Long Story Shorts: How Does Fish Poop Keep Our World in Balance? – Hakai Institute

Screenshot from Long Story Shorts: How Does Fish Poop Keep Our World in Balance? by Hakai Institute via Youtube.

You might be asking yourself, What does fish poop have to do with the health of the ocean and our planet? Well, gross or not, that fish poop plays a big role in something called the carbon cycle. Watch this video to find out—then think about everything else that goes number two in the deep blue and you’ll see how all that poop can help keep the Earth in balance…

Ocean Wonders: Aging in the Abyss – Hakai Institute

“Imagine what it might be like to get old living in the deep. From creatures that exist for just a matter of days to others that never quite die, animal aging in the deep blue is as wild as the sea itself. Join us as we take a look at what it’s like to grow old in the ocean…”

Ocean Wonders: A Symphony of Smells – Hakai Institute

Screenshot from Hakai Institute video, Ocean Wonders: A Symphony of Smells, via Youtube.

“Take a whiff of the sea breeze. What happens to that scent when you sink below the surface? It turns out the sense of smell is crucial to those living in the deep. Hold your breath—but not your nose—as we explore olfaction in the ocean…”

Increasing Rate of Warming of Oceans + Earth . . .

Rising temperatures in the world's oceans: Average surface temperature in 2011 - 2020 (degrees C) compared to 1951 - 1980) source: ECMWF ERA5 via BBC

A troubling study appeared last week indicating that over the past 15 years the Earth absorbed as much heat as it had during the prior 45 years, and most of that excess energy went into warming the ocean…

Clamshells Face the Acid Test – Hakai Magazine

Clam Shells (by Lindsey B. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr).

As acidification threatens shellfish along North America’s Pacific Coast, Indigenous sea gardens offer solutions.   

It’s low tide in Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, California, and Hannah Hensel is squishing through thick mud, on the hunt for clams. The hinged mollusks are everywhere, burrowed into the sediment, filtering seawater to feed on plankton. But Hensel isn’t looking for living bivalves—she’s searching the mudflat for the shells of dead clams…

Ocean acidification takes a toll on California’s coastline at nighttime

Conducted along California’s rocky coastline, a new study, based on the most-extensive set of measurements ever made in tide pools, suggests that ocean acidification will increasingly put many marine organisms at risk by exacerbating normal changes in ocean chemistry that occur overnight.