Marine

What has eyes, antennae, swimming bristles, a genes stash and a feel for autonomy? The rear end of the bizarre Japanese green syllid worm. Scientists now know how the end of the animal detaches and swims off to find a similar tail of the opposite sex.

Some 465 million years ago this marine scavenger was caught unawares by a mud current that would bury it alive. It had spent its last hours feasting on a large range of seafood, and now, thanks to the latest imaging tech, its last meal has been revealed.

The blue whale has long been considered the largest animal to have ever existed, even dwarfing the biggest known dinosaurs. But now a new species threatens to steal the crown, and upends what we thought we knew about whale evolution.

Scientists have used fossilized megalodon teeth to estimate the ancient shark’s body temperature, and found it wasn’t exactly a cold-blooded killer. Strangely enough, that might have contributed to its downfall.

Taking a plot point from the 1990 Sean Connery movie thriller The Hunt for Red October, DARPA is working on a super-silent submarine drive that has no moving parts and provides propulsion through the water using magnets and electricity.

An adventurous professor from the University of South Florida has broken the world record for living in an underwater habitat. Joseph Dituri has called the submurged Jules’ Undersea Lodge home since March 1, and intends to remain there until June 9.

Paleontologists have discovered fossils from a gigantic marine predator that stalked the Jurassic seas. The creature could have grown to twice the size of an orca, and fed on pretty much anything else unlucky enough to be in the ocean at that time.

In a surprising first, researchers found that scalloped hammerhead sharks act like air-breathing marine mammals, holding their breath to stay warm when they deep-dive into cold water for food and making them vulnerable to humanity's deep-sea exploits.

Belfast-based Artemis Technologies has introduced its latest hydrofoil – an upmarket luxury water taxi called the Artemis EF-12 Escape that promises a comfortable, energy efficient, environmentally friendly way to go island hopping.

The US Navy recently completed tank tests of a new deep-diving suit called the Deep Sea Expeditionary with No Decompression (DSEND) system that is light and flexible, yet maintains sea-level pressure around the wearer when hundreds of feet underwater.

These strangely-shaped twisted-toroid propellers look like a revolutionary (sorry) advance for the aviation and marine sectors. Radically quieter than traditional propellers in both air and water, they're also showing some huge efficiency gains.

Snøhetta recently completed an attractive timber maritime center in Denmark. Inspired by wooden boat construction, it's designed to withstand punishing local conditions and lights up pleasantly at night, resulting in its name: the Lantern.