Squid possess the largest eyes of any animal which makes them eminently suitable to hunt at night. With their tentacles studded with suction cups they catch fish and crabs. Their closest relatives are shellfish. (Bonaire, Caribbean)
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Tell us what you and your family and friends are doing to help protect and preserve reefs. Encourage others through your example. Your news will be considered for coverage on Magic Porthole. Click here to contact us.
See "Contests" where can read about the first Environmental Achievement Coral Reef Contest.
News and Solutions Center
News from international sources and from individuals about coral reefs and the oceans.
The following news headlines of initiatives to help coral reefs have links to the Horizon Solutions Site for the full article or exhibit.
An Australian scientist has discovered what could be the world’s rarest coral in the remote North Pacific Ocean.
The unique Pacific elkhorn coral was found while conducting underwater surveys of Arno atoll in the Marshall Islands, by coral researcher Dr Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS).
Please click on the title to go to the article.
The archetypal divergent branching pattern of the Pacific elkhorn closely resembles that of the Atlantic elkhorn coral - Acropora palmata. Photo courtesy of Dr Maria Beger.
As storm clouds gather and seas deteriorate, a team recovers the hybrid vehicle Nereus aboard the R/V Cape Hatteras during an expedition to the Mid-Cayman Rise in October 2009. A search for new vent sites along the 110 km ridge, the expedition featured the first use of Nereus in "autonomous" or free-swimming mode. Photograph courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The first expedition to search for deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Cayman Rise has turned up three distinct types of hydrothermal venting, reports an interdisciplinary team led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hydrothermal activity occurs on spreading centers all around the world. However, the diversity of the newly discovered vent types, their geologic settings and their relative geographic isolation make the Mid-Cayman Rise a unique environment in the world’s ocean.
Representing the most comprehensive and authoritative answer yet to one of humanity's most ancient questions -- "what lives in the sea?" Census of Marine Life scientists on August 2, 2010 released an inventory of species distribution and diversity in key global ocean areas.
Scientists combined information collected over centuries with data obtained during the decade-long Census to create a roll call of species in 25 biologically representative regions -- from the Antarctic through temperate and tropical seas to the Arctic.
Please click on the title to go to the article.
Black coral (Antipathes dichotoma). This picture and the other photographs in this article were taken by a ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) at depths lower than 300 meters.Expedition Oceana Ranger 2010: Discovering seamounts. Seco de los Olivos, Almeria, Spain. June 2010. Photograph copyright Oceana.
Oceana has discovered large colonies of white coral and a wealth of associated fauna in Spanish waters of the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean), with greater abundance at depths between 300 and 500 meters. The finding took place during the 2010 expedition of the research catamaran, the Oceana Ranger, as part of LIFE + INDEMARES project.
Please click on the title to go to the article and video.
Mangroves in Monroe County, Southeast Florida. Photograph by Ralph F. Kresge NOAA
President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes on July 19, 2010. That Executive Order adopts the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and directs Federal agencies to take the appropriate steps to implement them.
The Executive Order strengthens ocean governance and coordination, establishes guiding principles for ocean management, and adopts a flexible framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes.
In this week's issue of the journal Nature, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) chemical oceanographer Ken Johnson, along with co-authors Stephen Riser at the University of Washington and David Karl at the University of Hawaii, show that open-ocean microalgae obtain nitrate from deep waters as much as 250 meters below the surface. The finding will help scientists predict how open-ocean ecosystems could respond to global warming.
Please click on the title to go to the full article.
In an article published in Science, scientists argue for a coral reef conservation strategy that not only takes into account biodiversity hotspots, but also focuses on evolutionary processes and the preservation of peripheral areas of species ranges, as well as connectivity among populations.
Working in a rare, "natural seafloor laboratory" of hydrothermal vents that had just been rocked by a volcanic eruption, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and other institutions have discovered what they believe is an undersea superhighway.
Please click on the title to go to the full article.
"Pioneer" vent species travel hundreds of kilometers to settle new deep-ocean territories. Photograph courtesy Nicole Rager-Fuller, National Science Foundation
Surface accumulation of the nitrogen-fixing microbe Trichodesmium in the South Pacific Ocean. Credit: Pia Moisander
Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms are the key to the productivity of the oceans. Growth of microbes at the base of the food chain is dependent on nutrients like nitrogen, in the same way that agriculture on land depends on such nutrients. Marine scientists long believed that a microbe called Trichodesmium, a member of a group called the cyanobacteria, reigned over the ocean's nitrogen budget. New research results reported on-line on February 25, 2010 in a paper in Science Express show that Trichodesmium may have to share its nitrogen-fixing throne: two others of its kind, small spherical species of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria called UCYN-A and Crocosphaera watsonii, are also abundant in the oceans.
Click on title to go to full article.
