Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 7h

A seasonal aggregation of juvenile scalloped hammerheads Sphyrna lewini along beaches of the Gold Coast, Australia

Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Allan McDevitt @shrewgod.bsky.social · 7h

1st PhD chapter from @jjackman27.bsky.social on comparing #eDNA filtration methods in a hyper-tidal estuary. Although some methods outperform others, all are generally effective in recovering fish biodiversity, including the passive metaprobe. Paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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ICES - International Council for the Exploration of the Sea @icesmarine.bsky.social · 1d

🚨Advice release - elasmobranch stocks

ICES advice to @ec.europa.eu, North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) & the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on fishing opportunities for elasmobranch stocks in 2026 is now available ices-library.figshare.com/collections/...

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 1d

🧜‍♀️ Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus libri: .
Amstelodami: Apud Ioannem Iacobi Fil. Schipper, MDCLVII [1657].

[Source]

An antique illustration from 1657 depicting various marine creatures and mythical sea beings. The main subjects include detailed drawings of several fish species such as a sawfish, a hammerhead shark, and a fish with a bulbous head. Notably, two figures resemble mermaids or sea monsters: one with a humanoid upper body and a long fish-like tail, lying one arm forward and opening its mouth, and another hybrid creature with a somewhat human face and elongated fish body. The page also includes separate sketches of shark jaws and teeth, labeled in Latin. The style is scientific yet imaginative, typical of 17th-century natural history works.

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 2d

Bite wounds on Tursiops aduncus provide the first inference of cookiecutter sharks (Isistius spp.) in the Red Sea
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 5d

“Nature and farmland equivalent in size to that of the New Forest – 604 sq km – was lost to concrete and bricks and mortar in the UK between 2018 and 2023”
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK fifth-worst country in Europe for loss of green space to development

Exclusive: 1,680 football pitches of protected natural land in England, Wales and Northern Ireland lost in five years

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Catherine Duigan @cduigan.bsky.social · 5d

Fordwich #Trout: "the rarest of fish; many of them near the bigness of #salmon, but known by their different colour; and in their best season they cut very white…”
Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler, 1653

At the Beaney Museum #Canterbury

#RiverStour #FishFriday #Kent #envhist #fishing #rivers

Simple painting of fish; brown dorsal surface and fins; silvery ventral surface, with informative text above and below image.

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Dr Simon Goodman @phoca-sapiens.bsky.social · 5d

The recently formed IUCN Parasite Specialist Group has just launched a Bluesky account. Give them a follow to get news about the conservation and amazing biology of parasites. Many parasite species are co-endangered with their hosts and need more conservation attention. 🌍🧪🪱

IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group @iucnparasites.bsky.social · 19d

Hello, Bluesky! We're the IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group, a part of the Species Survival Commission! We're just starting to understand the important roles parasites play in their ecosystems, and our goal is to determine the threats wildlife parasites face and to conserve rare and unique species!

Rhinoceros Stomach Bot Fly (Gyrostigma rhinocerontis), a black-and-orange bot fly specializing in White Rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) and Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Africa. Credit: Bernard Dupont, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gyrostigma_rhinocerontis_(Owen,_1830)_1(a)_-_iNaturalist.org.jpg

A Ryukyu Rabbit Tick (Haemaphysalis pentalagi), a brown tick that specializes on the Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) on Amami Ōshima, one of the southern islands of Japan. Credit: Takamasa Nemoto

The Manx Shearwater Flea (Ceratophyllus (Emmareus) fionnus), a flea known only from the Isle of Rùm off the west coast of Scotland, where it specializes on nesting colonies of the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus). Credit: Olha Schedrina / The Natural History Museum

Rhinoceros Tick (Dermacentor rhinocerinus), a spotted orange-and-black tick species that specializes on White Rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) and Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Africa. Credit: Moira Fitzpatrick

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 5d

New paper on potential impacts of deep sea mining on sharks, rays & chimaeras

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 8d

www.sams.ac.uk/vacancies/pd...

PDRA in Marine Mammal Ecology (D10/25.DR) — Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban UK

SAMS is the UK's oldest independent marine science organisation delivering research, education and enterprise for a sustainable marine environment - The Scottish Association for Marine Science

www.sams.ac.uk

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Peter Corkeron @petercorkeron.bsky.social · 8d

Great piece in @australia.theguardian.com by @petrastock.bsky.social on all the entanglements in shark nets off Queensland this year. Sensible commentary from @robharcourt.bsky.social and @jessicabolin.bsky.social

The only way to stop entanglement, really, is to take the nets out: Rob Harcourt
🐳🌍🦑🧪

Twelve whales have been tangled in shark nets off Queensland’s coast so far this year. Here’s why

In the worst case, entanglements could cause drowning, one expert says, but whales can also suffer long-term effects from the nets

www.theguardian.com

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 27d

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · 28d

Unexpected prey: lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) observed preying on an alien invasive freshwater fish in a remote no-take marine reserve in the Equatorial Atlantic

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Dr. Karly E. Cohen @karlycohen.bsky.social · Sep 4

New paper is officially out!
Ratfish have a second jaw on their foreheads - CT + histology show they’re real teeth, built from the same tissues and signals as oral teeth.

www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...

