Posts

April 22, 2013

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We asked Dr. Douglas J. Long, Senior Curator of Natural Sciences at the Oakland Museum of California to guest post with DSN. Please welcome him in the comments below. He holds a PhD in Integrative Biology from the University of California Berkeley, where his research focused on sharks. His current fieldwork utilizes data collected through . . . → Read More: Honor Your Heroes

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9:05 PM | 25. Tracking

With only the most rudimentary eyes, in environments full of turbulence and surge, small animals in the sea make their way around, track what is going on, seek each other out. The animal above is a nudibranch, Chromodoris splendida. Its eyes are … Continue reading →

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5:17 PM | Climate Change and Marine Communities 3: Physical and chemical effects of climate change on the oceans

This is the third installment of my serialization of a new book chapter on “Climate Change and Marine Communities” written with Chris Harley and Mike Burrows. It is for a new book “Marine Community Ecology and Conservation” that I’m co-editing with Mark Bertness, Brian Silliman, and Jay Stachowicz. The book is more or less a followup to the best-selling [...]

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4:53 PM | @protectoceans Top 5 Tweets for April 15-21, 2013

1. Eco games and apps that celebrate Earth Day @USATODAY 2. (For Earth Day) No Blue, No Green @MissionBlue & @SylviaEarle 3. Infographic: Manta Rays and Devil Rays at Risk @ProjectAware 4. Seaworld’s IPO and the Third Question of Conscience @HuffPostGreen 5. 3 years after Gulf oil spill, crews continue to clean up, scientists study [...]

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12:01 PM | The genetic secrets of the Coelacanth

In 1938, a fisherman made an unexpected discovery while fishing off the coast of South Africa. He caught an odd looking fish which he reported to scientists, who later concluded it to be a living species of fish thought to have gone extinct several million years ago.

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11:00 AM | The Incredible Shrinking Cups: Geology is pretty cool, too

There’s some seriously cool geology down at the world’s deepest known hydrothermal vents. Cool rocks. What’s this all about?

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7:41 AM | Dolphins sensitive to Ebbinghaus illusion, just like humans

Pop Quiz: which of the two orange circles is larger? If you think that the circle on the right (the one surrounded by the smaller blue circles) is larger, then you are either a human or a dolphin, but not a pigeon. As it turns out, both [...]

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7:04 AM | It’s leatherjacket season! Also, this is not a fashion article…

Leatherjackets are amazing fish, in such colourful varieties. In the past two months, I’ve spotted five different species from the Horseshoe to the Yellowfin species (Meuschenia trachylepis) pictured. This species is often seen with the Six-spined leatherjacket, which I mistook this fish for in my original post on Facebook. Some people have the idea that marine [...]

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4:33 AM | New News for Old Fish

The coelacanth (pronounced 'see-la-canth') holds an interesting place in both ichthyology and the history of ichthyology. Many of us are familiar with the image of this large, speckled fish, easily identified by the thick lobes that characterize its fins. Surely it commanded a few moments of simultaneous intrigue and eyebrow-raising in Ichthyology or Evolution 101. Coelacanth (Source: smithsonian.edu)In fact, until 75 years ago this fish was thought to have been extinct. […]

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4:00 AM | Earth Day, Spawned from the Sea

Sometimes I think that our planet Earth, named for the Old English word for “dry land” (eorthe), should get a new name. Despite our knowledge that more than 70% of the planet’s surface is ocean—definitely not “dry land”—we still refer to our home by an 8th century description. The same goes for Earth Day. Since 1970, people around the world have set aside April 22nd of each year to think about protecting the environment. This includes the ocean, as it’s a huge part of Earth’s […]

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2:47 AM | Seal pups arrive

The Monterey Bay Aquarium hosted its 12th annual Día del Niño/Day of the Child celebration today, and it seemed fitting that families walking to the aquarium witnessed another annual event — seal moms training new pups. On sheltered beaches throughout the bay harbor … Continue reading →

April 21, 2013

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10:43 PM | Cormorants on nests

The winds have been wild and ocean rough this month, but the Brandt’s cormorants have managed to build nests on the Monterey Harbor breakwater anyway. The colony was lively this morning — males landing with algae-seagrass wads and cementing the … Continue reading →

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9:54 PM | Apologies for the absence, I’ve been ticking things off my bucket list…updates after I...

Apologies for the absence, I’ve been ticking things off my bucket list…updates after I...

