Marine Life

Rising temperatures shut down some conchs’ impulse to reproduce. So scientists are ferrying them to colonies in deeper, cooler waters.

“It spread so rapidly in the Caribbean, which suggests it could spread quickly through the Pacific," said Isabella Ritchie, a Ph.D. student at USF and the lead author of a recent study.

A letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says more than 2,300 birds have been rescued over the past two years after they became tangled in fishing lines.

What began as a side project has become one of the longest-running studies on dolphins anywhere.

Marium became an Internet hit as people marveled over videos of her being cared for by scientists in Thailand. An autopsy revealed plastic pieces in her intestines.

"People know about the global trade in shark fins, but few know that some of the most valuable fins ... used in shark fin soup come from the sharklike rays — species like sawfishes and wedgefishes and guitarfishes," says Sonja Fordham, who contributed to a new analysis of the fisheries.

These cousins of the shark send thousands of waders and surfers yelping for medical help each year. A powerful toxin in the barb of the ray's tail triggers a "knifelike pain" that can last for hours. Best prevention? Do the "stingray shuffle."