Researchers have discovered that male bottleneck dolphins form long-term social groups to help one another find mates and fight off competitors.

It was the first time such behaviour was observed in the animal world.

Their conclusions were based on data collected of 202 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins between 2001 and 2006 in Shark Bay, Australia, using visual and auditory data. In the lab, the researchers then focused on studying the interactions of 121 of individuals for the next decade.

A scuba diver in British Columbia, Canada, has been fined a record 12,000 Canadian dollars ($9,250) for approaching a pod of orcas too closely.

In British Columbia, vessels must keep at least 200 meters away from orcas and in southern B.C. coastal waters between Campbell River and just north of Ucluelet, vessels must keep 400 meters away. Vessels must be at least 100 meters away from all other cetaceans.

Researchers have found that the Arctic Ocean is becoming less salty, because the amount of freshwater flowing through the Bering Strait into it has increased by 40 to 50 percent, over the past 30 years.

This finding is based on a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. According to lead author Lee Cooper, “This could have a lot of downstream implications for how the Arctic Ocean works and connects with climate and related processes, including the intensity of mixing in the North Atlantic.”