A particular species of crab has been helping Great Barrier Reef coral combat white syndrome, a deadly disease that causes coral tissue to disintegrate.
The Christmas Island crab migration, considered a wonder of the planet, has begun, and this year the crabs have some assistance. Thousands of crabs are using the world's only purpose-built crab bridge to scuttle safely from the forests to the oceans to spawn.
The Christmas Island crab migration, considered a wonder of the planet, has begun, and this year the crabs have some assistance. Thousands of crabs are using the world's only purpose-built crab bridge to scuttle safely from the forests to the oceans to spawn.
'Tis the holiday season and it seems homes are festively trimmed at every turn. Ornaments of all shapes and sizes embellish everything from trees to windows and yards.
Driven by a very strong La Niña event and a record strength Leeuwin Current, the 2011 Western Australian marine heatwave (MHW) raised sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the Western Australian coastline by up to 5°C between November 2010 and March 2011. This single thermal perturbation led to several mortality events and recruitment impairment of commercially important species including Australia's single highest producing blue swimmer crab (Portunus armatus) fishery in Shark Bay. Monthly catch landings dramatically declined from 166 t in April 2011 to 24°C, and detrimental when they exceed 26°C as was the case during the 2011 MHW when SSTs reached 29°C inside Shark Bay. Partial recovery of the crab stock 18 months after the MHW was strongly associated with mean summer temperatures returning below 24°C. Together with a change in management to a quota system, the fishery returned to full recovery status in 2018 with sustainable catch levels of up to 550 t. Long term productivity of this fishery is now at high risk from climate change impacts with shifts in winter water temperatures being cooler by 2°C and occurring earlier by few months inside the Bay. This cooling trend appears to be impacting the spawning period with the timing of peak recruitment also occurring earlier, shifting from February to November. The impacts of the 2011 MHW highlighted the risk to stock sustainability through external drivers such as climate change that was previously poorly understood. The south-west region of Western Australia is considered a climate change hotspot with water temperatures rising at rates above global trends and at inc
The Indo-West Pacific is the largest, most biodiverse marine ecosystem on Earth, and many of the species it supports have comparably wide ranges. Writing in "The Origin of Species," Charles DARWIN noted that "… many fish range from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean, and many shells are common to the eastern islands of the Pacific and the eastern shores of Africa, on almost exactly opposite meridians of latitude."