“Out of all the biological carbon captured in the world, over half is captured by marine living organisms hence it is called blue carbon.” Photo iStockphoto/Jan Rysavy
Seagrasses to Salt Marshes Among the Most Cost Effective Carbon Capture and Storage Systems on the Planet. A new Rapid Response Report estimates that carbon emissions equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses. A combination of reducing deforestation on land, allied to restoring the coverage and health of these marine ecosystems could deliver up to 25% of the emissions reductions needed to avoid 'dangerous' climate change.
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is among the healthiest coral reef ecosystems in the tropical Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, according to a new NOAA report. The report, A Biogeographic Characterization of Fish Communities and Associated Benthic Habitats within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, offers insights into the coral and fish communities within the sanctuary based on data collected in 2006 and 2007. Sanctuary managers will use the report to track and monitor changes in the marine ecosystem located 70 to 115 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
A view of Jellyfish Lake, with golden jellyfish following the sun across a wind-rippled surface. Credit: Michael Dawson, UC-Merced
Millions of Jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake Found to “Biomix,” Churning Nutrients of the Lake "Biomixing" by floating animals churns waters in oceans, seas, lakes: Through this process, jellyfish and other zooplankton - where they're abundant, as they are in Jellyfish Lake - may in some way affect Earth's climate. "Biomixing may be a form of 'ecosystem engineering' by jellyfish, and a major contributor to carbon sequestration, especially in semi-enclosed coastal waters," says marine scientist Michael Dawson.
Like corals, the jellies need sunlight to sustain algae-like zooxanthellae within their tissues; the zooxanthellae in turn help to sustain the jellies. If you were to snorkel just before dawn at the popular tropical Pacific destination Jellyfish Lake, you'd have lots of company: millions of golden jellyfish, known to scientists as Mastigias papua, mill around the western half of the lake, waiting for sunrise.
At Brimstone vent, ash erupts as well as volcanic gases, including clear bubbles of carbon dioxide and a yellow plume which is filled with tiny droplets of molten sulfur, which has also been deposited on the rock in the right foreground. (photo credit: copyright Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Expedition to Erupting Undersea Volcano Finds New Deep-Sea Animal Species and Massive Cone
Scientists who have just returned from an expedition to an erupting undersea volcano near the Island of Guam report that the volcano appears to be continuously active, has grown considerably in size during the past three years, and its activity supports a unique biological community thriving despite the eruptions. Animals in this unusual ecosystem include shrimp, crab, limpets and barnacles, some of which are new species.
Horizon International today announced the winners of its coral reef contest, the Magic Porthole’s First Environment Achievement Contest held in honor of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008. Individuals of all ages and organizations were invited to participate. Prize winners were chosen for best efforts and the impact of their actions.
Feb 13, 2009, 10:59pm
Fair Catch is a campaign to restore Hawaii’s nearshore ocean by encouraging responsible fishing practices and supporting actions that protect reefs and fishes from further decline. SeaWeb, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, and Malama Hawaii launched the campaign in 2006 and claimed a first victory in 2007 with the passage of severe restrictions on indiscriminate and wasteful gill nets.
Earth's unique, forbidding ice oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic have revealed a trove of secrets to Census of Marine Life explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite an 11,000-kilometer distance in between.
Green Turtle Photo by Ursula Keuper-Bennett and Peter Bennett
Three Pacific Marine Protected Areas, Marine National Monuments, Established In the last days of his Administration, on January 6, 2009, President George W. Bush established Marine Protected Areas in the Pacific, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, and the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. His Proclamation stated that the Marine Monuments were to "receive our Nation's highest form of marine environmental protection."
Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas by Dr. Sylvia Earle and Linda Glover Released by National Geographic Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas, by Sylvia A. Earle and Linda K. Glover just released (2009) by National Geographic offers state of the art maps of the ocean's sea floors including the areas of the newly designated National Marine Monuments. In this book readers are taken into the depths of the oceans Photo NOAA with over 100 maps including 5 especially created maps of the sea floor of the major basins with details never before seen.
Magic Porthole at http://www.magicporthole.org has been selected for inclusion in the American Library Association's (ALA) Great Web Sites for Kids. The ALA, established in 1853, is dedicated to providing "leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." The Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) Children and Technology Committee established the Great Web Sites for Kids in 1997. The ALSC is, according to its web page, "the world's largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children."
The ALA's letter of congratulations to Magic Porthole said "Great Web Sites for Kids are those considered the best web sites for ages birth to 14, outstanding in both content and conception. As applied to web sites for young people, "great" should be thought to include sites of especially commendable quality; sites that reflect and encourage young people's interests in exemplary ways."
Photo by Sasha Meret
Coral Reef Playing Cards Capture Nationwide Audiences
Horizon International’s Magic Porthole coral reef playing cards with intriguing, fun photographic mirror-images are providing a new chance to explore life in coral reefs. Launched in December in advance of the international Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008, the cards, printed in the United States, are being sold by museums, aquaria and a wide variety of outlets and can be purchased here on the Magic Porthole Web Shop page.
