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An odd-looking ancient fleshy fish continues to serve as a reminder of just how little we know about the natural world.

In 1938, scientists discovered the coelacanth, a large primitive deep-dwelling fish that was supposed to have been long, long extinct.

The fish provided an immediate link to our dim evolutionary past, resembling the lobe-fin fish that were likely the first to leave the water and take to land, ultimately begetting the amphibians, reptiles and mammals we see today, including the human race.

The fish

Shark populations over the last 50 years have decreased dramatically.

From habitat degradation to overfishing and finning, human activities have affected their populations and made certain species all but disappear.

A recent article in Current Issues in Tourism by Austin J. Gallagher and Dr. Neil Hammerschlag of the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program at the University of Miami study the impact of these apex predators on coastal economies and the importance of including conservation efforts in long term management plans.

The team collected data from a total of 376 shark ecotour operations across 83 locations and 8 geographic regions.

Oceania, The Greater Caribbean and North America ranked at the top for highest proportion of different locations offering shark tour services, and the ...

A single-celled alga that went extinct in the North Atlantic Ocean about 800,000 years ago has returned after drifting from the Pacific through the Arctic thanks to melting polar ice. And while its appearance marks the first trans-Arctic migration in modern times, scientists say it signals something potentially bigger.

“It is an indicator of rapid change and what might come if the Arctic continues to melt,” said Chris Reid, a professor of oceanography at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in the United Kingdom.

Arctic sea ice has been in decline for roughly three decades, and in several more recent summers, a passage has opened up between the Pacific and Atlantic. In as little as 30 years, Arctic summers are projected to become nearly ice free.

The findings, first reported ...

Warming ocean waters are causing the largest movement of marine species seen on Earth in more than two million years, according to scientists.

In the Arctic, melting sea ice during recent summers has allowed a passage to open up from the Pacific ocean into the North Atlantic, allowing plankton, fish and even whales to into the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific.

The discovery has sparked fears delicate marine food webs could be unbalanced and lead to some species becoming extinct as competition for food between the native species and the invaders stretches resources.

Rising ocean temperatures are also allowing species normally found in warmer sub-tropical regions to into the northeast Atlantic.

A venomous warm-water species Pelagia noctiluca has forced the closure of beaches and is now becomi...

Two broad ocean highways where countless sea creatures migrate, feed, mate and reproduce have been discovered running across the Pacific by scientists tuning in to thousands of radio signals.

The calls have come from electronic tags fitted to the Pacific’s top predators – sharks and whales and the wandering albatross, for example. In all, the 23 most important of those creatures – in the water and the air – have revealed a far more complete picture of the behavior patterns and environments of the ocean’s animals than the fragmentary information known before to science.

The discovery of the two highways is the culmination of a wide-ranging 10-year project involving more than 75 scientists from five nations, including the project’s leaders, Barbara Block of Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station ...

An international panel of experts warned last night that fish and other marine species are in danger of entering a phase of extinction unseen in human history.

The preliminary report arises from a

The proposed Tun Mustapha Park on a conservation area in northern Sabah is a treasure trove for eco-tourism.

Its limestone caves at Balambangan Island and its pristine beaches are prompting environmentalists to pitch the tourism possibilities with tour operators in the state.

WWF Malaysia organised a trip for Sabah tourism operators to see the potential sites in the proposed park for the development of eco-tourism programmes.

WWF-Malaysia Sulu-Sulawesi marine eco-region manager Robecca Jumin said the trip on Thursday was aimed at increasing the profile of the proposed park as well as to highlight the Balambangan, Maliangin and Berungus islands.

When environmentalists with Florida’s Sea Turtle Conservancy tagged a leatherback turtle named Dawn with a satellite tracking device off the coast of Panama, they thought their major goal would be identifying her migratory routes.

Dawn soon became the face of a much broader ecological crisis, as they nervously watched her swim right up into the northern Gulf of Mexico during the height of the BP oil spill.

“The turtle became kind of a poster child for the fact that the oil spill wasn’t just affecting what we think of as Gulf wildlife,” said David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

The conservancy tagged Dawn in June 2010 and followed her movements for 153 days, nearly 3,000 miles from the coast of Panama to just off the coast of Louisiana and across the panhandle of...

The global head of Greenpeace has been arrested after scaling an Arctic rig operated by oil firm Cairn Energy.

International executive director Kumi Naidoo was arrested along with another campaigner after boarding the Leiv Eiriksson rig off Greenland.

The arrests followed an injunction issued last week by a Dutch court, barring Greenpeace activists from approaching the drilling vessel.

Cairn Energy won the injunction after several similar occupations.

Under the terms of the court order, Greenpeace faces a penalty of 50,000 euros (

Many people know that oceans cover more than 70% of the world’s surface, and that marine fisheries provide food for billions of people. What is less known is that the high seas – the areas of the world’s oceans that lie beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, which extend 200 miles from shore