beach
dr. dolittle | September 4, 2014With the help of advice from a manicurist, Dr. Kate Mansfeld (University of Central Florida) has come up with a way to track hatchling sea turtles for the first time. After hatching, the turtles head straight for the ocean where they grow for about 10 years or so before returning to the same beach where they hatched. Until now, researchers have wondered how these juvenile turtles spent their time.
Source:Scientific American
cwilcox | February 23, 2009Ok. So, as a marine biologist, I happen to know a few things about marine organisms. Whenever I walk on a beach and find something interesting, I happen to enjoy talking about those few things I know to whoever is unlucky enough to be walking with me. I love finding marine life on the beaches - it just never gets old. So you can imagine my excitement when we're strolling along Casey Key near sunset and we see this:
It was about a foot across - it was huge! I had a total nerd moment.
At this point, I have a confession to make. I've heard that admitting you have a problem is the first step to…
zooillogix | April 21, 2008Two species of teleost fish, grunion are famous for their unique mating behavior. During high tides, female grunion crawl out along the water's edge and dig their tails into the wet sand. The males then wrap themselves around the female to mate and the eggs are deposited in the sand. During the next set of very high-tides, the eggs hatch and the baby grunion wash out to sea. They are native only to California and Baja Mexico.
California Grunion, Leuresthes tenuis
More info is available at Grunion.org. Another, better video is available with ads on CNN.
laelaps | November 1, 2007
This past July my wife and I left at 2 AM on day to reach the southernmost point in New Jersey by sunrise, and after a long 3 hour drive this was the sight we were greeted with. It's not the best photo I've ever taken, but I like it all the same, and it reminds me of the cover of my copy of Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac.