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Ocean and Beaches

On the water and on the sand, our research explores ocean health and evolution so we can better understand how to protect and preserve the largest area of Earth.

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An illustration of two fishes with the skin unwrapped to reveal the internal anatomy: skeleton on the left and organs on the right.
Photo Credit
Jessica Eggers
With its fantastical illustrations and offbeat humor, "Gonzo Ichthyology" leads readers through topics in fish biology and other flights of fancy.

Ichthyology meets ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ in pen and ink

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illustration of swimming microbes on dark background
Microbes are responsible for much of carbon sequestration in the ocean
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two researchers on a boat
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Volunteer taxonomist Gustav Pauly from the Florida Museum of Natural History, left and SBC-LTER lab technician Darrin Ambat on a morning dive to retrieve Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures from the sea floor
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A government official inspects dozens of large fish on the concrete after seizing illegal gillnets (in background) in the Gulf of California.
Photo Credit
Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA)
Totoaba poaching continues in the Gulf of California despite a 50-year fishing ban. But farming the fish for export may curb poaching.
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a bloom of green algae off the coast
Eutrophication — caused by excessive nutrients, such as fertilizer runoff — causes a bloom of algae that depletes the water of oxygen and causes 'dead zones' that kill fish and other marine organisms
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A young man places a small orange box of electronics near a bush on the seashore with
Photo Credit
Elena Zhukova
There’s a cacophony of acoustic signals below the range of human hearing, many quite intense, that you can pick up with the right “ears.”
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Aerial image of a lagoon wetland.
Photo Credit
David Huang
San Dieguito Lagoon, one of Beheshti’s primary research sites.
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A barracuda school off Bikar Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Photo Credit
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Monitoring fishing activity far from shore presents a challenge for resource management and marine conservation.
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two orange-clad fishermen in a commercial vessel
A commercial fishing vessel near Kodiak Island, Alaska
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Hayden Vega wears a lobster on his head
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
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cargo ships queueing at Los Angeles and Long Beach port during COVID pandemic
Cargo vessel congestion at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex during the COVID pandemic