After a long search researchers think they have found a cryptic microbe that helps fertilize ocean waters worldwide. Or at least they have found the single-celled critter's very telling and surprising genome.

Hints of the mysterious organism have been popping up all over the world in DNA analysis of sea water. But the actual microbe — a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria — has so far eluded direct observation, because it can not be cultured in a laboratory.

Although many researchers agree that aquatic systems are extremely vulnerable to climate change, marine research is severely under-resourced when compared to research being done on land.

Scientists say this shortfall of aquatic research and documentation is due to many factors, including the distribution of global science funding, the difficulty of understanding poorly sampled aquatic systems, the way marine ecologists report research findings, and limitations in the existing Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) process.

Scientists have enlisted the public's help in the photo identification of whale sharks, the world's largest fish. Divers are encouraged to submit any photos they take of whale sharks to a Web site (whalesharks.org) that tracks the endangered whale sharks around the world. Despite their giant size, whale sharks are harmless to divers and snorkelers. The patterns of spots on their backs are unique to each individual.

Bycatch refers to species caught in a fishery which intended to target another species. According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, in the Gulf of Thailand, 14 pounds of bycatch are caught for every pound of shrimp harvested. Bycatch is often discarded dead or dying by the time it is returned to the sea.

As the Antarctic waters heat up because of global warming, king crabs are expanding into waters that were previously too chilly for them.

New research shows that the second most diverse group of hard corals, called stylasterids, or lace corals, first evolved in the deep sea, and not in shallow waters as previously thought. Deep-sea corals can be spectacularly long-lived, with life spans of over 4,000 years, and they can be critical to understanding climate change in the past and future.

According to the WWF, incidental capture -- known as bycatch -- also kills some 34,000 seabirds and 4,200 sea turtles every year in an area known as the Benguela ecosystem off the west coasts of South Africa, Namibia, and Angola.

The animals get caught on baited hooks put out on long lines by fishing boats targeting tuna and hake.