Fish, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2009

Giant Stingray Could Be World's Largest Freshwater Fish

As part of a National Geographic expedition, scientists caught what could be the world’s biggest stingray. The fish was tagged and released in central Thailand on Jan. 28, during the expedition, which seeks to find and protect specimens of the world's largest freshwater fish. A photo marking the catch was...

Jan 31, 2009

Economic Recession Means Fewer Shark Attacks

Shark attacks are on the decline due to the current economic downturn, a biologist speculated today. In 2008, attacks worldwide dipped to their lowest level in five years, a sign that Americans may be forgoing vacation trips to the beach, said ichthyologist George Burgess of the University of Florida. Burgess...

Jan 31, 2009

Strange Fish Has See-Through Head

A bizarre deep-water fish called the barreleye has a transparent head and tubular eyes. Since the fish's discovery in 1939, biologists have known the eyes were very good at collecting light. But their shape seemed to leave the fish with tunnel vision. Now scientists say the eyes rotate, allowing the...

Dec 31, 2008

Sneaky Fish Love Caviar

He's quite handsome and he's got all the right moves. He looks foreign, but his courtship is intoxicating. You decide to spawn with him—oh, yes, I forgot to mention, you're a female fish—and then, the horror! Instead of fertilizing your eggs, the little devil eats them! Such are the games...

Apr 30, 2010

Shark Attacks Most Likely on Sunday in 6 Feet of Water

Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday in less than 6 feet of water during a new moon, a new study finds. And there's good reason: That's when a lot of surfers are in the water. Not coincidentally, surfers wearing black-and-white suits are most likely to be attacked....

Sep 30, 2011

Australia's 'Rogue' Man-Eating Sharks Actually Chasing Whales

After the attack on an American diver by a great white shark off the coast of Australia, the rumor mill is swilling with talk of a rogue man-eating shark that developed a taste for humans, killing three men over the last two months. The most recent attack happened on Saturday...

May 31, 2011

Hungry Female Fish May Have Sex Change On Its Mind

Not many would recommend that a guy tell his gal pal to slim down, but for some fish in tropical coral reefs it's a necessary way of life. New research reveals that male cleaner fish aggressively nudge their mates to watch their diet, as a way to prevent their female...

Apr 30, 2011

Low Oxygen in Gulf of Mexico Has Fish Sexually Confused

You might get a little woozy without enough oxygen, but Atlantic croakers react to low oxygen levels in a completely different way: Their reproductive organs get confused. In such a hypoxic environment, female fish started producing sperm in their ovaries, the researchers found. Hypoxia has increased dramatically over the last...

Nov 30, 2012

Extinct Mega-Piranha Could Outbite History's Largest Shark

The ancient carnivorous mega-piranha, which lived between 6 million and 10 million years ago, packed a fearsome bite with a force that was up to 50 times its weight, finds a new study. Pound for pound, the extinct predator beats out other mega-predators like an ancient, semi-truck-size shark called the...

May 31, 2012

Baby Manta Rays 'Breathe' In Utero

A rare ultrasound glimpse at a fetal manta ray reveals that that these graceful fish can breathe in the womb. Unlike most animals that give birth to live young, manta rays don't have placentas or umbilical cords. That means their fetuses must get nutrients in some other way. Despite the...

Apr 30, 2012

Manta Rays' Deep-Sea Secrets Revealed

Updated Monday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m. ET. Very little is known about giant manta rays, fish up to 25 feet wide that glide through the ocean like giant underwater bats. Now, in the first study using satellite tracking of the creatures, scientists have teased out a few secrets, including...

Feb 29, 2012

Against the Arapaima, the Piranha Scores but Doesn't Win

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. It's a match-up worthy of a late-night cable movie: Put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound (130 kilogram) fish together, and who comes out the winner? The surprising answer, given the notorious...

Jan 31, 2012

Fatal Shark Attacks See Spike in 2011

The numbers are in, and 2011 continued the downward trend in shark attacks in the United States. That's the good news. The bad news: Worldwide shark-related deaths were higher than they've been in nearly two decades, according to the report released today (Feb. 7). The 2011 spike in shark-attack fatalities...

Aug 31, 2013

Goosefish Lays Billowy Veil Holding 1 Million Eggs

Goosefish, also known as monkfish, may be among the most aesthetically challenged creatures around, but when the homely bottom-feeders lay their eggs, they create something beautiful: a gauzy, billowy veil that drifts in the ocean for days. On Monday afternoon (Sept. 23), a female monkfish at the New England Aquarium...

Jul 31, 2013

Enormous Mako Shark Stomach Dissected

What do mako sharks eat? To find out, you have to look inside their stomachs. Shark scientist Antonella Preti recently dissected the largest mako shark stomach she's ever encountered — and she's seen a lot of shark stomachs. To date, Preti has dissected more than 2,000 swordfish and shark stomachs,...