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Making a run for it: escaped farmed Atlantic salmon integrating with wild populations

By Robbie Roemer, SRC master’s student Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) as their name implies, are primarily found in northern Atlantic waters and are classified as androminous (living in the sea, and returning to freshwater to spawn). Known to be a popular recreational sport fish, this largest species found in the genus Salmo is prized for […]

Caribbean Spiny Lobster Fishery Is Underpinned by Trophic Subsidies from Chemosynthetic Primary Production

By Molly Rickles, SRC intern Caribbean spiny lobsters are a very commercially important species that brings in millions of dollars in revenue annually. The lobsters are especially important to the Bahamas, which has a large fishery. Recently, artificial reefs were created for the lobsters in areas where they are usually fished. This made it easier […]

Sneaky Predators

By Arina Favilla, SRC intern “Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance, ” Mufasa wisely tells Simba in The Lion King right before a pouncing lesson. This is true of any ecosystem on the planet—the sun provides energy for plants to grow, plants are grazed on by herbivores, who are eaten by consumers, […]

A simple tool to predict bycatch in harbour porpoises

By Emily Nelson, SRC master’s student Harbour porpoise bycatch has been identified as the biggest threat facing these animals in many areas today, with many incidental catches occurring in large commercial gillnet fisheries. In efforts to minimize negative impacts, harbour porpoises in waters of the European Union have been awarded protection under Habitats Directive (EC […]

The response of sandy beach meiofauna to nutrients from sea turtle eggs

By Abby Tinari, SRC intern South African scientists, Diane et. al (2017), studied how organic matter is transferred through the food web and how this influences consumer populations. Specifically, they chose to look at the interaction between sea turtle eggs and meiofauna in sandy beaches where organic matter is limited. Meiofauna are small invertebrates that […]

Finding Nemo’s Anemone

By Leila AtallahBenson, SRC master’s student Do you remember in Finding Nemo when the eagle ray professor asks the kids where they live, and nemo replies, with some difficulty, that he lives in an anemone? Have you ever wondered about the relationship between the clownfish and their anemone homes? It is known that these two […]

Atypical and Estuarine Habitat of the Maroni River Mouth Altering Green Turtle Behavior in French Guiana

By Casey Dresbach, SRC intern   In this experiment, satellite telemetry was used to assess the behavioral adjustments of twenty-six adult female green turtles. Sixteen Argos-linked Fastloc GPS tags were deployed on green turtles from February to June 2012 on both sides of the Maroni River: Awale-Yalimpo and in the Galibi Nature Reserve in Suriname. […]

The imperiled fish fauna in the Nicaragua Canal Zone

By Nicole Suren, SRC intern Plans for a new canal through the isthmus of Nicaragua have just been approved by the Nicaraguan government with little to no restrictions on what preexisting waterways can be used as part of this potential new shipping route. The currently proposed route was planned based on economic and technical considerations, […]

Novel use of epidemiological models to control the spread of unwanted behaviors in marine mammals

By Cameron Perry, SRC intern Animal behavior is often learned or passed down through social interactions with other individuals. However, sometimes these socially transmitted behaviors increase exploitation of human resources, which may threaten human safety and economic livelihood (Schakner et al., 2016). Schakner et al. (2016) examined a case study where California sea lions (Zalophus […]