Montastraea franksi (Gregory 1895) Large massive colonies, with irregular and lumpy surfaces. Colouration is basically orange-brown with many pale patches on the lumpy surface, but may be grey or greenish-brown. This species mostly grows in the open like other species of this genus but smaller, encrusting colonies are common in shaded overhangs. (Note diver in background to give an idea of the size.)
Professor Charles Sheppard of the University of Warwick, UK, responded to what he perceived as the need to have a good, comprehensive source of identification for the main reef occupiers and builders of Caribbean reefs, namely corals, soft corals and sponges by developing Coralpedia.
A beautiful green moray eel emerges from reef in Phoenix Islands. Divers from the New England Aquarium in Boston found some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world there.
The small Pacific Island nation of Kiribati has become a global conservation leader by declaring the Phoenix Islands a protected area to ensure its biological diversity and sustainability. It is a California-sized ocean wilderness of pristine coral reefs and rich fish populations threatened by over-fishing and climate change.
Scientists at the National Coral Reef Institute are currently growing more than 400 corals from the larval stage as part of NOAA-funded research, and will transplant them to restore damaged coral reefs. Producing juvenile corals from the larval stage for transplantation is better for the health and longevity of coral reefs because it produces new coral, rather than moving around already existing fragments collected in the field.
Corals spawning at night on the Great Barrier Reef
Photo: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Possible Moonlight Trigger Found for Annual Mass Spawning of Corals
An international team of Australian and Israeli researchers has discovered what could be the aphrodisiac for the biggest moonlight sex event on Earth. An ancient light-sensitive gene has been isolated by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) that appears to act as a trigger for the annual mass spawning of corals across a third of a million square kilometres of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, shortly after a full moon.
Pennantfish, Pyramid and Milletseed butterflyfish - school in great numbers at Rapture Reef, French Frigate Shoals
Photo NOAA
President George W. Bush created the world’s largest marine conservation area off the coast of the northern Hawaiian Islands in order to permanently protect the area’s pristine coral reefs and unique marine species. On June 15, 2007, the President used his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the area a national monument. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument encompasses nearly 140,000 square miles of U.S. waters, including 4,500 square miles of relatively undisturbed coral reef habitat that is home to more than 7,000 species. As of February 2008, with the establishment of the Kiribati preserve, it is now the second largest marine conservation area.
Photo by Jan Post
At night the tentacles of the brain coral come
out to catch plankton. (Caribbean)
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary management plan
The FKNMS was charged with crafting a management plan to provide for the continued public and private use of the Sanctuary while ensuring adequate resource protection. The Sanctuary’s authorizing legislation directed managers to consider using temporal and geographic zoning to achieve these goals.
Trumpet fish camouflaged among gorgonians showing a little hook on underjaw (Caribbean). Photo by Jan Post
The Bonaire National Marine Park
Bonaire National Marine Park is considered by many to be an exemplary model for marine protected areas. Tourism plays a primary role in its success.
Fishing Ban Protects Largest Coral Reef in The Philippines, Apo Reef
Reef fish and other marine species can breathe easier with the introduction of a fishing ban around Apo Reef, the largest coral reef in the Philippines and the second largest contiguous reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef.
Coral Reef Playing Cards Launched In Advance of International Year of the Reef (IYOR)
Horizon International announced the launch of its Magic Porthole coral reef playing cards with photographic mirror-images of coral reef creatures. Prowling barracuda, shrimp and goby fish working together for survival, a frogfish dangling a lure to catch his prey, clown fish securing themselves in anemones, a cleaner shrimp cleaning the teeth of a Morey eel, and corals in their closed daytime posture and at night when their polyps full of water make their tentacles fan out to catch plankton are among the 52 unique pictures on both versions of the decks of cards. They can be purchased at several museums, aquariums and dive shops and a variety of stores and here on the Magic Porthole Web Shop page.
Coral from Kingman atol (Northern Line Islands). Coral ecosystems were among those profiled by the researchers.
Microbial profiles serve as the ecological version of the human genome project."Now microbes can be studied by what they can do not who they are," said Lita Proctor, an National Science Foundation program director.
Trade in red and pink corals prized as jewelry for 5,000 years will be restricted to try to help the species recover after drastic over-exploitation, a United Nations wildlife conference, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES,) agreed on June 15, 2007.
Magic Porthole at http://www.magicporthole.org has been selected for inclusion in the American Library Association's (ALA) Great Web Sites for Kids. The ALA, established in 1853, is dedicated to providing "leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." The Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) Children and Technology Committee established the Great Web Sites for Kids in 1997. The ALSC is, according to its web page, "the world's largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children."
