19-Year-Old Student Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7,250,000 Tons of Plastic From the World’s Oceans

The blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) is a common shark found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. Their bodies are streamlined, making them powerful swimmers, and—as the name suggests—the tips of their fins are black. They usually inhabit shallow waters and are very curious as a species. They will often approach divers to investigate, which has led to numerous attacks, giving the species a bad reputation. However, as with all sharks, the odds of being attacked by one are still extremely low.

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Although it is one of the widest ranged sharks, the blue shark (Prionace glauca) may be threatened by over-harvesting. They migrate seasonally, moving from cooler to warmer waters. Blue sharks sometimes circle prey before attacking and they will gather in large numbers to eviscerate whale or porpoise carcasses. They can also be found following trawling boats, stealing the caught fish. The blue shark is known as a shark species that will attack humans, but just like with any other sharks, getting bitten by one is relatively rare.

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The smallest auk in the Atlantic is the little auk, also called the dovekie (Alle alle). Its beak is specially adapted for catching small pray as its main food source is plankton. It breeds along the Arctic coast, but spends its winters out at sea.

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The scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber) is most commonly found along the northern coast of South America. It spends its time in swamps, lagoons, and coastal wetlands, probing in soft mud for food with its long bill. Like other ibises, it uses this touch-method of hunting rather than hunting by sight. Its most common prey items are crabs, shellfish, and aquatic insects.

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Feather star, Comantheria briareus

Photo © Jan Messersmith

For decades, geologists have used strange microscopic, toothlike fossils called conodonts to date Paleozoic marine sediments without having any idea what kind of creature originally possessed these elements. The discovery in the early 1980s of fossils of complete conodont animals (also called Conodontophora, meaning “conodont-bearing”) showed that conodont elements belonged to a small early marine vertebrate. As of 2012, scientists classify conodonts in the phylum Chordata.

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Mangrove Monitor
(Varanus indicus)

Similar in shape to the water monitor, this lizard has a comparable lifestyle, although it rarely swims far from the shore. Like all monitors, it has a long, supple neck and powerful clawed feet. Its tail is flattened laterally and is double the length of its body. Mangrove monitors are very good swimmers and excellent climbers, hunting on the ground, in shallow water, and in trees. Fish make up a large part of their diet, although they eat a wide range of other food, including crabs, birds, and other lizards, and even scavenged fishing bait.

The water monitor has had human help in expanding its range. In the past, it was introduced by humans throughout the western Pacific as a source of food, and more recently, the species has been introduced into some Pacific islands as a way of controlling rats. Water monitors lay up to a dozen eggs each time they breed and, like most lizards, their young hatch and develop without parental protection.

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Photo © Jlambus Photography

Christmas Tree Worms

Photograph by Jean Kunzelman