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.
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Category: Ramblings
Posted on: August 4, 2008 5:12 PM, by Kevin Zelnio
Angela was out documenting World Ocean Day in London last week and spotted a bit of the Deep in her neighborhood! Go check out her photos of other people celebrating the ocean in their own homes (and bathtubs!).
How do you celebrate the oceans? Do you also celebrate the deep oceans? Send me your pictures and I will post them!
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Comments
I'm wondering why they have a station to wash those little manually powered service cars you see on railroad tracks.
(Wait for it...See? Funny.)
HJ
Posted by: Bing McGhandi | August 5, 2008 10:09 AM
A question from a lay enthusiast : About that giant reef vacuum cleaner thing - what happens to the fish that feed off algae? I know reefs can get so clogged up with algae that they die off, but surely some algae is needed? When the reefs in the Maldives suffered that disastrous die-off after El Nino, there was found to be no fall in the numbers of reef fish feeding off the algae that grew on the dead coral. Aren't these fish acting as natural reef cleaners? Of course, it's much better to stop the coral from dying back in the first instance, but just how clean is the reef vacuuming making the reef?
Posted by: Mrs Hilary Victoria Minor | August 17, 2008 2:15 AM
They will never get *all* the algae with the vacuum cleaner. In fact, enough was left behind that algae feeding fish should (theoretically) be able to keep the population in check. The problem comes when the algae grows too fast for the fish and snails etc. to keep up. Given optimal light and nutrient conditions (including from agricultural runoff) algae can rapidly take over a reef!
Posted by: kevin z | August 17, 2008 6:37 AM
Yes, I agree, fish and urchins are natural reef cleaners, in a sense. A depressed herbivore population (from fishing) is a likely reason algae grows out of control in the first place.
Note that fish can be selective about which algae they eat. Some algae have chemical defenses against predation, which may play a factor in their dominance.
Posted by: Peter | August 17, 2008 7:29 AM