May 9, 2018 | News, sustainability, Uncategorized
The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), in collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), will be launching a unique, first of its kind book in South Africa. The book titled Field Guide to the Offshore Marine...
Apr 16, 2018 | News, sustainability, Uncategorized
In taxonomy, the ‘holotype’ specimen can be considered the cornerstone of a species description – the single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. When this specimen goes missing the foundation upon...
Mar 15, 2018 | News, sustainability, Uncategorized
A highly invasive ‘ecosystem engineer’ is gaining ground at Zandvlei Estuary in Cape Town, a study linked to the SeaKeys project has shown. Over a period of 25 years the alien reef-building polychaete Ficopomatus enigmatus (AKA the Australian tubeworm) population has...
Feb 28, 2018 | News, sustainability, Uncategorized
A study on the taxonomy of a pharmaceutically important brown algae has highlighted the challenges of integrating historical taxa into the era of modern DNA-based taxonomy. A group of South African and international algae experts, led by Christophe Vieira from Ghent...
Jan 31, 2018 | News, sustainability
Genypterus capensis, commonly known as Kingklip, is one of South Africa’s most valuable marine resources. At present the fish, which belongs to the cusk-eel family, is caught as a by-catch of the Cape hake trawling and longline fisheries. In economic and perhaps...