This week, an article was published in Nature Communications revealed details from the largest and longest study on coral reefs. The study suggests that the wide spread coral deaths are being caused by a combination of overfishing, nutrient pollution, and pathogenic disease. The findings were made by researchers from six institutions following a three-year experiment that simulated both overfishing and nutrient pollution on a coral reef in the Florida Keys. In addition to the known stressors, the researchers found some interesting finding with parrotfish. In one part of the experiment, corals were so weakened by nitrogen and phosphrous pollution that when parrot fish would bite them, 62 percent of the corals would die. According to one scientist on the team “parrotfish are not the problem…the problem is when corals are so weakened they cannot withstand normal impacts”. Read more…

I wish i could book a flight on this plane! I’ve been keeping my eyes open for it at every airport. Southwest Airlines debuted this plane on June 2nd and will partner, once again, with the Discovery Channel for its annual Shark Week program. According to Linda Rutherford, Southwest chief communication officer, stated that “Now more than ever, brands have to be creative and unique in their approach to reach new customers”.  Read more…

We love these slides that LiveScience put together about sea science! These were created in honor of World Oceans Day on June 8th. Here’s a teaser to the set of slides: ” though 94% of life on Earth is aquatic, about two-thirds of all marine life remains unidentified”.  Read more…