Shark fin soup and neurodegenerative disease

It turns out that eating shark fin soup is not only ecologically questionable, it may also be associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and ALS. A recent study, published in the journal Marine Drugs, documents high levels of BMAA, a neurotoxic amino acid associated with cyanobacterial blooms that biomagnifies as it moves through marine food webs and especially accumulates in collagen-rich tissues like... shark fins.

HT to Helen Scales at SeaMonster.

Biology and Ecology of Fishes Class

Drs. Clare Wormald and Mia Adreani have just finished teaching the Biology and Ecology of Fishes class.

We, along with the Three Seas students, had some great opportunities to study a diversity of fishes on the reefs around the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Bocas del Toro. We observed a variety of behaviors, like territoriality, mating systems, feeding and swimming behaviors of coral reef fishes and studied ecological processes, including the recent lionfish invasion, and the interaction of fishes and their habitats which include coral reefs and the locally abundant mangrove systems. 

Here the students are speeding back from a dive studying the mating systems of a simultaneous hermaphrodite, the hamlet (Hypoplectrus sp.). Around dusk, hamlets pair up and engage in "egg trading", taking turns in both the female and male roles during their spawning bouts. Here's a short video clip of the spawning behavior.

If you'd like to know more about the Biology and Ecology of Fishes class activities, please visit our class blog at threeseasfish.blogspot.com.

Undersea Valentines

Thanks to Shing Yin Khor for these lovely creations.