An incredible natural history observation of coral polyps teaming up to eat a jellyfish (here is the short article and a summary article from Nat Geo here). Reminds me of our own Betsy Stoner’s documentation of a worm eating upside-down jellyfish. The ocean is cool.
Here are two recent survey-based papers, one on Bahamian perceptions regarding climate change and the second on how useful Bahamian field courses proved to be for US college students. There are always myriad inherent biases with such surveys, but I found some interesting aspects in each of the studies. They are both easy reads.
Here is a note from my colleague Craig Dahlgren that explains the award itself and the commenting process. Would be great for The Bahamas to be recognized for this……
A recent, easy-to-read, review paper on the state of fishery resources in The Bahamas. A great starting point for assessing the many conservation challenges ahead.
Summer is flying by, so time to get Abaco Scientist going again. Here is an article on bonefish migrations from the spring I keep forgetting to post. I saw a spawning aggregation on Abaco and it was absolutely amazing. Lots more here soon.
Over the last 8 years or so, many Caribbean Islands have been challenged by massive Sargassum algae accumulations on beaches (a Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute fact sheet here, and a high resolution link to the poster here). These accumulations may have many deleterious effects on species that utilize beach habitat, including for nesting turtles. See for instance
A note from Dr. Mark Hixon (pasted below) updating his lab’s lionfish research. In addition to the papers he highlights, there are are also some interesting findings regarding lionfish parasite release in the invaded range and how lionfish may disrupt fish cleaning stations.
“Now that my lab’s lionfish research is winding-down, I’ve finally updated our lionfish invasion web […]
Peregrine falcons may not be that common in The Bahamas, but still an interesting article from the Washington Post.