EurekAlert! Marine Science - News Releases

News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Jan-2026 12:12 ET (22-Jan-2026 17:12 GMT/UTC)

Seaweed snare: Sargassum stops sea turtle hatchlings in their tracks

Florida Atlantic University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While we know obstacles on the beach can slow down hatchlings and put them at risk, little research has focused on the impact of sargassum. A new study of loggerhead, leatherback and green hatchlings finds that all three species took significantly longer to complete their crawl when sargassum was present. The time it took to climb up and over the seaweed piles was the primary reason. Even small piles delayed their crawl, with many flipping over and failing to climb the seaweed in time.

Journal: Journal of Coastal Research

Researchers quantify rate of essential evolutionary process in the ocean

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team, led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory's Single Cell Genomics Center, have published the first quantitative analysis of lateral gene transfer rates in the ocean, illuminating the adaptability of marine microbes to new environment and the significance of an essential, ongoing evolutionary process to marine life.

Journal: The ISME Journal

What climate change means for the Mediterranean Sea

Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate change threatens marine and coastal ecosystems in the Mediterranean region. Warming, sea level rise, and ocean acidification are occuring there more intensely and rapidly than the global average. A recent study led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel investigated how strongly marine and coastal ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea are already at risk, even under comparatively moderate additional warming. For this purpose, 131 scientific studies were evaluated in a thorough meta-analysis. The results have now been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Journal: Scientific Reports

Plants, islands and climate change: Biologist Julian Schrader receives an ERC Starting Grant

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Grant and Award Announcement

Dr Julian Schrader has been awarded one of the European Research Council’s (ERC) coveted Starting Grants to study island plant life. The biologist will use the 1.5 million euros grant to investigate the interaction between climate change and the spread of plant species. To do this, he will relocate from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, to Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the German Centre for Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig (iDiv). The ERC Starting Grant is one of Europe’s most prestigious research awards.

Funder: European Research Council

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

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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, lining a cartilaginous appendage called the tenaculum, in addition to those in their jaws. They used their tenaculum teeth to grip females while mating in water.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

University of Florida
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Human impact on the ocean will double by 2050, UCSB scientists warn

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The rate at which human activity is impacting the ocean is accelerating with double the impacts — and in some places triple the impact — expected by in the next 25 years

Journal: Science

Seagrass swap could reshape Chesapeake Bay food web

Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study from researchers at William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS shows that an ongoing transition from eelgrass to widgeon grass as the dominant seagrass species in the Chesapeake Bay could have ecological impacts across food webs, fisheries and ecosystem functions.

Journal: Marine Ecology Progress Series

Fighting extinction, coral reefs show signs of adapting to warming seas

Ohio State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As coral reefs decline at unprecedented rates, new research has revealed that some coral species may be more resilient to warming temperatures than others.

Journal: Science of The Total Environment

Endocrine disruptors pose ecological risks to marine protected areas

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This study delved into the pollution levels and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of 31 endocrine disrupting chemicals in three marine protected areas and the adjacent coastal areas, evaluating their partitioning patterns, estrogenic potency, and potential ecological risks they posed.

Journal: Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology
Funder: National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Foundation of Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education (Tongji University), China, Innovation Group Project of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) of the Hong Kong SAR Government which provides regular funding to State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), UN-endorsed Global Estuaries Monitoring (GEM) Programme led by KMYL

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