Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 5d

Why coral reefs damaged by blast fishing struggle to recover — even after decades

Blast-fished reefs are unlikely to recover naturally without human intervention.

theconversation.com

7 38

Molly Fowkes @mollylouisefowkes.bsky.social · Jul 9

Really enjoyed diving into science filmmaking at the BES Macro 2025 workshop today — interviewing techniques, storytelling, and lots of creative ways to share ecology with the world. 🎥🌍

#BESMacro2025 #ScienceCommunication #Filmmaking #Ecology #VisualStorytelling

2

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

John Hlavin @marinebiojohn.bsky.social · Jun 16

🚨NEW🦈PAPER🚨
Excited to announce my first publication with @drcatmac.bsky.social on the ontogenetic and seasonal trophic ecology of great hammerheads around the Biscayne Bay nursery! Linked below
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Nursery Resource Use Dynamics in Great Hammerheads (Sphyrna mokarran) Across Ontogeny

The ecological trade-offs required by nursery dependence are poorly understood. Using multi-tissue stable isotope analysis, this research provides evidence of constrained resource use in juvenile gre....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2 7 26

Molly Fowkes @mollylouisefowkes.bsky.social · May 6

Big milestone reached: just landed my first research grant to support Chapter 4 of my PhD thesis from @lancasteruni.bsky.social Data Science Institute! 🐠 Thank you to DSI for supporting early-career researchers like myself.

Data meets nature. Let’s go! 🌊🔉

#PhD #Acoustics #Eels #Ecology #Lancaster

1 4

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Roger Highfield @rogerhighfield.bsky.social · Mar 2

Drone captures narwhals using their tusks to explore, forage and play

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Drone captures narwhals using their tusks to explore, forage and play

Using drones, 17 distinct behaviors of narwhals were captured in the wild. Findings reveal complex behaviors of the Arctic’s iconic whale never seen before. This highly gregarious whale uses its...

www.eurekalert.org

1 8 65

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

New Scientist @newscientist.com · Feb 27

In new video footage, cuttlefish show off their dazzling camouflage techniques, such as creating stripes that move over their bodies or mimicking non-threatening objects

Watch a cuttlefish transform into a leaf and a coral to hunt its prey

In new video footage, cuttlefish show off their dazzling camouflage techniques, such as creating stripes that move over their bodies or mimicking non-threatening objects

www.newscientist.com

1 12 43

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Oceana UK @oceanauk.bsky.social · Feb 25

🚨 More than 2 oil & chemical spills per day. That’s what Big Oil is dumping into UK seas – unchecked, until now.

We dug through complex, opaque government data & built a public map so everyone can see the truth.

Read coverage by The ENDS Report: www.endsreport.com/article/1907...

‘Sickening’: UK waters saw two chemical spills a day last year, analysis reveals

Over 200,000 kilograms worth of oil and chemicals spilled into waters around the UK coast last year, at a rate of more than two spills a day, according to campaigners.

www.endsreport.com

1 10 16

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Emily Southall @ejsouthall.bsky.social · Feb 20

New research from @thesimslab.bsky.social in @ecol-evol.bsky.social - 🦈🌊
Unlocking the mystery of baby #whaleshark birthing grounds - Extreme environments like #OMZs provide safety from predators & a rich food supply, crucial for neonate survival.

doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

@thembauk.bsky.social

(a) Recorded sightings of whale shark neonates globally (black points). (b) Image of neonatal and adult whale sharks from Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines group (b) and Marty Snyderman (b). (c) Whale shark neonates and sea surface temperature (SST, °C averaged for 2005–2019). (d) SST recorded from neonate locations and 10 randomised runs. (e) Whale shark neonates and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a, mg m3 averaged for 2005–2019). (f) Chl-a at 0 and 100 m depths recorded from neonate locations and 10 randomised runs. (g) Whale shark neonates and current velocity (UV) at 0 m depth (ms−1, averaged for 2005–2019). (h) UV recorded from neonate locations and 10 randomised runs. (i) Whale shark neonates and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration at 100 m depth (μmol L−1, averaged for 2005–2019). (h) DO concentrations at 0 and 100 m depths recorded from neonate locations and 10 randomised runs. In (d, f, h) and (j) each point represents a single sighting or randomised location, the solid black line is the median value of randomised locations, the dashed black line the median of the observed sightings for each depth, and the violin displays the density distribution of all locations. IUCN whale shark distributions are shown in white in each map and with a black outline in (a).

