increasingly looking to the high seas for more ways to keep their shareholders happy. Explaining the move toward sea-bed mining, CEO of Nautilus Minerals, David Heydon, is quoted saying "land-based areas have been explored to death." No kidding. The ocean floor in many areas has already been bottom trawled to death, so mining would seem like an appropriate follow up. Heydon goes on to explain that lower operational costs on ocean mining compared to land-based mining (read 'absence of environmental regulations') is a boon to would be mineral companies.

Some have argued that sea-floor mining may have lower overall impacts than terrestrial mining. However, as so little is known of the structure and function of deep marine ecosystems a rational and appropriate approach may be to use some caution (what the hell, how about a full blown precautionary approach!) and find out what we've got before we destroy it.

Watch "Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole" on Google Video

Another great video showing the ingenuity of the octopus.

Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole

39 sec - 21-Nov-2006
Average rating:   (100 ratings)
Description: Octopuses have an amazing ability to squeeze through tiny crevices, cracks and holes. My fall BIOS independent studies student, Raymond Deckel is investigating just how small a hole Octopus macropus can fit through as well as how long it takes them to squeeze through different sizes of holes. CAABS intern Rowena Day, NSF-REU intern Jared Kibele as well as teaching assistant Abel Valdivia help wrangle the 232 g octopus, Ray times it's escape through a 1 inch hole while I shot video clips for later analysis. Location: Whalebone Bay, St. George's, Bermuda. Dr. James B. Wood - BIOS The Cephalopod Page

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Watch "Octopus Eats Shark" on Google Video

This is an amazing video of a Giant Pacific octopus attacking and killing a small shark in a public aquarium.

Octopus Eats Shark

2 min 24 sec - 24-Oct-2005
Average rating:   (1785 ratings)
Description: Sharks arent that bad

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Still more signs of our dying oceans

The journal Science has published an article that suggests that this will be the last century of wild caught fish from our oceans. Very depressing news, but not surprising. BBC News has an excellent synopsis of the study:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm

The silver lining to this report is that there is even more indication that marine protected areas could play a major role in slowing or halting the loss of species from the oceans.