Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Investigating the lives of sharks and rays in the hottest sea on the planet through eDNA in Bahrain’s waters

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 7h

Amidst the tranquil scene of shimmering silver bait fish swimming in the sun-warmed surface waters of the ocean, schooling bonito race below, feeding on the ‘bait ball' of small fish. It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there!

🎥: Byron Dilkes

1 5

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 1d

In Bahrain’s scorching seas, a women-led team is using eDNA to research the region’s sharks and rays. Their pioneering work marks the nation’s first molecular biodiversity baseline, and a vital step for future conservation.
More below in Reem AlMealla’s blog.
saveourseas.com/update/inves...

I’m often asked what it’s like to dive in the hottest sea in the world: “is there anything alive?” Bahrain, my home country, an island nation, the third smallest in Asia, lies on the eastern edge of A...

10 28

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 1d

Golden orange in colour, with bright blue around its eyes, the Midas blenny is a sight to behold. They live a rather secretive life on coral reefs; burrowed in sand, or living in reef crevices. When they do emerge and swim over the reef, their movements are eel-like.

📷: Dillys Pouponeau | © SOSF

"Poetry at all scales": Ocean Photographer of the Year, Yury Ivanov

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 2d

Oceanographic Magazine caught up with Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025, Yury Ivanov.

He shares that the win gives him "hope that more people will see the value in protecting the fragile ecosystems" he photographs.

oceanographicmagazine.com/features/poe...

Indonesia-based macro photographer, Yury Ivanov has been named Ocean Photographer of the Year for capturing harmony at the smallest scale.

oceanographicmagazine.com

Unwinding the Helix: Extracting Genetic Relationships from Nurse Shark DNA in The Bahamas

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 2d

Perhaps more ethereal than any other marine animal, manta rays swoop and glide through our oceans. But they are far more than simply otherworldly, and plankton-swilling. They have the largest brain relative to their body size of any fish in the ocean and are highly intelligent.

🎥: Byron Dilkes

1 1

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 3d

In Bimini, researchers are using decades of fin clip samples to understand nurse shark DNA, looking at how individuals are related, how far they travel, and what their genetic ties can tell us about conserving this vulnerable species.

More in Baylie Fadool’s blog.
saveourseas.com/update/unwin...

There are many unique features that make you who you are. If you were to describe them to somebody, you would probably include your personality, some physical characteristics, and the people that you ...

Understanding wedgefish reproduction for conservation in Jepara, Indonesia

3 11

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 6d

Tiger sharks are the only sharks in the family Carcharhinidae that are ovoviviparous, which means they grow their embryos internally and nourish them from a yolk sac before giving birth to live, independent young.

📷: Chris Vaughan-Jones

4

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 8d

Dita Cahyani and team in Jepara, Indonesia, have launched a study to uncover how the critically endangered bottlenose wedgefish reproduce, using DNA analysis to inform conservation strategies for this elusive species.
saveourseas.com/update/under...

The project titled “Understanding the Reproductive Strategy of the Critically Endangered Bottlenose Wedgefish in Indonesia for Future Species-Specific Conservation Planning” officially kicked-off with...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 9d

With powerful jaws and beak-like teeth, the guineafowl pufferfish forages on reefs from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, among Japan's Ryukyu Islands and across the Pacific Ocean. These goofy, grinning puffers crunch through corals, sponges, and a range of reef organisms.

🎥: Luke Saddler

4

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 14d

This week on the World of Sharks podcast, host Isla Hodgson gets to chatting with Brett Sweezey, about his PhD research. Brett studies both the movement ecology and trophic ecology of sharks of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Listen here: saveourseas.com/worldofshark...

Prepping for Pings and Preggos

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 21d

Scrubbing sea squirts, hauling receivers, scanning for pups: field prep may be messy, but for Sweden’s spiny dogfish, it’s the groundwork for conservation that could decide the fate of a coastal predator.
More below in Petter Lundberg’s blog.
saveourseas.com/update/prepp...

