Killer whales have been seen detaching lengths of seaweed and using them to massage each other – the first evidence of tool-making by marine mammals.  

Primates, birds, and elephants are all known to make tools, but examples of tool use among marine animals are much more limited. Reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on June 23, a team of whale experts has found widespread tool manufacture and usage in an endangered population of resident killer whales living in the Salish Sea—part of the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia and Washington. The whales fashion tools from kelp and use them for grooming purposes. 

Research led by Hiromi Shiraishi, researcher at Chuo University, has revealed that, in addition to Japanese Eel (Anguilla japonica), American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) is now widely distributed in processed eel products sold at retail stores across Japan. While eel farming in Japan relies primarily on Japanese Eel, two-thirds of eel consumption in the country depends on imports of live adult eels and eel products, which include several species of anguillid eels. As the world’s largest importer and consumer of eel, Japan is in a position to contribute to the sustainable use of anguillids beyond Japanese eel.

For more than a century, a patch of cold water south of Greenland has resisted the Atlantic Ocean’s overall warming, fueling debate amongst scientists. A UC Riverside study identifies the cause as the long-term weakening of the AMOC, a major ocean circulation system.

Engineers at Brown University uncovered unexpected dynamics in how organic particulates sink in the ocean, a process that plays a key role in marine nutrient cycling.

A Nanjing University study in Science Advances reveals that Late Paleozoic cooling boosted marine life diversification, while rapid warming, often from volcanic eruptions, caused mass extinctions. Using high-resolution geological data, researchers warn that today's faster human-induced warming may threaten marine ecosystem similarly. 

New research indicates reef passes — channels that cut through coral reefs and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients — are shaped by island rivers.

Fritjof Nansen travelled the polar regions as both an explorer and a scientist. Ten Norwegian research institutions followed in Nansen’s footsteps in a collaborative investigation of the Barents Sea. Their 6-year effort has now been documented in a new book.