cmcclain
Posts by this author
March 31, 2008
A species of holothurian, Pannychia, swarms a whale fecal mound in the abyssal Pacific.
When Miriam visited me last week at MBARI, we discussed over lunch my current "great" hypothesis. Every scientist has them...these are the hypotheses that are high on creativity but lack quantitative data to…
March 31, 2008
Well it was only a matter of time before Miriam added the tunicates. Let me say that it has become crystal clear to me today what is occurring. This whole battle pits the protostomes vs. deuterstomes. The protostomes must rise up and defeat the evil empire and unjustness that is deuterstomes.…
March 30, 2008
$10 is all you need to give if we all pitch in. We are currently only at 2484% of funding the two classrooms mentioned in the last Just One Thing Challenge. SixTen of you have already donated and you guys totally rock. But the rest of you need to cough up some money!
If your an academic…
March 30, 2008
I don't study hydrothermal vents. I rather enjoy the deep muddy ooze, and its organisms, that comprise much of the earth's surface. Not that I don't like vents, I just like the soft bottoms better. I have been often asked what I think the coolest thing about the deep sea, marine biology...and…
March 29, 2008
...there are barely 7,000 echinoderms.
March 29, 2008
The battle royal is on with several bloggers choosing colors. The whole thing got started when Sheril at the Intersucktion state "No contest! Cukes would eat squid for breakfast" implying that somehow echinoderms were better than Mollusks. The whole thing got started when this guy, who seems…
March 29, 2008
Jim has decided that he will join the darkside for the Invertebrate Battle Royale. That's fine! We wouldn't want someone with such poor cognitive processes on our team. Jim's attack centers on the idea that the Aristotle's Lantern is cooler than the radula.
Now I just cannot stand for this.…
March 26, 2008
I've already addressed the difficulty of doing experiments in the deep sea which ultimately leads to their rarity. I also mentioned given the costs and risks of doing something so crazy like an experiment in the deep sea makes funding scarce for such projects. I'm not bitter at all that NSF…
March 26, 2008
Rick's comments
Lots of free press on trench science from Manny, Moe, and Jack Craig, Peter, and Kevin on Deep Sea News
got me thinking about what an oceanographic expedition with all three of us onboard would be like. I imagine it would be a LOT like this.
March 26, 2008
Via Rick, news on the wire is that the deepest spot in the ocean may soon be included in a marine monument.
As mentioned earlier today, my Saipan colleague Angelo Villagomez is leading the charge on the creation of a new marine monument in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).…
March 25, 2008
At Kevin's request this week I focus on the Turtle, the first American submarine. Its 1776, with the American Revolution in full swing and on September 7 the world's first submarine attack occurs.
The Turtle was the invention of David Bushnell, a Yale graduate who also invented the time bomb…
March 25, 2008
As part of the MNHN's current Abysses exhibitions, based largely on Clare Nouvian's elegant book, you can choose and pilot your own submersible over at the their website. I choose the Trieste which handled a little rough on corners around hydrothermal vents.
March 23, 2008
The recent Invertebrate Wars reminded me of spectacular, but often ignored, group of gastropods. The parasites! This is a group that I have totally geeked out on in the past. In my previous work I have focused on the Ptenoglossa likely a paraphyletic or polyphyletic group, established originally…
March 23, 2008
I've discussed Nautilus Mineral here at DSN previously. In the past, I have been admittedly biased against the company and their operations to mine the deep. Here I will try to provide a less biased viewpoint. My goal is simply educate the public on Nautilus's current operations, what concerns…
March 23, 2008
Snail over at A Snail's Eye View, one of the best blogs on the triple -W, casts a firm vote for the Mollusks. Snail reminds also reminds us that Google delineates a clear winner. Arthropods also suck. And just in case Peter and Kevin get a little confused and start thinking about corals. For a…
March 23, 2008
This week's challenge is help instill sense of awe in children about the ocean . Teaching our children about the ocean, creating passion and connections for it's life, is one of the most important things we can do. Educating them about the mistakes we've made may prevent them from doing the same…
March 21, 2008
In general, among Mollusks, the mouth opens into a buccal cavity. In most classes of Mollusks, the buccal cavity contains a tongue called the odontophore. The odontophore possess multiple rows of teeth called radula that chitonous and flexible. Among Mollusks the number of teeth can range from a…
March 21, 2008
Don't get me wrong this is pretty freakin' sweet, but echinoderms are not the only large Antarctic sea creatures.
But this is way cooler...
That is Syrinx aruanus, the Australian Trumpet, described by Linneaus in 1758. They are found Northern Australia and Eastern Indonesia and can reach sizes…
March 20, 2008
More from Deepscape...
Image 61 of sandy sediments at 970m in the Faroe-Shetland Channel with stalked glass sponges (white spots top), an unidentified fish, and numerous invertebrate burrows.
March 20, 2008
Sheril over at The Intersection seems to be confused about what the coolest invertebrate is. She goes so far as to call out PZ about his hyper-infatuation with Cephalopods. Let's face it there is no way an echinoderm, especially a holothurian, can come anywhere near the coolness of a Mollusk.…
March 20, 2008
From CNN...
A woman sunbathing on a boat died after a stingray leaped from the water off the Florida Keys on Thursday and struck her, officials said.
March 17, 2008
A reader brought to my attention a question that is floating around the internet.
Q: If lightning strikes the ocean, do the marine animals get hurt or killed? (Sault Ste. Marie, Minn.
Honestly, I have never given this question any thought. Given that I am a biologist and not a physicist means I…
March 16, 2008
This begins a new series here at DSN. With the addition of Kevin, we are filled to the gills with all deep and biology. This allows me to pursue some other interests of mine. I get really excited about all manner of mechanical things. I have very fond memories of the 1967 Ford Fairlane with a…
March 16, 2008
On with the next challenge! We continue to grow in ranks with almost forty signed up and many following along. Please sign up! Latter in the year, those signed up for my team will take on Oprah's people in a cage match!
The last challenge was graciously sponsored by Strictly Organic Coffee…
March 14, 2008
The deep-sea octopus, Bathypolypus arcticus, hatching. Dr. James Wood discusses the biology and ecology of the species here.
March 13, 2008
Credit to NOC and Deepscape.org: Coarse rocky ground with cirrate octopus (Cephalopod) above the seabed taken at 1126m in the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Others great images can be viewed by searching around their image bank.
From TOL:
The Cirrata contains about 40 species many of which are poorly…
March 13, 2008
You read the title of this post, and the original paper, correctly. Brian H. sent this little gem of a paper to me today. Using SeaWiFS data from the last nine years, Polovina et al. show that in the North and South Pacific and Atlantic areas of low surface chlorophyll are in expanding by 0.8-4.3…
March 12, 2008
Experiments in the deep sea are a novelty, like a healthy Southern breakfast. Mmm...biscuits...but I digress. If you want to run a experiment in the intertidal it usually requires $100 of pvc and $100 of a graduate students time (about three weeks). In the deep sea that same experiment will run…
March 12, 2008
Obviously, U-Haul has chosen a business model that will center on my future rentals.
Then I stared the great beast in the eye
You can see all the Super Graphics here. My favorites, excluding tiny above, include Limulus and the Tully Monster. Interestingly, the U-Haul site is chock-o-block full of…