The giant sea snail might start being used to stop the spread of crown of thorns starfish across the Great Barrier Reef.

When people think of a hero, the first image conjure is very rarely that of an invertebrate. However, one species of giant sea snail might change that perception, at least in Australia. The giant Triton sea snail, a species which can grow over half a meter in length, is currently being closely studied by the Australian government. This believes that the species might help stem the growth of the crown-of-thorns starfish. These latter are threatening and might contribute to the destruction of the iconic Great Barrier Reef.

Giant Sea Snail to Combat Coral-Eating Starfish?

The starfish has seen its numbers swell to unsustainable levels in recent years due to a variety of ecological factors. This species is known to feed on living corals. Their actual impact, however, was largely overlooked until a 2012 study of the Great Barrier Reef. This found that not only had coral growth halved in recent years, but that crown-of-thorns starfish may actually be responsible for nearly 42 percent of the damage.

So here enter this giant sea snail species. These massive mollusks, it seems, have quite an appetite for the ravenous starfish. The sea snails are seemingly capable of hunting them down on scent alone. According to reports, this gave the Australian government an idea. Rather than attempt to release human-made measures like poisons or hunters to eliminate the starfish, they decided it might be more ecologically sound to „encourage” and let the snails save the reef.

Unfortunately, however, it appears that giant sea snails are so rare that relatively little is known about them. The biologists conducting and part of the study are really only guessing and hoping that their plan will work.

Whether or not the giant triton sea snail can actually do the job assigned to them remains to be seen. Still, ecologists around the world remain hopeful. Saving the Great Barrier Reef is one of the top priorities for marine ecologists across the globe and especially in Australia.

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Scientists discovered over 500 million years old fossils which could change the ecological evolution scale.

A team of paleontologists discovered over 500 million years old fossils which revealed themselves to be the first creatures capable of moving around on their own. This makes them an important piece in the theory of the human and animal evolution timeline.

The 500 Million Years Old Fossils are the Remains of Almost Microscopic Creatures

The University of Manchester group of researchers behind the discovery revealed that they found these fossils in Brazil. Dating the fossilized remains showed them to go back to the period known as the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. During this meeting point period, science considers that there was an ‘explosion’ of life on Earth as a great variety of creatures emerged at once.

The oldest examples of bilaterian animals also go back to this same transition point. Bilaterians are animals which have a body that can be divided into a top and a bottom. Also, in a left and a right side, a front and back one.

These recently discovered over 500 million years old fossils were noted to trace back to even earlier than any of the currently known bilaterians.

The creatures were discovered thanks to the burrowed traces they left in the rocks. According to reports, these were just ‘a fraction of an inch in diameter’ or somewhere between 0.002 and 0.0024 inches. Based on this, the university team determined that the creatures to leave these tracks “were similar in size to a human hair”.

They consider that these organisms left behind the burrows as they dug through the sediment layers. The creatures were likely comparable to the present-day roundworms, believes the team.

Such organisms would have propelled themselves through undulating locomotion or the wave-like movement of their body. This also places them in the complex animals class, as they were able to move themselves.

“Our new fossils show that complex animals with muscle control were around approximately 550 million years ago, and they may have been overlooked previously because they are so tiny,” states Luke Parry, the study lead author, part of the University of Bristol.

The team studied the fossils by creating a 3D model of the rocks containing them through X-ray images. This way, they were able to take a closer look at the creatures without damaging them.

Study findings are available in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

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Southern pine beetles may soon expand their territory because of the warmer weather.

According to a new study, the southern pine beetle, one of the most aggressive tree-killing insects in the world, may soon extend its territory because of the climate changes and their temperature increases.

Their range may earlier than expected come to include large portions of the northern United States as well as southern Canada, says the new study.

The Aggressive Southern Pine Beetles and Its Effects on Nature

This new study was led by Corey Lesk, a Columbia University graduate student of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Southern pine beetles used to be live only in Central America and the southeastern United States. However, over the past few years, they were spotted in the Northeast and even in Long Island in New York and Connecticut.

This beetle’s range is limited by the weather, more precisely, the annual extreme temperature lows. The study team points out that now, these extreme lows are rising even faster than the average temperatures. If this trend continues, the beetle might have few to no problems in spreading and extending its territory.

Research also points to this possibly resulting in quite serious problems for the environment as it could affect a “vast ecosystem” and make it “vulnerable”.

“We could see loss of biodiversity and iconic regional forests. There would be damage to tourism and forestry industries in already struggling rural areas,” state the researchers.

Radley Horton, a study co-author and Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researcher points out some of the consequences of the southern pine beetle on a forest.

According to him, infected trees could begin drying out, which would also increase their risks of more easily catching fire and burning. In turn, this would endanger all of their surrounding areas, be it ecosystem or even properties. Large forest fires would also release significant quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect.

The study projects that, by 2020, if this trend continues, the southern pine beetles would have spread and established themselves along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. and up to Nova Scotia.

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The fossil of a massive toothy fish is offering a new look at marine predators and their evolution.

Scientists recently started analyzing the fossil of a previously unknown fish species, one whose specimens were massive toothy fish with eating habits and an appearance resembling modern-day sharks.

The fossil was detected in northeastern Nevada and is some 5.9 feet long. This bony fish had long jaws filled with sharp teeth. Its dentures suggest that the species could quite easily chomp down on its prey and then swallow it whole, just like sharks are known for doing.

Massive Toothy Fish Offers New Look at the Evolution of Predators

A team of Swiss and US researchers studied this strange fish fossil discovered in Elko County, Nevada. Belonging to a previously unknown species, this was then named the Birgeria americana. This fish is believed to have swum in the waters of the sea that once covered our modern-day Nevada and the surrounding states for about 1 million years following the mass extinction event from 252 million years ago.

“The surprising find from Elko County in northeastern Nevada is one of the most completely preserved vertebrate remains from this time period ever discovered in the United States,” states Carlo Romano of the University of Zurich, the lead author.

The discovered fossil is just 0.85 feet and is a partial skull fragment. This displays three parallel rows of teeth on the exterior and a smaller set on the interior. The outer teeth are up to 2 centimeters long.

According to the study team, this massive toothy fish probably hunted prey just like a shark. It possibly pursued its prey before chomping down on it and swallowing it whole.

The species is also believed to predate the famed Ichthyosaur by more than 30 million years. Discovering this fish fossil was deemed crucial by the researchers as it offers a new look at the evolution of large predators after the mass extinction event mentioned above.

A paper released in the Journal of Paleontology holds further details on the matter. For example, the study showed that a massive fish was capable of surviving in waters previously deemed to have been too warm for it.

The mass extinction event from 252 million years ago is estimated to have wiped out around 90 percent of all marine animals.

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