News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
We already knew that anglerfish have light-generating bacteria in their tissues – now it turns out that one species, the Pacific football fish, can also glow by fluorescing green Life 12 January 2022 By Jake Buehler The Pacific footballfish (Himantolophus sagamius) William Ludt/Journal of Fish Biology Deep-sea anglerfish illuminate their pitch-black home using a lure … Read more
The Peruvian anchovy is a small fish with a big impact. Only about the size of an index finger, they make up the single largest fish catch in the world—sometimes up to 15% of the global haul. Nearly all the highly nutritious fish are ground up to feed salmon and other farm-raised species that are … Read more
The arid heart of Australia may not easily support life now, but once, many aeons ago, it was lush and teeming. What is now arid desert and dry shrub- and grasslands was once thick with dense forests, alive with life. In one of these grasslands, in the Central Tablelands of NSW, paleontologists have found … Read more
Models suggest the arrangement of American shad in a shoal amplifies the ultrasonic clicks that dolphins use to hunt, helping the fish detect and evade these predators Life 30 December 2021 By Bas den Hond American shad are native to the US east coast Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images A school … Read more
Previous research has suggested that fish have an innate sense of numbers, but critics say these experiments aren’t the final word. Now, a new study has shown that archerfish really can count Life 24 December 2021 By Michael Le Page Archerfish spit water at their prey Shutterstock / Roberto Dani Can fish count? An experiment involving … Read more
The evolutionary fitness of Atlantic salmon is being damaged by genetic contamination as wild fish breed with escapees from fish farms Life 22 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan A salmon farm in Norway Marius Dobilas/Shutterstock When wild Atlantic salmon breed with escaped farmed salmon, their descendants grow faster and mature at a younger age, undermining … Read more
Although the jungles of southern Mexico seem like an ideal spot for fieldwork, the region’s sulfur springs are far from a tropical getaway. In addition to the area’s stifling heat, the pools reek of rotten eggs. Their milky, turquoise water is even more inhospitable: it is laced with toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide and contains … Read more
Some of the most stunning examples of animal behavior seem to be driven by predators. A massive cloud of starlings darting away from a hawk that looks like swirling plume of smoke, for example. Or a shiny school of sardines twirling as dolphins circle around. Biologists have long believed such behavior confuses predators, giving each … Read more
Eastern mosquitofish, a problem invasive species, can be prevented from reproducing using a robot fish that they find scary Technology 16 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes A robotic fish (top) that mimics the natural predator of mosquitofish (bottom right) Giovanni Polverino Robotic fish might help solve an ecological problem by scaring an invasive fish species … Read more
Mercury pollution is a global problem. Emissions from gold mining, coal burning, and other industrial processes travel through the atmosphere, eventually falling to Earth as rain or snow. The poison can make its way to fish and the humans who eat them, where it can damage the developing nervous system, causing problems with memory and … Read more