Research Highlights
Oceanus Magazine
Most coastal communities in the United States test the water at beaches for the presence of bacteria. But they don’t routinely test the sand. Does sand also harbor bacteria? Until recently, few people have worried about that possibility. We encounter…
It was an experiment they hoped would never happen. But when it did, they were poised to respond. In 2008, a multi-institutional team of researchers launched a long-term study to explore the lush but little-known communities of corals, anemones, crabs,…
Ann Tarrant has a soft spot for a tiny, tentacled creature. So what if starlet anemones (Nematostella vectensis) are spineless invertebrates that burrow in mud in stagnant brackish tidal marshes? To live there, they have to be remarkably adaptable to…
In the vast ocean where an essential nutrient—iron—is scarce, a marine bacterium that launches the ocean food web survives by using a remarkable biochemical trick: It recycles iron. By day, it uses iron in enzymes for photosynthesis to make carbohydrates;…
When we’re talking with friends and a truck rumbles by or someone cranks up the radio, we talk louder. Now scientists have found that North Atlantic right whales do the same thing in their increasingly noisy underwater world. Marine biologist…
News Releases
New underwater robot opens new possibilities in coral reef conservation by autonomously identifying biodiversity “hotspots”
The research focuses on a poorly understood group of larger midwater fishes that the authors call the “dark web,” species, such as pomfrets and snake mackerels.
The study shows that large-scale harvesting of mesopelagic fish that live hundreds of meters below the surface could reduce the food available to bigeye tuna
CMA CGM, which has long been committed to preserving biodiversity through multiple initiatives in the U.S. and worldwide, will support two key WHOI projects
Coral reefs support more than 25 percent of all marine life and underpin the livelihoods of roughly one billion people globally.
News & Insights
WHOI’s Dennis McGillicuddy on why ocean life matters deeply to the Sunshine State
Are you an ocean lover? Go a little deeper with these courtship tips from beneath the waves!
April 24 marks the first-ever Right Whale Day in Massachusetts. WHOI biologist and veterinarian Michael Moore recently met with the resident who brought this special recognition about– and explains why it’s important to raise awareness about the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
A report out this week in Current Biology reveal that critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are up to three feet shorter than 40 years ago. This startling conclusion reinforces what scientists have suspected: even when entanglements do not lead directly to the death of North Atlantic right whales, they can have lasting effects on the imperiled population that may now number less than 400 animals. Further, females that are entangled while nursing produce smaller calves.
May 10, 2021 During a joint research trip on February 28 in Cape Cod Bay, Mass., WHOI whale trauma specialist Michael Moore, National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, and scientists from New England Aquarium, witnessed a remarkable biological event: North…