(Natural News) Scientists have known long ago that sunscreens negatively impact coral reefs, but they weren’t sure why or how – until now. A group of environmental chemists and biologists finally came up with an explanation for why common chemicals like oxybenzone are causing problems for ocean life. They found that corals absorb oxybenzone and convert […]

(Natural News) Experts are warning people against using sunscreen, especially those mixed with glitter, as it poses a huge threat to bodies of water. This is the latest in a string of controversies regarding the use of sunscreen. Many people think that bringing sunscreen to the beach is a must-have since it reportedly protects the skin […]

(Natural News) Terrestrial runoffs from extreme flooding events normally only impact nearshore ecosystems like salt marshes, seagrass beds and oyster beds. So researchers from Rice University were shocked to discover human fecal bacteria, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), in a marine protected area about 100 miles off the coast of Houston. In particular, they found that runoff from the […]

(Natural News) Undersea eruptions happen more often than people think. These eruptions are thought to shape features of the ocean, such as ridges and rises. Nonetheless, undersea eruptions are a lot less spectacular than their land counterparts, and it isn’t often that people get to see their ramifications on the ocean surface. So much to both […]

(Natural News) Scientists and conservationists make an alarming statement: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is on the brink of another major coral bleaching. As per official records, this will be the third bleaching event happening in the reef system within the last five years. “Bleaching” is a phenomenon wherein coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae or algae […]

(Natural News) New findings from a team of researchers from the University of Miami (UM) revealed significant damage to anywhere between 50 to 90 percent of Miami’s coral reefs during the 16-month dredging operation at the Port of Miami. This study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, found that upwards of 560,000 corals within 500 meters of the dredged channel were […]

(Natural News) Researchers have discovered that fish living in damaged coral reefs have an alternative source of sustenance aside from the reefs where they live. An Australian study recently found that ocean currents haul in considerable amounts of food to reef structures; enough to keep the remaining population fed. A healthy coral reef produces large amounts […]

(Natural News) Vertebrates are not the only marine organisms that accidentally gulp down mouthfuls of the growing number of microplastics in the ocean. Invertebrates like corals and sea anemones also ingest tiny pieces of plastic that they have mistaken for their prey. In a study supported by the Carnegie Institution for Science (Carnegie), researchers learned that […]

(Natural News) What do you call a tiny critter that lives in most corals and creates chlorophyll but doesn’t bother using it to turn sunlight into energy? Dubbed corallicolid, this unusual creature is the first known organism that is capable of phototropic behavior yet doesn’t perform photosynthesis. Corallicolids belong to the phylum Apicomplexa. Its relatives […]

(Natural News) The Great Barrier Reef in Australia has been under threat lately from coral bleaching, but now it’s facing what experts are terming “another nail in the coffin” as plans have been approved to dump more than a million tons of sludge there. In January, a permit was issued by the Great Barrier Reef […]