Ocean Community News
Note: View the Ocean Leadership News Archive at, http://www.oceanleadership.org/category/news-and-resources/ — if you have any additions, please email submissions to Kristin Mellon at kmellon@oceanleadership.org.
MARINE LAB HUNTS SUBTLE CLUES TO ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS TO BLUE CRABS
The Atlantic blue crab population has been declining in recent years under the assault of viruses, bacteria and man-made contaminants. The signs of the attack often are subtle, so researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the College of Charleston (CofC) are at work trying to identify the clues that will finger specific, yet elusive, culprits. Pathogens and pollutants impair the blue crab’s metabolic processes, the chemical reactions that produce energy for cells. These stresses should cause tell-tale changes in the levels of metabolites, small chemical compounds created during metabolism. Working at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) in Charleston, S.C., the NIST/CofC research team is using a technology similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify and quantify the metabolites that increase in quantity under common environmental stresses to blue crabs — metabolites that could be used as biomarkers to identify the specific sources. To read the entire story, visit http://www.oceanleadership.org/2010/marine-lab-hunts-subtle-clues-to-environmental-threats-to-blue-crabs/.
FISH CAUGHT EVOLVING INTO THREE DIFFERENT SPECIES
The finding of a fish in the process of evolving suggests there may be many new kinds of fish we don’t yet know about — and aren’t protecting. The King demoiselle is not just one type of fish, but three distinct groups that recently split from each other, according to a new study. By essentially catching one species in the process of turning into three, the study suggests that conservation efforts might be failing a variety of species that have yet to be identified. To read the entire story, visit http://www.oceanleadership.org/2010/fish-caught-evolving-into-three-different-species/.
