Year: 2011
-
Anatomy of a shark heist
Below is a guest post by Lindsey Carr, a PhD student in my lab at UNC. Lindsey is doing her dissertation research on the dynamics of shallow subtidal communities across the Galapagos archipelago. Her post is excerpted from a report she wrote for the Galapagos National Park about the catch found on the illegal vessel.…
-
Get your reef on
From coral reef scientist, rapper and new father, Dr. Josh Idjadi and SeaMonster, where the rap is real. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flDE0W1Ks_4[/youtube] Subtitled version is here
-
Turtle deaths linked to shrimpers in Gulf
First the sharks, now this. Sea turtles have been washing up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in alarming numbers in recent months. Another casualty of the massive BP oil spill? Not directly, although there may well be a connection. It appears that the culprit is at least in part a surreptitious…
-
Lionfish – You’ve gotta eat them to beat them
Time for a quick break from the serious stuff. Here’s a silly musical interlude with a catchy tune and an important message (I must admit I had to look up what panko is – never heard of it!). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUh46605zPs&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
-
Decapitated ecosystems come back to haunt us
What happens when you cut off something’s head? In the case of an ecosystem, it doesn’t die, but transforms into something very different — and sometimes scary. A zombie, if you like. Decapitation is essentially what humans are doing to food webs throughout the world’s islands, continents, and oceans. Meaning that we’re cutting off the…
-
What a marine massacre looks like
Yesterday I led a team of eight scientists and students from UNC, USFQ and the Galapagos Science Center that documented the catch aboard a vessel caught illegally long lining in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. We worked alongside a great team from the Galapagos National Park and were also assisted by the Ecuadorian Coast Guard. We identified, sexed, and measured every individual (there…
-
World’s longest yacht race starts in T-minus 7 days
At the starting gun on July 31st, 10 clippers will set sail from Southampton, UK, on a 40,000-mile circumnavigation. The Clipper Round the World race is not only the longest yacht race, but also the only to provide identical stripped-down, 68-foot boats to each team, ensuring that budget or vessel gives no one an unfair…
-
Photos from a rarely seen paradise
In the wake of John Bruno’s report from the Galapagos, I bring you happier news from the Equatorial Pacific, nearly five thousand miles farther west: there are still wildernesses on Earth. I was lucky enough to spend May and June in the engine room of a sailboat heading south from Honolulu, as crew with the…
-
Treasures of the White Sea
I’ve just discovered this fabulous gallery of exquisite images by Russian underwater photographer Alexander Semenov. Alexander works in a place that most of us have never heard of, and few would dream of as hosting some of the beautiful animals that he’s virtually captured — the White Sea, an embayment of the Arctic Ocean…
-
Sea monster proves to be a regular animal
The mystery is solved. After more than a week of holding their collective breath, sea monster enthusiasts throughout the world can now rest easy, albeit a bit deflated. The serpentine 30-foot creature that washed up on a Scottish beach has been identified by a crack team from the Scottish Agricultural College. Alas, it appears that…