Marine Biology Content

How Are They Biting? High Speed Video Reveals Unexpected Jaw Movements in Reef Fish

Andy Fell — May 05, 2025 - 5:20pm

Some reef fish have the unexpected ability to move their jaws from side to side, biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered. This ability – which is rare among vertebrate animals – allows these fish to feed rapidly and efficiently on algae growing on rocks. The work is published May 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sharks and Rays Leap Out of the Water for Many Reasons, Including Feeding, Courtship and Communication

Andy Fell — September 23, 2024 - 12:15pm

Many sharks and rays are known to breach, leaping fully or partly out of the water. In a recent study, colleagues and I reviewed research on breaching and ranked the most commonly hypothesized functions for it.

Shark Park

Katherine E Kerlin — July 19, 2018 - 4:28pm

North America’s biggest marine protected area — Mexico’s Revillagigedo National Park — may have been nearly seven times smaller if not for shark-tracking data collected by researchers and alumni from the University of California, Davis.

The park, known as the “Galapagos of North America,” protects more than 57,000 square miles around the Revillagigedo Archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site composed of a string of four volcanic islands about 300 miles southwest of the Baja Peninsula.