This common fish has an uncommon feature: forehead teeth, used for mating

New findings call into question one of the core assumptions about teeth. Adult male spotted ratfish, a shark-like species native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, have rows of teeth on top of their heads,...

www.washington.edu

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Alec BM Moore @alecbmmoore.bsky.social · Sep 5

New review by @laenavarro.bsky.social on integrating historical sources for biodiversity conservation - central to @projectfishistory.bsky.social

Laetitia Navarro @laenavarro.bsky.social · Sep 5

Fresh off the press! Our perspective in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com discusses the wealth of information on biodiversity contained in historical sources, and its integration for long-term ecological knowledge and biodiversity conservation. A thread on the paper and what led to it:
rdcu.be/eEcIt

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

OneBenthic @onebenthic.bsky.social · Sep 5

OneBenthic unites seabed data from research, government & industry — incl. offshore wind & marine aggregates.

This collaboration underpins the new BGS Predictive Seabed Sediments (UK) dataset (www.bgs.ac.uk/datasets/bgs...), openly available for science & marine management.

#OneBenthic #OpenData

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Project FisHistory @projectfishistory.bsky.social · Sep 5

Guess where we’ve been this week! Hint: you might see a dolphin or two here 🐬 #destinationx #huntforherring #fishfriday

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Project FisHistory @projectfishistory.bsky.social · Jul 7

Thanks to NWIFCA, we've gotten our hands on some fascinating early 1900s reports from the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee 📚These reports include notes on the timing and success of the herring fishery, the condition of herring, and a district map revealing historic herring grounds!

Passage from a book reads Herring- At Moelfre, the fishery was not good until December, when very good catches were made. At Benllach, large catches were also made in December. In Holyhead, the results were not up to those of last year. Herring have been plentiful at Nevin and Porthdinllaen, and in Tremadoc Bay. The value in this part of the District was £380, an increase of £211 over the corresponding period of the previous year. The herring were nearly all "shotten", but a good price was obtained for them. On the south side of Cardigan Bay, the herring season has last year been a failure.

Passage from a book reads Herring - In Cardigan and Tremadoc Bays the herring season has been a total failure. When the Committee has more funds at its disposal an investigation should be conducted into the causes of the fluctuation of the herring fisheries. In Tremadoc Bay the fishermen are of opinion that large shoals of herring were in the Bay when the weather was too wild to allow of fishing. On the North Wales coast some very good catches were made at Holyhead, and at Moelfre larger catches were made than in 1909.

Bookshelf containing Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee annual reports from early 1900s.

Map of Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee zoomed in on the Llyn peninsula.

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Project FisHistory @projectfishistory.bsky.social · Sep 3

Where are we today?📍Hint: it’s chucking it down! #herring #destinationx 🐟

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

New Scientist @newscientist.com · Sep 4

Four new fossil species from New Zealand illustrate the striking diversity of the earliest penguins, which possessed long dagger-like beaks they may have used to skewer prey.

Early penguins may have used dagger-like beaks to skewer prey

Four new species of aquatic birds related to modern penguins have been described from fossils found in New Zealand, showing how these creatures flourished around 60 million years ago

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

The Marine Biological Association @thembauk.bsky.social · Sep 4

#Fishermen of Devon & Cornwall - have higher numbers of #octopus affected your catch? The MBA and partners are gathering your experiences on the impact - positive and negative. Take part in our survey, which will guide future support. bit.ly/3V2lVbR Image c. South Devon and Channel Fishermen Ltd.

2 octopus trapped in a crab pot with empty lobster and crab shells scattered around.

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Jan Geert Hiddink @jangeerthiddink.bsky.social · Sep 4

🦞 Come and join the fisheries team as a 'Research Project Support Officer in Fisheries Science' @sosbangor.bsky.social. The post is based in the Isle of Man at the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA). 🦐

jobs.bangor.ac.uk/details.php....

Job Details | Bangor University Jobs

jobs.bangor.ac.uk

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Dr Lauren Smith @saltwaterlifeuk.bsky.social · Sep 2

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ocean leadership: Can the European Union influence the global shark meat trade?

The global shark meat trade entails diverse and tangled challenges, spanning from issues surrounding traceability and sustainability to its internatio…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · Sep 1

Cooperation between ecologists and historians has allowed a robust reconstruction of the historical introduction of the Italian crayfish, Austropotamobius fulcisianus, to Spain in the late-16th century
@ebdonana.bsky.social @um.es
New OA paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Reposted by Alec BM Moore

University of Exeter News @uniofexeternews.bsky.social · Aug 29

More than a century of data reveals how the UK has gone from supplying domestic seafood needs from productive home waters to importing seafood from almost 90 countries

Read more here 👇 @exeter.ac.uk @exetermarine.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social @ruththurstan.bsky.social

Study tracks UK’s journey from seafood self-sufficiency to dependence on imports

More than a century of data reveals how the UK has gone from supplying domestic seafood needs from productive home waters to importing seafood from almost 90 countries. University of Exeter researcher...

news.exeter.ac.uk

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