Marine Bio
retrospectacle | December 6, 2007Some good news for the Florida manatee:
We just learned today that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) deferred the manatee's status change from Endangered to Threatened. They also directed their staff to undertake a review of the flawed state classification system for ALL imperiled species.
Citing the need for a better method to estimate the manatee population and the record 417 manatee deaths in 2006, Governor Charlie Crist asked the FWC to reject the status change and the Commissioners complied. ''We need to protect these gentle creatures,'' said Governor Crist in…
retrospectacle | November 29, 2007During the Thanksgiving break, a friend of mine took this great photo of a cuttlefish at the New England Aquarium.
A few days ago, a really cool website called Digital Cuttlefish was brought to my attention by a comment someone left here. This blog epitomizes something I really like and admire--the intersection of art and science. The Digital Cuttlefish likes poetry (more iambic pentameter-type than free verse) and is quite good at it; just check out their poem "An Atheist Gives Thanks" and "A Song for the Season." I like this cuttlefish, and you should too.
retrospectacle | November 21, 2007A Japanese whaling fleet recently set sail amidst much local fanfare, but Greenpeace is yet again determined to interfere with the hunt by placing themselves in between the whales and the Japanese harpoons. Unlike some other whaling protest groups, Greenpeace relies strictly on peaceful non-violent protesting despite the Japanese government labeling them "dangerous animal rights terrorists."
A dangerous terrorist act by Greenpeace.
Furthermore, the Japanese government states that the hunt is allowable, despite a long-standing moratorium against whaling by the International Whaling…
retrospectacle | November 10, 2007Perhaps one of the most frustrating parts of science is inadvertantly destroying the thing which you study in the pursuit of knowledge. Its unfortunate, and sometimes unavoidable, as in the case of these marine biologists who hauled an ancient ocean quahog out of Icelandic waters.
The group from Bangor University in Wales was conducting a routine dredge for research purposes when they found a clam-like mollusk, brought up from 250 feet down. The researchers cut though its shell, only to determine that the oceanic quahog had been between 405-410 years old, making it the oldest animal known.…