Many animals can glow in the dark. In a new study, scientists report that deep-sea corals that lived 540 million years ago may have been the first animals to glow, far earlier than previously thought. “Light signaling is one of the earliest forms of communication that we know of it’s very important in deep waters,” said Andrea Quattrini, a co-author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
A team of researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) conducted a novel study on the world's deepest coral colonies in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands.
The sea is teeming with fascinating sea species that has given rise to habitats bursting with richness. Coral reefs are not different, since they come in a variety of forms, dimensions, and hues. Many animals and creatures alike actually shine in the darkness.
2Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Oban, United Kingdom
This study compares the noise levels at the cold-water coral Tisler reef, before and after the closure of the border between Norway and Sweden, which occurred as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tisler reef is a marine protected area located under a ferry “highway” that connects Norway and Sweden. Cold-water coral reefs are recognised as being important hotspots of both biodiversity and biomass, they function as breeding and nursing grounds for commercially important fish and are essential in providing ecosystem functions. Whilst studies have shown that fishery, ocean warming, and acidification threaten them, the effects of noise pollution on cold-water coral reefs remains unstudied. To study the severity of noise pollution at the Tisler reef, a long-term acoustic recorder was deployed from 29 January 2020 until 26 May 2020. From 15 March COVID-19 lockdown measures stopped passenger vessel traffic