Chris Mooney is a visiting associate in the 
It was a long, hard, and tumultuous battle, but the clash of the titans that began here at The Intersection--that will go down in science blogging history as the Great Marine Invertebrate Wars--has ended. And yes readers, our own fighting echinoderm has emerged victorious!
The final showdown happened this weekend when Jason of Cephalopodcast brought [pins of] the inverts to ScienceOnline'09 so attendees could take sides by declaring allegiances. And those poor squiggly cephalopods didn't stand a chance... It was literally a blowout as echinoderm fever took the blogging conference by storm!
Bora, Vanessa, and I led the charge and even Kevin's Saturday sea shanty couldn't hope to save the sinking molluscs. And with that, another war is over...
So congratulations to echinoderms everywhere--especially, my very favorite, the ever-charismatic sea cucumber. Long live Holothuroidea!
Life Science
Comments
When I was a fledgling biology student, Echinodermata was my favourite phylum.
On a different note, I wanted to alert you to the following book:
Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age: Implications for Public Engagement and Popular Media (Communicating Science in the Information Age)
Posted by: Ashutosh | January 19, 2009 2:47 PM
Wow, this is the epitome of one-sided reporting. It was quite different perspective "in the trenches". This is far from over Sheril Kirshenbaum!
Posted by: Kevin Z | January 19, 2009 3:12 PM
I proudly wore my Echinoderm button on Saturday!
Posted by: Coturnix | January 19, 2009 4:16 PM
Now that the first skirmish is/isn't settled, anyone up for a polychaete versus arthropod kerfuffle?
Posted by: Jason R | January 19, 2009 10:24 PM
They just *want* you to think that the war is over. Cephalopods are intelligent that way.
Posted by: Ed Yong | January 20, 2009 5:09 AM
I'm thinking that battle occurred during the Ordovician as I often find the remains of crinoids and scolecodonts intermingled from rocks of that age. :)
Posted by: Sman | January 20, 2009 6:28 PM
Judging by the amount of libations consumed at the conference,it is clear that the fungi have once again emerged triumphant.
Posted by: Southern Fried Scientist | January 20, 2009 11:58 PM
I demand a recount - there is no representation of mollusca there, and denying mollusks the right to be heard is . . . . not racism . . . . speciesism? And equally important, how do we get our buttons out here in the "real" world?
Posted by: Philip H. | January 22, 2009 4:48 PM
Details in comments here.
Posted by: Sheril R. Kirshenbaum | January 22, 2009 4:52 PM