petnoyer | April 20, 2007Story by Michelle Kinzel, OSU
How do you study the sperm whale, Physeter catadon, when they dive up to 3 km (1.9 miles) to the bottom of the ocean floor and stay submerged up to 90 minutes? Sperm whales reach lengths of 18 m (60 ft) and possess blood volumes up to 3 tonnes. The blood stores oxygen that enables the whale to dive to great depths to the ocean floor. Dives more than 2 miles deep are possible for sperm whales, but more typical dives are 30 minutes long and 300 to 400 m depth. The elusive behemoths spend a significant amount of time in the deep sea. Spatial technologies,…
petnoyer | April 20, 2007
A close encounter with a whale shark is one of the "things to do" on the life list for many scuba divers and snorkelers. Perhaps you have been one of the lucky few to swim with these enormous friendly elasmobranchs off Honduras in Utila (pictured), off Belize at Gladden Spit, or off the coast of south Texas in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. My encounters with whale sharks are limited to breathless descriptions from fellow divers. I left the water too soon, or arrived a day late. I watched the video hoping it will happen some day soon.
Rachel Graham and Dan Castellanos of the…
cmcclain | April 19, 2007
A megavertebrate picture from the old private collection. A Chinstrap aboard the R/V Polarstern
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petnoyer | April 19, 2007Conservation International wins this year's Award for Affirmative Action by hiring an endangered species to raise awareness about biodiversity conservation and habitat loss.
His health benefits are probably better than ours. He'll need those benefits, too. Nearly 90% of leatherback turtles in the Pacific Ocean failed to show up at their nesting grounds a few years back. Apparently, one of them quit the pelagic life to take a jobby job in the nation's capitol.
Mr Leatherback has become so popular that he blogs daily, keeps a website on MySpace, and he's friends with rock stars like Stone…
cmcclain | April 18, 2007Sure I could have lab full of undergraduates, graduate students, and post doctoral fellows working away at my research. On the other hand I could use narwhals...that is if toxic algae doesn't kill them off too. Now if we could just get our cephalopod brethren to help out.
cmcclain | April 18, 2007A special post from Alison Boyer whose research encompasses birds and body size evolution.
Penguins are remarkable divers, capable of diving to depths exceeding 200m. The largest penguin species, Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), have been recorded diving to 535m and can hold their breath for 15 minutes while actively swimming. Generally, small-bodied vertebrates are limited to shallow diving depths because they are restricted in the amount of oxygen they can store while diving. Penguins partially overcome this limitation with their unique respiratory system. When humans (and other…
cmcclain | April 18, 2007The offspring is at it again this time asking about the nocturnal habits of whales. Luckily, Cortunix over at Blog Around the Clock addresses just this question.
cmcclain | April 18, 2007So you walk into the pet shop, you're looking around at all the little animals and you see a cute little turtle in a freshwater terrarium. You think to yourself "wow, that's really neat, a cute little turtle." What you might not realize is that a cousin of this pet store turtle holds some most amazing physiological adaptations for non-fish marine vertebrates, can grow more than 2m (6 1/2ft) long, regularly weigh over 500kg (~1000lbs), and dive deeper than most fully-equipped marine organisms can!
Description Dermochelys coriacea, a.k.a. the Leatherback Sea Turtle, was described originally…
petnoyer | April 17, 2007Does all this talk about migrations and megavertebrates make you hungry? Do you feel like you must eat food, but you don't want to break away from all the excitement? Teleport yourself to the world's first all glass undersea restaurant at the Hilton Maldives.
Press release below.
The Maldives | 15 April marks the day that the first ever all-glass undersea restaurant in the world opens its doors for business at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. Ithaa* will sit five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic offering diners…
petnoyer | April 17, 2007
Story by Sara Maxwell and Patrick Robinson, University of California-Santa Cruz
Imagine it. The sun is shining. You're snoozing on a sandy beach. You're a Californian - at least for now. You gave birth to a little girl just a few short weeks ago, but already hunger is gnawing at your stomach - it's almost time to abandon your pup for the cold waters of the North Pacific. Año Nuevo, near Santa Cruz CA, may have good surf, but there's no food to be found here - at least not for you.
You make a break for the water. You've been on land for 35 days without a bite to eat. In fact, you've lost…
cmcclain | April 16, 2007Well son/daughter, their decomposing carcasses bloat up, sink to the deep, dark ocean floor, where other animals rip away their flesh and consume their bones*.
It may be a whole week of about vertebrates but I had to balance it out with a whale's tale of death and decomposition in which at the end invertebrates eventually consume a whale.