8 12

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Feb 16

Underwater Mountains Are Teeming With 41 Times More Sharks Than The Open Ocean | IFLScience

Underwater Mountains Are Teeming With 41 Times More Sharks Than The Open Ocean

“Predators appear to use seamounts as ‘hubs’ to gather, socialise, mate or rest.”

buff.ly

1 24 98

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Prof Michael Meredith 🌊🧪🥼❄️ @oceanandice.bsky.social · Feb 15

Sea ice in the Arctic and around Antarctica cool our climate, drive ocean circulation across the planet, and provide a unique habitat for polar ecosystems.

Sea ice amounts have now fallen to their lowest since we started measuring them. This is not good.

🌊🥼❄️🧪

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

World's sea-ice falls to record low

The world's frozen oceans keep the planet cool, but they currently have less ice than ever recorded before.

www.bbc.co.uk

2 100 180

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Simon Kirby @simonkirby.bsky.social · Feb 7

A thread explaining our new discovery about humpback whale song published today in Science... We found key statistical properties that characterise all human languages in another species for the first time. We have more in common with whales than we previously thought! doi.org/10.1126/scie...

A picture of a humpback whale just below the sea surface taken by Marc Quintin

24 220 840

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Javier González @reefjav.bsky.social · Jan 13

Find the press release from Lancaster University of our paper.

Great Barrier Reef fish evidence suggests shifts in major global biodiversity patterns:

www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/great-b...

Great Barrier Reef fish evidence suggests shifts in major global biodiversity patterns - Lancaster University

Life on the Great Barrier Reef is undergoing big changes in the face of climate change and other human-caused pressures, a new study, led by researchers at Lancaster University, reveals.

www.lancaster.ac.uk

1 4 4

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Javier González @reefjav.bsky.social · Jan 13

Great Barrier Reef fish reveal that large-scale macroecological patterns have changed significantly 🐟🐠

We found that changes in latitudinal diversity gradient & rising species turnover were strongly correlated with shifts in coral composition

Out now in Nature Comms www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Emergent patterns of reef fish diversity correlate with coral assemblage shifts along the Great Barrier Reef - Nature Communications

Coral reefs have been severely affected by anthropogenic stress. Using long term data from the Great Barrier Reef, this study found temporal changes in the latitudinal diversity gradient, and stronger...

www.nature.com

4 32 60

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Jessica Montabaranom @jessmontabaranom.bsky.social · Jan 8

🦭🔍 New paper alert in @jappliedecology.bsky.social! I'm excited to share my 1st first author paper, showing how seals avoid tidal turbines when they're operating! doi.org/10.1111/1365... 🧵

@seamammalresearch.bsky.social

Seals exhibit localised avoidance of operational tidal turbines

The result showing that seals exhibit avoidance of the turbine during operation is important for industry developers and regulators, as lower numbers of seals close to the turbine reduces the potenti...

doi.org

1 17 33

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

IPBES @ipbes.net · Jan 6

#DYK nearly 75% of major marine fish stocks have been depleted/overexploited & 50% of live coral cover on reefs destroyed?

- @ipbes.bsky.social #GlobalAssessment

Let’s restore our ocean's vitality & ensure a more sustainable future. 🪸🌍🧪🦈

8 140 290

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Dec 25

Plastic Pollution Sounds Just Like Food to Deep-Diving Whales | Duke Today https://buff.ly/3Yjhquv 🌎🦑🧪

Plastic Pollution Sounds Just Like Food to Deep-Diving Whales | Duke Today

Main navigation

buff.ly

4 18 41

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Dec 23

Frontiers | Novel approach to studying marine fauna: using long-life remote underwater video cameras to assess occurrence and behaviour of threatened and data-deficient elasmobranch species in southern Mozambique https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.151871…

