When tropical storm systems barrel across the Atlantic Ocean toward North America, they often take aim at the Lesser Antilles—an arc of small islands that marks the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea. In fact, the islands often are the first thing forecasters talk about when a tropical system heads our way.The Lesser Antilles arc from the U.S. Virgin Islands, near Puerto Rico, all the way down to South America. They comprise three separate groups: the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles. The Windwards extend farthest into the Atlantic. They were the first stop for European sailing ships, which followed the prevailing winds to the Americas.Most of the islands are volcanic. They formed as two of the plates that make up Earth’s crust plunged below the Caribbean Plate. As the rock descended, it melted. Some of the molten rock then forced its way upward, building the islands.Earthquakes rock some of the islands. And some of the volcanoes that built the islands are still active. A massive eruption that began in 1995, for example, destroyed the capital of the island of Montserrat, and forced most of the population to leave the island.Despite the volcanoes and hurricanes, many of the individual islands are popular tourist sites. Places like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, and Martinique offer tropical beaches, coral reefs, rugged mountains, and other natural attractions—at the edge of the Caribbean Sea.
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Coral Lullabies
For some coral, home isn’t where the heart is—it’s where the sounds are. A recent study showed that one type of coral prefers to settle on reefs that sound healthy—even if they’re not.Young corals, known as larvae, float or swim through the water for a while. When they find a good spot, they drop to the bottom and grab hold. They use several cues to find the best locations, including the lighting and chemistry. And according to the study, one of those cues might be sounds.Biologists recorded the sounds of both healthy and un-healthy reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Healthy reefs are noisy. They feature the clicks of snapping shrimp and the grunts and groans of fish. Unhealthy reefs are much quieter.The scientists placed small groups of larvae in special containers on three reefs. One reef was healthy, with a good amount of coral. The others had less coral and much more algae, which can kill a reef.Researchers played the sounds of a healthy reef to the larvae on one of the damaged reefs. On the other two reefs, the larvae had only the natural sound of the environment.On average, the larvae that were played the healthy sounds were 1.7 times more likely to settle on the reef than those at the other reefs—even the healthy one. So playing a nice lullaby into damaged reefs might lure new generations of coral in the years ahead.Our thanks to T. Aran Mooney of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the reef sounds.
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Ocean Memories
The oceans are losing their memory. That could make it harder to forecast everything from monsoons to blizzards.Ocean “memory” is maintained in the top layer, called the mixed layer. Winds push warm surface water downward, where it mixes with water at greater depths. This layer is typically about 150 feet thick. And overall, it maintains a fairly constant temperature. When the temperature changes as the result of some major event, it can take 10 to 20 years for the change to dissipate. In other words, the ocean maintains the “memory” of what happened to it for that long.As the air warms up, though, ocean memory may be changing. Researchers recently simulated changing ocean conditions with computer models. Their work suggested the memory span may be getting shorter, mainly because water at the surface is getting warmer and less dense, so it doesn’t sink as easily. As a result, the mixed layer gets thinner, so its temperature can change more quickly. The quicker the change, the shorter the memory. As one researcher described it, the ocean develops amnesia.Ocean memory is an important factor in forecasting conditions in both the oceans and the atmosphere. Scientists use it to predict monsoon seasons, heatwaves, exceptionally wet summers and cold winters, and other major climate events. A shorter ocean memory could cut months from the lead time of these forecasts—making it harder to remember whether to take an umbrella or sunscreen on your next outing.
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Playful Octopuses
Otto the octopus didn’t appreciate the spotlight shining on his laboratory tank at night. So he turned it off. In fact, he turned off the lights in the whole lab.Octopuses are smart and curious. They use tools and learn from watching other octopuses. They can solve mazes, open the lids of glass jars, and build dens.In the lab, they learn to tell people apart. They’ve been known to take a disliking to some of the lab workers, squirting jets of water at them when they walk by. And they can show a clear preference for the people who feed them.Octopuses also play. In one study, scientists put some small, sealed plastic bottles in octopus tanks. Some of the critters fired jets of water at the bottles, bouncing them off the walls. Others fired a bottle toward the tank’s inlet valve, so the bottle came back to them—like octopus ping-pong.And that brings us back to Otto. Scientists in Germany were studying the behavior of Otto and several others. Otto was the most active. He damaged the glass walls of his tank by throwing rocks at them, and he sometimes rearranged the stuff in the tank.A 2,000-watt spotlight shined on the tank at night. But several times, the light shorted out—and so did the rest of the lab. Scientists then spent the night in the lab to figure out what was happening. Otto was climbing to the rim of the tank and squirting water at the light. That turned out the lights—perhaps allowing Otto to get a good night’s sleep.
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Toxic Sponges
A rare species of sponge found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean has a rare distinction: It has levels of a metal that are thousands of times higher than ever seen in any other organism. And most of that metal is stored away by a type of bacteria that lives inside the sponge.Sponges are filter feeders—they draw in water, filter out food and other solid bits, then shoot the water and solid particles back into the sea. Some contaminants can lodge inside them. Some studies have found high levels of arsenic, barium, and other toxic substances.A more recent study looked at the species called Theonella conica. It’s found down the eastern coast of Africa. Up to 40 percent of its body weight consists of bacteria and other microscopic organisms, many of which have a symbiotic relationship with the sponge.Over two decades, researchers collected specimens from Zanzibar, off the southeastern African coast, and the Gulf of Aqaba, at the northern tip of the Red Sea.When they analyzed the sponges, the scientists found extremely high levels of molybdenum. The metal is important for the metabolism of people and other animals, but only at low levels. At high levels it’s toxic. So the metal may help protect the sponges from predators.The element was concentrated in one of the species of bacteria inside the sponge. It changes the material into a harmless mineral, which is flushed back into the water—keeping the sponge safe from both predators and the toxic element.
The goal of Science and the Sea is to convey an understanding of the sea and its myriad life forms to everyone, so that they, too, can fully appreciate this amazing resource.
South Africa