fishes
grrlscientist | June 28, 2010tags: Evolution in Action by AMNH, Congo River, fishes, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, evolution, variation, biodiversity, Melanie Stiassny, streaming video
This video tells the story of speciation in Central Africa's roiling, rapid Lower Congo River. This river is home to an extraordinary assortment of fish -- many truly bizarre. This new video by Science Bulletins, the American Museum of Natural History's current-science video program, features Museum scientists on a quest to understand why so many species have evolved here. Follow Curator of Ichthyology Melanie Stiassny and her…
grrlscientist | June 25, 2010tags: Inside the Collections: Ichthyology at AMNH, fishes, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, evolution, variation, biodiversity, Melanie Stiassny, streaming video
This video is the first of a new series of behind-the-scenes looks at the collections at the American Museum of Natural History. In this video, Melanie Stiassny, Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology, takes us through the Museum's vast collection of fishes.
The Department of Ichthyology, one of the four departments within the Museum's Division of Vertebrate Zoology, houses a collection that comprises more…
grrlscientist | June 22, 2010tags: Oil From BP Leak Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount, animals, marine life, fishes, invertebrates, Salt Dome Seamount, oil drilling, oil spill, oil wells, petroleum, BP, British Petroleum, TransOcean, environment, streaming video
In 2002, ocean explorer Gale Mead was the first person to see and film the profusion of life 200 feet down on Salt Dome Seamount -- just 16 miles from where the BP oil well is now gushing out of control. Mead (daughter of oceanographer Sylvia Earle) describes the corals and fish she saw and the devastation that the oil is likely causing in a place that no other…
bnsullivan | August 28, 2009
Many animals in the sea have evolved colors and forms that allow them to blend in with their surroundings. Some animals use their camouflage to hide from predators -- and some predators use camouflage to fool their prey.
It can be difficult to photograph such animals, partly because it's often hard to find them in the first place. If you look carefully at the photo at right, you will be able to make out the shape of a small purplish slipper lobster (Parribacus antarcticus), right in the center of the photo.
The picture was taken inside an underwater cave in Hawaii, and the lobster was on…
bnsullivan | August 17, 2009
Many animals in the ocean seek shelter from predators by living on or among other animals. Among fishes, members of the Damselfish family (Pomacentridae) often seek protection this way. Some of these relationships also are commensal or even symbiotic.
One of the most well known symbiotic relationships in the marine world is that between anemones and fishes commonly known as 'clownfish' or 'anemonefish'. Clownfish form a subfamily, Amphiprioninae, of the Dameselfish family. Each of the twenty-some species in this subfamily lives symbiotically with one or more anemone species.
Both the…
bnsullivan | August 10, 2009I like to photograph the faces of creatures that live in the sea. Here is a sampler of fish faces. All of these individuals belong to the Wrasse (Labridae) family. Most wrasses seem to have attractive markings on their faces, which show up well in close-up images like these.
Shown above: Thalassoma klunzingeri, from the Red Sea, about 15 cm (six inches) long. This one was photographed near Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
Shown above: Halichoeres hortulanus, about 23 cm (nine inches) long. Also from the Red Sea, this one was photographed at Ras Mohammed, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula.…
bnsullivan | August 2, 2009New month, new topic here on Photo Synthesis: underwater photography.
For the next four weeks I will be presenting photos of marine invertebrates and fishes from warm water locations around the world. These photos are the product of what has been, for me, a long journey of discovery -- about the sea, about marine life, and about photography.
My photos are documentary in nature, rather than works of art. That is not to say that I don't strive for a certain level of eye appeal, but my purpose always has been to record which creatures live where, what they look like in their natural…
grrlscientist | April 18, 2009tags: HR669, pets, exotic animals, invasive species, ornamental fish trade, aquaculture, New England Aquarium, politics
This morning, I was contacted by Scott Dowd, a biologist who specializes in studying fishes in the Amazon with the New England Aquarium. Scott sent this letter, written yesterday by Bud Ris, the President and CEO of the New England Aquarium, regarding their official position on HR 669. Scott gave permission for me to share the text of the letter here, which appears below the fold, and I also have permission to share the PDF of the letter with interested others.…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2008tags: Galapagos, marine life, sharks, sea turtle, streaming video
This stunning video documents the undersea life of the Galapagos Islands -- and just when you think it can't get any better, the whale shark appears .. Music by Hans Zimmer [7:10]
Galapagos from Darek Sepiolo.
grrlscientist | January 26, 2008tags: coral reef, marine life, endangered species, Image of the Day
Seventeen countries have marked 2008 as the International Year of the Reef, a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the importance of coral reefs and to motivate action to protect them.
Image: S. Zumbrunn, Conservation International. [larger size].