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Brooklyn Aquarium now growing beautiful coral

"Growing corals... preserve these fragile eco systems while educating the public about coral reefs in the wild," said WCS Vice President and New York Aquarium director Jon Forrest Dohlin.

Due to disturbances like climate change and unchecked coastal development nearly one-third of the world’s coral reefs have been lost. Some estimates predict corals will be extinct by 2050. So, the aquarium is growing its own.

With names like “xenia” and “pink bird’s nest,” the aquarium lab grows between 25-30 different species which produce hundreds of colorful hard and soft corals.

Who are our readers? This diver exiting the water in British Columbia could be one of them

Readership Composition

Education

62% attended college

Average household income

$81,500. 37% earns more than $100,000

Median age

33 years Europe 35 years US/Canada 26 years Asia

Marital status

56% are married

Household size

1 persons 24% 2 persons 37% 3 persons 13% 4 persons 18%

Spending and travel

2.9 dive trips/yr Europe 4.6 dive trips/yr US/Can. 2.3 dive trips/yr Asia

Average expenditure on dive equipment

€ 2,100 Europe $ 3,600 US € 2,600 Asia

Think fast as a Squid

Squids, octopus and cuttlefish (who all belong to the phylum of molluscs) are among the most intelligent animals in the sea, and definitely the most intelligent marine invertebrates. We should in fact ask ourselves if the human mind is capable of thinking as fast as these creatures do.

Abyssocladia carcharias sp. nov. The species name carcharias means "sharply pointed", and the spicules resemble the jaws of the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias

New species of carnivorous sponges

New Zealand is a centre of biodiversity for marine sponges," NIWA's Dr Michelle Kelly said. "New Zealand is probably the most diverse region in the world for these carnivorous sponges and they are on isolated seamounts that could be at risk of dredging."

A visiting scientist, Professor Jean Vacelet from Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille and Nicole Boury-Esnault made the first discovery of a carnivorous sponge only 16 years ago – in 1995 – in submarine caves in the Mediterranean Sea.