*You may not actually want to tell your children this as it might initiate nightmares.
As discussed before, deep-sea systems (except for vents and seeps) are reliant upon food raining down from the surface. At the small end of the spectrum is marine…
petnoyer | April 16, 2007 Story by Bryan Wallace, Duke University.
UW photo by Ed Standora.
Life in the deep sea is as far removed from a source of atmospheric oxygen as there is on Earth, but a select few animals do not let their need to breathe air limit the depths of their exploration. (No, I'm not referring to intrepid deep-sea human researchers.) These extraordinary critters frequently venture into the hostile conditions of the deep-sea, despite being vitally tied to air the above the ocean's surface.
When you hear about deep-diving, air-breathing animals, you might first think of colossal sperm whales plunging…
petnoyer | April 14, 2007
The writers at Deep Sea News are big fans of all things invertebrate. We bend over backwards trying to convince people that deep-sea worms, isopods, anemones, and squid are the coolest animals anywhere on Earth. We stick up our noses at charismatic megafauna like sea turtles and whales, thinking "What could possibly be so interesting about air breathing animals with bilateral symmetry?"
We recognize that "normal people" like the vertebrates, especially the marine megavertebrates. People identify with seals, penguins, and sea lions in ways that invertebrate biologists will never understand…
cmcclain | April 13, 2007 Attributed to Aesop is the old parable of the tortoise and the hare. We all know the story and the moral. Slow and steady wins the race. Now lets add to the story a snail and mess with the plot a bit. In the new story both the tortoise and the hare are the winner, and no one thinks the snail will amount to anything-let alone win a race. But eventually the snail does finish. And to truly take the parable over the top all three finish at the same time. Everyone lives happily ever after basking in the glow of their mutual win.
I have probably stretched this analogy as far as it can go.…
cmcclain | April 12, 2007
Aplacophora is a class of mollusks comprised of about 320 species. They were considered echinoderms until around 1987 when they were moved to Mollusca. Species ingest sediment while inhabiting burrows. A shell is lacking but the epidermis secretes a cuticle in which are embedded scales (seen above) that point posteriorly. The posterior end (right) contains the ctnedia (gills, and can be seen in the photo as the fluffy material at end) and the anus. The mouth located at the anterior (left) can also been seen (flat region on right side of anterior end). The internal structures…
petnoyer | April 12, 2007There is so much happening in the world of sea turtles right now that we're going to dedicate an entire week of postings to sea turtles and their air breathing kin. We're calling it Megavertebrate Week. Note the new banner above. We argue that turtles, seals, and whales should all be considered denizens of the deep because 1) they traverse deep waters while migrating, and 2) they regularly descend to depths greater than 200m. Expect a few curveballs about deep diving animals you might not expect.
We introduced the turtle problem last week in a clarion call about a letter to the Pope. Through…
cmcclain | April 12, 2007
Going on as we speak is an experiment of monumental proportions. It may not seem that way to you sitting in front of your computer this moment, but to a kid in middle or high school I guarantee that it is their world! At least the highlight of their school day anyways...
As part of the GLOBE program funded by NASA, NSF and the U.S. Dept. of State, the Pennsylvania State University. in cooperation with scientists from the RIDGE and InterRIDGE communities, is leading the way for students to explore science From Local to Extreme Environments (FLEXE). "FLEXE students study aspects of their…
cmcclain | April 12, 2007
Kurt is up in heaven now.
My first book report was on the Cat's Cradle. A novelty read for a student in rural high school. "Why don't you just read To Kill a Mockingbird?" my teacher asked. I was hooked and proceeded to spend what little money I had on any used copy of a Vonnegut book I could find. I couldn't afford new. I may have shed a tear the first time I purchased a first edition of Slaughter House Five and this morning when I heard of Kurt's passing. I defended him to my adviser once who equated him with King. Heresy. Vonnegut was and is a master of satire and prediction…
cmcclain | April 11, 2007"Song of the Dredge", presented by Edward Forbes to the British Association at its annual meeting in 1839. Sung in the tune of Cream by Prince (kidding).
"Hurrah for the dredge, with its iron edge,
And its mystical triangle.
And its hided net with meshes set
Odd fishes to entangle!
The ship may move thro' the waves above,
'Mid scenes exciting wonder,
But braver sights the dredge delights
As it roves the waters under.
Chorus:
Then a-dredging we will go wise boys
A-dredging we will go!
A-dredging we will go, a-dredging we will go,
A-dredging we will go, wise boys,
A-dredging we will go!
Down…