Frontiers | Novel approach to studying marine fauna: using long-life remote underwater video cameras to assess occurrence and behaviour of threatened and data-deficient elasmobranch species in southern Mozambique

Understanding the behaviour and ecological role of elasmobranchs is essential for their conservation, particularly in regions harbouring threatened and data-deficient species like the Inhambane…

buff.ly

5 27

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Dr Luis Huckstadt @luishuckstadt.bsky.social · Dec 18

🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨

We put decades of effort in collecting this massive dataset on movement and diving behaviour of northern elephant seals and now we make it available! 🦭🦑🌎
Check it out here 👉

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals - Scientific Data

Scientific Data - Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals

www.nature.com

4 25 130

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Fish in the News @fishinthenews.bsky.social · Dec 11

#NewSpeciesAlert - #𝑈𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑔𝑖𝑢𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠, a #NewSpecies of estuarine #MorayEel is described from #Japan, #Taiwan, the #Philippines, southern #Indonesia, and #Fiji. #Anguilliformes #Muraenidae #Eels
🔓 zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1296...

Huang W-C, Hibino Y, Balisco RA, Liao T-Y (2024) Description of a new uniformly brown estuarine moray eel (Anguilliformes, Muraenidae) from the Central Indo-Pacific Ocean. In: Ho H-C, Russell B, Hibino Y, Lee M-Y (Eds) Biodiversity and taxonomy of fishes in Taiwan and adjacent waters. ZooKeys 1220: 15-34. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1220.129685

1 10 30

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Dr. Drew harvell @drewharvell.bsky.social · Dec 7

Beautiful paper about the global danger of ship strikes for large #whales and the value of slowing down shipping. @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social focussed on more local #SalishSea dangers for whales and shipping. kudos anna nisi, @trevorabranch.bsky.social, team.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans

After the near-complete cessation of commercial whaling, ship collisions have emerged as a primary threat to large whales, but knowledge of collision risk is lacking across most of the world’s oceans....

www.science.org

3 26 49

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Dr Alessio Veneziano @aveneziano.bsky.social · Dec 6

#SciAdvent Dec6 🐋🎄🐋🎄🐋
Some #whales can communicate at long distances using the SOFAR! The SOund Fixing And Ranging channel is a deep region of the sea where temperature and pressure change rapidly, creating a "tunnel" for sounds 🔊 to travel through. (1/2)

1 1 4

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Johann Mourier @sharkmourier.bsky.social · Dec 5

Hey #FishTrackers!
This is the account of the 7th International Conference on Fish Telemetry that will be hosted by the @glatos-fish.bsky.social in Traverse City, Michigan in USA in June 8-13, 2025.
Follow for updates!

7th International Conference on Fish Telemetry @icft2025.bsky.social · Dec 5

Abstract submission is now live for the 7th International Conference on Fish Telemetry. For all details regarding the conference, please check out the website at event.fourwaves.com/7thicft/pages

International Conference on Fish Telemetry (7th ICFT)

Fourwaves - International Conference on Fish Telemetry (7th ICFT)

event.fourwaves.com

6 13

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Yannis Papastamatiou @dr-yannis.bsky.social · Dec 5

New paper! We use telemetry to identify behaviors of goliath grouper while they are in a seasonal spawning aggregation. Behaviors will vary based on lunar phase, water temperature and current strengths. www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

1 5 34

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

Nick Graham @nickajgraham.bsky.social · Dec 4

It has been great to host Joe Roman and discuss nutrient subsidies, invasive species, and whale pee! Excellent seminar today, covering his whale research and his superb new book - Eat, Poop , Die!

5 18

Reposted by Molly Fowkes

joeymaier 🌊 @joeymaier.bsky.social · Dec 3

#Climatechange #orca

With less Arctic ice than b4, #orca have moved in, altering the ecosystem & affecting people

"killer whales adding top-down pressure on Arctic food webs crucial to northern communities' social and economic well-being."

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Climate change introduces threatened killer whale populations and conservation challenges to the Arctic

Killer whales are moving northward into the Arctic as sea ice melts from a warming climate. Using genetics, we identified two highly distinct Canadian Arctic populations with origins from the western...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

5 11