The Marine Science Institute's monthly column, Science and the SeaTM, is an informative and entertaining article that explains many interesting features of the marine environment and the creatures that live there. Science and the SeaTM articles appear monthly in one of Texas' most widely read fishing magazines, Texas Saltwater Fishing, the Port Aransas South Jetty newspaper, the Flour Bluff News, and the Island Moon newspaper. Our article archive is available also on our website.
Countless illustrations and museum displays depict the battle between two of the ocean’s most fearsome predators, the sperm whale and the giant squid.
In real life, sperm whales often bear battle scars from a giant squid’s massive tentacles, or gashes inflicted by its sharp beak. But scientists have found that some sperm whales with damaged jaws or even no teeth at all have stomachs full of squid. How can these whales find and take down such fierce prey?
For many people, anchovies are simply the pizza topping they love to hate. But the humble anchovy - along with another silvery little schooling fish, the sardine - triggered scientists to look closer at a Pacific Ocean phenomenon.
Researchers have found that Pacific anchovy and sardine populations seem to take turns ruling the waters at intervals of about 25 years. When Pacific temperatures are slightly higher than normal, sardines thrive; when temperatures cool down, sardine numbers decline and anchovy populations flourish.
Fossils of prehistoric sea creatures aren’t just remarkable for their massive size and fearsome looks — they also give scientists clues about what the ocean’s polar climate was like millions of years ago.
Texas may be famous for its beautiful wildflowers, but how many Texans know about the amazing flower gardens hidden off the Texas Coast?
In the Gulf of Mexico about 110 miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border lay the Flower Garden Banks, the northernmost coral reefs in the United States. Named for their brightly colored plant and animal life, these underwater communities have a unique geological past.
Seabirds, such as petrels and albatrosses, often face peril from longline fishing, which mainly targets tuna and swordfish. These fishing boats pay out very long lines with baited hooks which sink to their fishing depth to lure prized fish. But before the lines sink very far, seabirds dive after the bait and get snared by the hook and dragged under.
On some late spring nights, the beaches of southern California come alive with the silver tide — hundreds of small, shiny fish.
These silvery fish are California grunion. They’re about 5-7 inches long and found only along the coast of southern California and northern Baja, Mexico. The name grunion comes from the Spanish word for grunter because of the squeaking noise the fish make during spawning.
There’s a reason why an octopus always draws a crowd at aquariums — this eight-armed creature is considered one of the sea’s smartest animals.
For their size, octopuses have the largest brains of any invertebrate, and stories of how they use these brains are legendary. Octopuses have been known to untwist jar lids to get at food inside. They are able to distinguish colors and shapes, and they use this skill to orient themselves to visual landmarks for navigation.
Ocean waves are a powerful force — and a potential source of renewable energy. Engineers have been working on devices to harness wave power for years, and in 2007, the world’s first wave farm was launched off the coast of Portugal.
Just like wave farms, which use rows of wind turbines to harness energy from moving air, a wave farm converts energy from moving water to electricity. Because water is denser than air, it packs even more energy when in motion.
When we think of the world’s biggest repositories of trash, we usually picture vast landfills. But thanks to the nature of ocean currents (and the indestructibility of some garbage), an area called the North Pacific Gyre has become known as the vortex of trash.
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