As with any good project, success starts with one thing: preparation, preparation, and more preparation. So before we head out to sea, I thought I’d give a quick peek behind the scenes at what goes in...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 22d

Remora fish, also called suckerfish, have evolved a flattened dorsal fin, a sort of suction disk which allows them to clamp onto larger, migratory marine species. Often, these species are sharks, with which remoras have formed mutualistic relationships.

📷: Matthew During

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 23d

We’re proud to partner with Jackson Wild for the 2025 Jackson Wild Summit, a global gathering for nature, science, and storytellers.

We can't wait to be immersed in the workshops, screenings, panels, keynotes, networking, and breathtaking landscapes.

Register now: jacksonwild.org/2025-summit

This common fish has an uncommon feature: Forehead teeth, used for mating

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 23d

'Seeking ghost shark secrets', Karly Cohen's uncovering of the mysterious lives of Pacific spotted ratfish has led to the identification of teeth on the tenaculum of adult mate spotted ratfish.

www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...

New findings call into question one of the core assumptions about teeth. Adult male spotted ratfish, a shark-like species native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, have rows of teeth on top of their heads,...

www.washington.edu

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 24d

Marlins slice through the water with lightning speed while sea lions dart and twist, both hunting to scatter shimmery fish once sheltered in their swirling bait ball.

🎥: Luke Saddler

The stingray's identity crisis

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 24d

In the murky Niger River, two stingrays wore the same name: a case of mistaken identity.
DNA barcoding and local knowledge led to this discovery, and it could be key to saving the rare pincushion ray.

More in Segun Olayinka Oladipo’s blog.
saveourseas.com/update/the-s...

For years, locals in Nigeria thought they were dealing with different species of freshwater stingray at the river due to variation in morphology of these species while scientists had reported just one...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 28d

This week, on the #WoS podcast, Yolarnie Amepou discusses her deep cultural ties in PNG, where she is working to provide information to support fisheries management of the Endangered winghead shark in the Kikori Delta.

Listen here: saveourseas.com/worldofshark...

@mickgrant.bsky.social

1 4

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 29d

What's your take on what's happening here?
Just a curious octopus?

🎥: Byron Dilkes

Exploring waters for the pincushion ray

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 29d

Once just a story shared in riverside markets, vanishing under pressure from fishing and habitat loss, the pincushion ray is now rallying a citizen science movement in Nigeria to protect this thorny freshwater stingray.
More in Segun Olayinka Oladipo’s blog.

saveourseas.com/update/explo...

Pincushion rays are also known as thorny freshwater stingrays found in West and Central Africa. It’s one of only two freshwater stingray species in Africa and is now Critically Endangered. For decades...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · 29d

Caressed by luminous blades of kelp, this Cape seabream is at home in the Great African Seaforest. These small bronze-grey seabream form small shoals in kelp forests and over rocky reefs, and occur along the Angolan, Namibian, and South African coastline.

📷: Joris van Alphen | © SOSF

7

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · Sep 12

Feeling safe in the solace of a long and empty hallway, Harold lets out a small toot at the precipice of said long and empty hallway.
Oh, he's not alone.
Quick glance.
Oh gosh, she’s seen him.
Look straight ahead. Act normal.
Quick glance.
Oh no, oh no! She’s made eye contact.

🎥: James Loudon

Gyda dyfodiad y gwanwyn yn y Deyrnas Unedig mae’r dyddiau’n mynd yn hirach, y planhigion yn adfywio ac mae adar mudol yn dychwelyd. O dan ddyfroedd (braidd yn gymylog) Cymru, mae’r gwanwyn hefyd yn no...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · Sep 12

Read this update in Welsh, here:
saveourseas.com/update/gwanw...

Gwanwyn heb gŵn glas?

Spring in the United Kingdom heralds longer days, awakening plants and the return of migrating birds. Beneath the (somewhat murky) waters of Wales, spring also marks the arrival of another migratory a...

Save Our Seas Foundation @saveourseas.bsky.social · Sep 12

Each spring, Critically Endangered tope sharks return to Welsh waters after long migrations. Project SIARC is uncovering whether these seas shelter them to mate and pup, knowledge vital for their survival.

More in @danwmont.bsky.social's blog.
saveourseas.com/update/a-top...

A Tope-less spring?