The 12th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) is taking place at the Cairns Convention Centre in Cairns, Australia over the next five days.
Held only once every four years, the symposium will cover a full spectrum of coral reef science with the aim of sustaining reefs globally in the future.
Coral reefs are declining rapidly almost everywhere in the world and the ocean community is seeking both a deeper understanding and increased management of the reefs in order to preserve them,
The Symposium is bringing together over 2,000 of the world’s leading natural scientists, resource managers, conservationists, economists, educators and graduate students from 80 countries.  Featuring more than 1,500 talks and presentations, ICRS is the largest conference dedicated to coral reefs and reef issues.…

Yesterday, July 4th, people across the United States looked to the skies to enjoy elaborate firework displays. However, some of the most impressive “fireworks” go on underwater every day, deep in the world’s ocean.
Researchers say that 80 to 90 percent of undersea creatures can generate light through an intricate chemical process known as bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the result of a chemical reaction between two chemicals, luciferase and luciferin, in the presence of oxygen.
Marine vertebrates, invertebrates as well as microorganisms generate bioluminescence. In today’s gallery meet six fascinating marine creatures that literally light up the dark, often to distract predators and sometimes, to attract prey and mates.
Click through the gallery and enjoy this underwater lightshow….…

Julia Reisser spends her days poring over mapping data in the hopes she can help sea turtle hatchlings negotiate a deadly, and increasingly prevalent, ocean hazard: floating plastic.
Reisser, a researcher and PhD student at The University of Western Australia, is creating the first map to show the distribution of floating marine plastics in Australian waters. The map will allow her to create computer models of plastic pathways and sea turtle hatchling movements to determine where the creatures are encountering large amounts of plastic that threaten their health.
A researcher for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (ISIRO), Reisser, who is from Brazil, has been studying sea turtles for nearly a decade and only broadened her research to include marine plastics in 2010.…

By Dr. Wallace J. Nichols
Fifteen years ago the hawksbill sea turtle pictured would have been hog-tied, whisked hundreds of miles, slaughtered and carved into trinkets.
Today, he swam free.
On Baja’s Pacific coast, an adult male hawksbill sea turtle found its way into a fisherman’s net. In the past, for the fisherman anyway, such a thing would have been considered a stroke of good luck. The endless demand for turtle meat, eggs, skin and shell on the black market can provide a nice payday to anyone willing to endure the low-level risk of being caught.
Hawksbill turtles, once common, are now increasingly rare due to decades of being hunted for their beautiful shells, which get carved into combs, broaches, and other adornments.…