Environmental Science · Nature and Landscape Conservation
Large groups of mahi-mahi may interfere with striped marlin hunting at shared prey schools, causing the marlin to abandon a hunt. The study also found that smaller numbers of mahi-mahi may increase the marlin’s net captures.
North Pacific spiny dogfish produced cortisol, challenging the long-standing view that sharks and their relatives do not make the hormone. The study also found that cortisol implants persistently lowered blood glucose, while having little effect on blood osmolytes.
A study of juvenile white sharks off New South Wales, Australia, found that sharks tagged together in the same place tended to return to the nursery area and be detected near one another in later years. The overall pattern did not show clear non-random association, leaving the extent of social behavior uncertain.
Researchers have described Stolephorus lotus, a previously unknown anchovy species from Australia’s Northern Territory. Its identification is based on several physical features that distinguish it from two related species.
Green turtles in the northern Great Barrier Reef did not consistently reuse the same routes between feeding and nesting areas. Tracking of eight turtles found that return journeys had little overlap with their outward routes, highlighting the varied paths conservation plans may need to consider.
A chromosome-level genome of the Chinese algae eater has helped researchers resolve difficult relationships among minnows, carps, loaches, suckers and their relatives. Comparing gene order across 43 fish genomes strongly supported a close evolutionary relationship between suckers and minnows and carps.
Relocating green turtle nests affected hatching success and hatchling development in ways that were not explained by average incubation temperature alone. The findings suggest that leaving nests in place is preferable when possible, and that relocation sites should be assessed for more than their temperature.
