An autonomous starfish-killing robot is close to being ready for trials on the Great Barrier Reef, researchers say. Crown-of-thorns starfish have have been described as a significant threat to coral. The Cotsbot robot, which has a vision system, is designed to seek out starfish and give them a lethal injection. After it eradicates the bulk of starfish in a given area, human divers can move in and mop up the survivors.

When one of Earth's smartest creatures vocalizes, it fuels a heated debate among scientists: Are dolphins actually speaking a complex language? Head trainer Teri Turner Bolton looks out at two young adult male dolphins, Hector and Han, whose beaks, or rostra, are poking above the water as they eagerly await a command.

The US Navy has agreed to limit its use of sonar that may inadvertently harm whales and dolphins in waters near Hawaii and California. A federal judge in Honolulu signed the deal between the Navy and environmental groups on Monday. It restricts or bans the use of mid-frequency active sonar and explosives used in training exercises. Campaigners say that sonar disrupts the feeding of marine mammals, and can even cause deafness or death.

You'll have heard of Fungie, a male bottlenose who has forsaken the open sea to live inside the harbour mouth of Dingle in Ireland, a placid, shallowish inlet bordered by low verdant hills that are speckled with sheep.

Scientists know that American eels spend most of their adult lives inland or close to the shore, because for thousands of years, that’s where people have caught them. And we know the animals spawn in the open ocean, because that’s where we find their tiny, transparent larvae. But despite decades of searching, no adult American eel (Anguilla rostrata) has ever been spotted migrating across the hundreds of miles of ocean between the animals’ adult haunts and their ancestral spawning areas.

On Tuesday, Japan's whaling fleet will set out on a three-month-long hunt for minke whales. The Japanese government argues that this hunt — which will only kill 333 whales, about a third of the average yearly haul before the country's year-long whaling pause — is being done in the name of scientific research. But the U.N.'s International Court of Justice has already deemed the "scientific" program to be anything but.

The coast of southern Chile has become a grave for 337 sei whales that were found beached in what scientists say is one of the biggest whale strandings ever recorded. Biologist Vreni Haussermann told The Associated Press Tuesday that she made the discovery along with other scientists in June during an observation flight over fjords in Chile's southern Patagonia region. The team has been collecting samples since then.

A Westcountry man well-known for eating roadkill is planning something different for his Christmas lunch this year - a dolphin he found on the beach. Eccentric Arthur Boyt, 76, has spent years...

Residents along the east coast of Britain are praying they will not see a repeat of the tragedies seen in Skegness and Hunstanton where six whales have now washed up on the beach. Hundreds of people from all over the East Midlands flocked to Skegness to see three dead whales on Central Beach before they were removed to Sheffield for rendering last Wednesday. A fourth whale that beached of former Ministry of Defence (MOD) land...

A young dolphin has died after beachgoers took it from the sea to pose for photographs with it. Huge crowds gathered around the small animal on the beach resort at Santa Teresita in Argentina after one man picked it up. But it appears it quickly overheated and died while out of the water. It was still being passed around by the beachgoers after its death and was later left discarded in the sand.

Unlike most people, the children of a Thailand tribe see with total clarity beneath the waves – how do they do it, and might their talent be learned? Deep in the island archipelagos on the Andaman Sea, and along the west coast of Thailand live small tribes called the Moken people, also known as sea-nomads. Their children spend much of their day in the sea, diving for food. They are uniquely adapted to this job – because...

In an agreement with The Humane Society of the United States, the theme park will also phase out the use of the giant marine mammals in theatrical shows.

Scientists who discovered the fossil have dubbed it the "kite runner".

Scientists just estimated that Earth could contain as many as 1 trillion species, an incredible 99.999 percent of which are currently undiscovered. And it's a good bet that a whole lot of those mystery creatures are hiding out at the bottom of the ocean, which is just one of the reasons why this live video feed is so awesome. Stick it on at work and you could witness something no other human has ever seen before - or at the very least, you'll get scientists cracking jokes...

An abandoned oil tanker has mysteriously washed ashore in Liberia leaving officials scratching their heads as to how it got there and what exactly happened to its crew. According to local reports the vessel emblazoned with the name Tamaya 1 was discovered washed up on a beach in Robertsport, Liberia on Wednesday with no sign of any crew. AIS data from MarineTraffic.com shows the Tamaya 1 is a 63-meter oil products tanker flagged in Panama.

Malaysia has just established the biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the country. The Tun Mustapha park (TMP) occupies 1m hectares (2.47m acres) of seascape off the northern tip of Sabah province in Borneo, a region containing the second largest concentration of coral reefs in Malaysia as well as other important habitats like mangroves, sea grass beds and productive fishing grounds.

A well-known account of an epic battle between electric eels and horses, long unsubstantiated by scientific evidence, now appears more realistic thanks to new research demonstrating these aquatic creatures are capable of targeting land threats with powerful electrical shocks. The study, led by Vanderbilt University biologist Kenneth Catania and published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National...

As if they weren't remarkable enough, now we can add "prancing about on a pair of arms" to the cephalopod's impressive bag of tricks. They can virtually disappear into their surroundings and when things get rough, they can swim away with jet propulsion. So why would some species of octopus – creatures that have no bones to support their bodies – set two arms on the ground and take a bipedal-style ramble to flee from a predator?

More than 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) of coral reefs—some of the most biodiverse on Earth—have been destroyed by giant clam poaching in the South China Sea, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery. The poachers use boat propellers to loosen the valuable bivalves, which can weigh up to 500 pounds (227 kilograms) and are a luxury item in China. Carving up a reef leaves it barren of life. And because reefs in the region are often interconnected, the damage in one place can have repercussions elsewhere. Another 22 square miles (58 square kilometers) of reef have been destroyed by island-building activities...

A conservation group has taken the unusual step of buying a commercial shark fishing licence on the Great Barrier Reef, and will retire it, saving the sharks that it would otherwise be used to catch. WWF said it was now seeking funds to cover the cost of the $100,000 licence, which gives the owner the right to drag a 1.2km net anywhere along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, targeting sharks. It can also be used for fishing with lines to target other species.