April 19, 2013

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8:21 PM | Unusual Offshore Octopods: Does the World’s Largest Octopus Only Have Seven Arms? [Video]

Today we’re returning to the deep to meet an octopus that, at first glance, hardly seems to earn that eight-limbed designation. Its very name sounds like an oxymoron—or a cautionary tale from a fishing accident. But the seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) is a real, bonafide octopod—if a little misleading in its appellation. This deep-ocean octopus [...]

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4:14 PM | Coming up on real time data verification!

Thanks to a dedicated effort by Christine Hubbard, our SEANET work-study student, we are closing in on finally verifying the last 20 outstanding beach walk reports. Due to staff (my) time constraints, I had reluctantly been forced to let many records languish, unlooked at, for years. Now, the prospect of eliminating that backlog means that [...]

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3:10 PM | Call me coral

No summary available for this post.

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1:22 PM | Moths’ hovering mysteries revealed!

Moths are flying insects closely related to butterflies, both collectively called lepidopterans. Moths are quite different to their flying cousins, as they have the ability to hover in mid-air (which butterflies do not).

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11:01 AM | Climate Change and Marine Communities 2: What is climate change?

This is the second installment of my serialization of a new book chapter on “Climate Change and Marine Communities” written with Chris Harley and Mike Burrows. It is for a new book “Marine Community Ecology and Conservation” that I’m co-editing with Mark Bertness, Brian Silliman, and Jay Stachowicz. The book is more or less a followup to the best-selling [...]

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3:25 AM | Earth Day, Every Day

I tend to be a little quiet and not post often in April. With Earth Day as a central theme for so many organizations this month, what more can I offer? Well, I can share 50 simple ways to make Earth Day, Every Day! These small actions will have you thinking more about how we’re [...]

April 18, 2013

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6:01 PM | Who is an author?

When you write a manuscript in any field in academic science, you have to determine who will be an author. (There is also the question of who is the first and corresponding author, but let’s ignore that for now.) Many a collaborative group has been tripped up by disagreements about this. It can be a [...]

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11:32 AM | Climate Change and Marine Communities 1

My co-authors Chris Harley and Mike Burrows and I recently turned in a book chapter to the editor on “Climate Change and Marine Communities”. It is for a new book “Marine Community Ecology and Conservation” that I’m co-editing with Mark Bertness, Brian Silliman, and Jay Stachowicz. The book is more or less a followup to [...]

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11:00 AM | The Incredible Shrinking Cups: Into the Cayman Abyss

We’re going into the Cayman Abyss! Into the Cayman Abyss. What’s this all about?

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10:59 AM | Namibian fairy circle mystery solved

Fairy circles are typically circular barren patches of land that are usually found in the grasslands of western Southern Africa.

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8:00 AM | astronomy-to-zoology: Pfeffer’s Flamboyant...

astronomy-to-zoology: Pfeffer’s Flamboyant Cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) attempting to catch some prey. Video Source I’ve seen this in person and it’s insane!

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5:20 AM | underthevastblueseas: The Case of the Mystery Squid What do...

underthevastblueseas: The Case of the Mystery Squid What do you do with a squid that doesn’t belong? In 1995, a collection of eastern Pacific squids was donated to the Smithsonian — but one specimen didn’t fit into any known family of squids. It had wide fins that looked almost like elephant ears, and skinny arms that had been severed a few inches below the squid’s mantle. Together with a slightly larger juvenile specimen in the collections and a paralarva (baby) from Hawaii, […]

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2:40 AM | underthevastblueseas: via Pinterest

underthevastblueseas: via Pinterest

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12:20 AM | The coelacanth genome has been sequenced!

scientificillustration: The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution -...

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12:10 AM | underthevastblueseas: free seashells by DALAIWMN

underthevastblueseas: free seashells by DALAIWMN

April 17, 2013

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9:22 PM | Seasnake vs. Moray Eel…not what I was expecting

In the below video a seasnake catches a moray eel at Giant Clam, Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines. I believe the eel is a fimbriated moray, Gymnothorax fimbriatus which can reach lengths of of about 2.5 feet and apparently can make a fetching design for a dress. The sea snake appears to be the banded sea . . . → Read More: Seasnake vs. Moray Eel…not what I was expecting

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8:34 PM | Struggling back toward normal

This is not the post I had planned for today, but I wanted to issue a widescale apology for any delays or lapses in my communication with you all this week. Monday, my husband ran just about all of the Boston Marathon, getting to around mile 25 before the course was closed. My kids and [...]

April 22, 2013

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