Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
It has been one amazing coraliscious week! I'm learning a ton and have enjoyed the guest articles and all the blogger contributions. Maybe you just can't get enough coral, like me?? Well have I got the cure! As Bruce Dickinson might have said had known how fabulous deep sea coral is, "Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more coral!"
Michael Barton attempts a remedy by dispersing some Darwin for us. Darwin Online now has an article (open access) by Rosen in 1982, published in BioScience, describing Darwin's earliest work in... you guessed it... coral reefs!
Have had yourself some conch? Don't knock it till you try it! Rick Macpherson is reporting in live from the Turk and Caicos Islands (its tough, right?) about his molluscivorous leanings, with a twist of sustainable harvesting of this concomitant coral coinhabiter.
Lastly, I would like to reiterate the point that coral reefs, deep and shallow, are host to many species of fish. This includes commercially important ones, both in terms of fishing and tourism dollars. So, like Stanford Professor Steve Palumbi, I would like to know "How we gonna BBQ the last fish left?" if you take away all the corals? I'm really into garlic, butter, lemon pepper topped with fresh tomatillos, avocado and onion... mmmm....
Speaking of delicious, check out this coral reef video from NOAA Ocean Explorer! Life on the Edge 2004: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico Coral Reefs.
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