Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 08/Jan 03:17

What we learn from the sea

Dr Anjani Ganase brings the latest discoveries in marine science, revealing the diverse and complex ocean world of past and present. So much more to be learned from the sea and its creatures. Filter systems from fish Scientists from the University of Bonn, Germany looked to the ocean for inspirational solutions in filtration. Annually, a single household would release about 500 grams of microplastic fibres from washing machines that enter the sewage or waste systems. For areas such as Trinidad and Tobago, where grey water is allowed to flow into drains and rivers, the 500 grams per household adds up to a significant amount of plastic waste entering the ocean. Globally, we can estimate the mass of microplastics from washing machines ending up in the ocean to be as big as a large shipping vessel. This often-overlooked source contributes to a major plastic ocean pollution problem. Trap filters of washing machine waste water can be a pain with the filters either not being effective or too effective and resulting in clogging. Some washing machines have no filters at all. Looking for a solution, scientists investigated the anatomy of gills of fish that undergo ram-feeding (when a fish swims forward with its mouth open to engulf prey), including species such as anchovies, Atlantic mackerel and pilchards, where their gill arches are cone shaped, tapering towards the throat. The gills are covered in a mesh that encourages cross flow filtration that results in krill or plankton not to stick to the filtering gills but to roll down the cone and gather in the throat for swallowing while allowing the water to pass through the gills without clogging. It was a design from nature that was replicated as a filter to successfully trap up to 99 per cent of the microplastic fibres without clogging. Yay, for nature-based science solutions! 70 new species identified in 2025 [caption id="attachment_1200830" align="alignnone" width="1024"] School of barracudas in Japan. Barracudas often carry out ram feeding. Photo by Masayuki Agawa/Ocean Image Bank -[/caption] 2025 was a year to discover new species from fossil and specimen records around the world. Research institutes and museums, using new technologies and analytics for taxonomy and genetics, were able to distinguish new species of fossils. This included reptiles in the Jurassic that resembled a gecko but with python sized hooked teethed, fossilised squirrel-sized animal in China, a new species of feathered dinosaur and even fossilised bees. Specimens stored in museums were given a fresh look revealing a new species of male fruit flies from the Philippines with hardened jaws used for courting and grasping females, new species of bees from Vietnam (the Teddy Bear Bee) and Chile (the Digger Bee), new species of arachnids – a venomous scorpion from Iran, whip scorpion from Mexico and the cave-dwelling hooded tick spider from Venezuela. Aquatic life was not left out with a new carp species from the rivers of Congo, a sucker-mouthed minnow from the highlands of Vietnam, a new genus and species of an ancient crinoid – a type of marine invertebrate related to sea stars and sea urchins. The crinoid fossil was discovered on an island off the coast of Quebec, and a sea anemone discovered off the Caribbean coast of Mexico. The list goes on to include sap flies from the Caribbean and several insects (modern and fossilised) from around the world, and even a long-nosed and long tail opossum specimen from the Peruvian Andes. Where Qatar was once sea Scientists from the University of Qatar and The National Museum of Natural History discovered a bone bed of ancient sea cows in Qatar at a site close to the Bay of Salwa. The site was previously part of the Eastern Tethys Seas some 20 million years ago and apparently the domain of frolicking sea cows during the Early Miocene. The scientists used the remains of the sea cows, described as an ancient relative of the dugong, as a proxy for reconstructing the existing marine habitat. Given that high densities of dugongs are present in the adjacent Arabian Gulf the site of a flourishing and extensive seagrass ecosystem. Scientists speculated that similar habitats were frequented by these ancient sea cows. Their ecological functions – grazing – maintained seagrass health, creating pathways that also benefitted other marine organisms, evidenced by fossils of many other sea creatures occurring in the area. The ancient cows are named salwasiren qatarensis, after the Bay of Salwa, ‘siren’ after the Latin word sirenia that refers to the taxonomic order sea cows, and honouring the state of Qatar. The ancient species was much smaller in size, weighing about 250 pounds, in contrast to the dugongs that were eight times heavier. They also had small hind limbs, which have been lost in modern-day dugongs and manatees and the salwasirens had a straighter snout and smaller tusks. Super apex predators once roamed the ocean [caption id="attachment_1200832" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Crocodile in seagrass. Modern-day crocodiles are much smaller, only up to 5 m in length compared to the ancient reptilian predators. Photo by Philip Hamilton/Ocean Image Bank -[/caption] We irrationally worry about great white sharks sneaking up on us during our ocean swims. We know about the sophistication with which orcas assume predator dominance over us. We may be fearful of other large predators in our oceans today, but these creatures would be a meagre supper to the giant reptilian predators found in the Early Cretaceous (145-100 million years ago). Scientists from the McGill University in search of evidence of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution with the theory of a rapid diversification of marine predator and prey animals were theorising incredibly complex food chain interactions with up to seven trophic (feeding) levels. Today most food chains average around five levels from herbivore to apex predator. The rise of the Marine Revolution was driven by continental drift, sea level rise and also the warming conditions of the ocean creating more habitable marine spaces for many organisms to occupy. Scientists used fossilised records to recreate an ancient marine ecosystem where the super apex predators found at the site at the Paja formation in Colombia were giant reptiles greater than ten metres in length. In all they were able to compile about 157 species of marine creatures to occupy up to six trophic levels on the food chain with a heavier predator component. A feat when considering the limitations of fossil records, in contrast to observing a living ecosystem. When comparing the food chains of present-day marine ecosystems, predator fish and sea turtles considered to be top predators were lower down in the food chain back then.   The post What we learn from the sea appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.