A new study provides a comprehensive global synthesis of how vessel traffic affects large marine wildlife, including whales, dolphins, seals, manatees, sea turtles, sharks and rays.

Just a few decades ago, nobody would have been surprised to see a bottlenose dolphin showing up in the lagoon of Venice, where historically some dolphins have dwelt. However, when ‘Mimmo’, a solitary bottlenose dolphin, was first spotted in the lagoon in the summer of 2025, the event was perceived as nothing short of sensational. Soon, managing the behavior of people became more important than managing the dolphin itself, a new study suggests. Researchers monitoring the dolphin said its stay in the lagoon does not put it at particular risk, but that inappropriate and illegal human action does. Cases like these highlight the importance of broader education on how to interact with wildlife, the team said.   

Plastics shed thousands of chemicals into the sea, including oleamide – an industrial lubricant that also occurs naturally. In lab aquariums, researchers tracked 31,500 hunting interactions between the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and crabs, snails, and clams. Oleamide shifted octopus prey preference, dulled crustaceans’ predator avoidance, and increased encounters – without boosting successful kills. The subtle disruption lasted days, hinting that plastic chemicals could reshape coastal food webs by altering how species sense, feed, and interact. By mimicking biological signals, plastic-derived oleamide may quietly rewire marine behavior.

Night lights affect two marine crustaceans differently, helping explain which species will be found in which portion of Tokyo Bay, Japan, according to a study. Artificial light at night can affect the behavior, physiology, and ecological distribution of marine species. Daiki Sato sought to explore the effects of city lights on the ecosystem of Tokyo Bay, one of the world’s most intensely illuminated coastal regions. Sato specifically focused on two closely related nocturnal isopods, Ligia furcata and Ligia laticarpa. Sato used genetic analysis, remote sensing, and Bayesian modeling, as well as behavioral experiments on the isopods in the lab. L. laticarpa occurrence in the bay was correlated with higher nighttime light intensity, and L. furcata showed reduced activity when reared under artificial lights at night, while L. laticarpa was largely unaffected by night lights.