Marine Biology
grrlscientist | April 29, 2010tags: Life in the Aphotic Zone, animals, marine life, marine biology, bioluminescence, benthic zone, abyssal zone, streaming video
This fascinating video captures a glimpse of the weird and wonderful animals that live in the aphotic zone. The aphotic zone (aphotic from Greek prefix á¼- + Ïá¿¶Ï "without light") is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates. Consequently, bioluminescence is essentially the only light found in this zone. Most food comes from dead organisms sinking to…
laelaps | April 23, 2010
For at least 30 million years, bone-eating worms have been making their homes in the bodies of decomposing whales on the seabottom, but the rotting cetacean carcasses are not just food sources for the polychaetes.
The term "worm" immediately conjures up images of the red, squiggly things which crawl all over the sidewalk after it rains, but this imagery does not fit the boneworms of the genus Osedax. These worms start off life as sexless larvae, and the timing of their arrival at a whale corpse makes all the difference as to whether they will be male or female. If the larva lands on the…
cwilcox | April 21, 2010When we think about the vast diversity of life in the ocean, we automatically picture pristine coral reefs teeming with life. This is especially true for rich, tropical locations like Hawaii. What we don't think of are the deep, dark depths of the canyons that lie just beyond the shallow paradises we know and love. Scientists have known for years that these deep water locations may contain a wide variety of species, but don't talk about them as much because no one had ever explored them to see what species lived there. Now, thanks to researchers from the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean…
grrlscientist | April 16, 2010tags: Hooked by an Octopus, animals, zoology, invertebrates, octopus, marine biology, film maker, animal behavior, Mike deGruy, TEDTalks, streaming video
Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. A consummate storyteller, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement -- and his fears -- about the blue heart of our planet.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have…
laelaps | April 15, 2010
Top of the encrusted surface of a brachiopod shell, showing the "war" between an edrioasteroid (star-shaped organism at center) and a fast-growing bryozoan colony. From Sprinkle and Rodgers 2010.
Back in the early days of paleontology, when the meaning and origin of fossils was still in doubt, some naturalists believed that the shells, shark teeth, and other petrified curiosities were attempts by the rock to imitate life. Fossils were not true vestiges of history, it was believed, but instead the product of some "plastic virtue" suffused throughout the non-living Creation. As naturalists…
laelaps | April 10, 2010
For deep sea scavengers, a dead tuna is an exquisite feast. For more on what happens to bodies which come to rest on the seafloor, see my post on bone-eating worms and this video of a whale fall.
grrlscientist | February 10, 2010tags: animals, fish, ribbonfish, oarfish, Regalecus glesne, sea serpent,marine biology, Mark Benfield, streaming video
A huge oarfish, also known as the ribbonfish, Regalecus glesne, was caught on camera in the Gulf of Mexico, giving scientists a rare glimpse of the bizarre fish in its native deep sea habitat. This is probably the largest bony fish in the seas, and it has the distinctive habit of swimming vertically (head up). Researcher Mark Benfield describes the fish, a likely inspiration for the sea serpent myth.
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: plastics, oceanography, pollution, environnment, streaming video
This is a message by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, and was recorded during the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans. Council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, noted that "we are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles,…
sciencewoman | October 2, 2009In support of our on-going DonorsChoose challenge, this month Minnow and I will be exploring science-related books for SciWo's storytime.
I have to admit, I'm enjoying the challenge of finding sciencey books appropriate for a 2.5 year old's attention span. There seem to be a plethora of books for the 4-8 year old set, but fewer for the younger crowd. Well, that's not true. There are an awful lot of books about animals, especially farm animals, but Minnow has got her animals down pat, and we all know there is more to science than zoology.
I'm also discovering that it is easier to keep Minnow…
cwilcox | January 2, 2009OK, so I wouldn't encourage everyone to do this, because then we'd pollute our oceans too much, but this guy's art is really interesting. The artist, Jason de Caires Taylor, uses sculptures to create artificial reefs. The hopes? To "promote hope and recovery, and underline our need to understand and protect the natural world."
Of course, I have to wonder if in a thousand years or something, with coral all over them, how will they look? And, if you can still see the human features, isn't some poor diver going to get really, really freaked out? Heck, even knowing their just art, I might get…
cwilcox | October 17, 2008Now that I'm done fuming, I can appreciate a new site I just found by the creators over at Zooillogix: ZooBorns.
Oh yes, it's every bit as cute and cuddly as it sounds. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I WANT ONE! Look at some of the adorables posted:
Red Panda Babies
Baby Armadillo
and, my personal favorite: Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea...(please tell me someone got the musical reference)
cwilcox | September 22, 2008In the scientific community most people I know believe that global warming is a real phenomenon caused by humans starting with the industrial revolution. However, not everyone I know is in the scientific community, and many don't fully believe any notion of human-caused global warming. Well, we can have that argument another day, because it's not the warming that matters - it's the carbon dioxide.
Any marine scientist can tell you that carbon dioxide has a direct effect on salt water. When salt water absorbs the carbon dioxide gas, it reacts with ions in the water to break down into carbonic…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2008tags: The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus, marine biology, environment, conservation, Jacques Cousteau, Susan Schiefelbein, book review
. . . I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world . . .
"Ulysses"
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
In the ten years before he died, world-famous…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, climate change, global warming, oceanic dead zones, west coast, North America, Oregon state, Washington state
Millions of dead crabs are washing up onto Oregon and Washington state beaches from the offshore "dead zone".
Ever since it was first noticed by crab fishermen who hauled up hundreds of dead and dying crabs in 2002, the "dead zone" that popped up in the waters along the northwestern coastal shelf just off the coast of Oregon has claimed unknown millions of lives. This oxygen-depleted region has transformed formerly rich seafloor communities teeming with…
grrlscientist | May 17, 2007tags: Antarctica, Weddell Sea, new species, ANDEEP, zoology
The scientists said an "astonishingly diverse" collection of isopods had been discovered. This young male isopod represents one of 674 isopod species found.
Image: W. Brokeland. [larger image]
According to a paper that was recently published, scientists have found more than 700 new species of marine creatures in seas surrounding Antarctica -- seas once thought too hostile to sustain such rich biodiversity. Fabulous creatures, such as carnivorous sponges, free-swimming worms, crustaceans and molluscs, were collected.
The…