News and Stories

Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners.

At the Bodega Marine Laboratory, science leapt beyond the lab bench in a surprising collaboration—part fashion show, part modern dance, part film screening—where artistic expression met ecological research on the Sonoma Coast.

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.