SeaMonster blog
-
Interview with J Emmett Duffy
There is a nice interview with SM blogger and science superstar, Dr. J Emmett Duffy in the Charlotte Observer today: Q: You’ve focused your career on species close to the bottom of the food chain. Why? I became fascinated with invertebrates, small marine creatures, at an early age. I was interested in the things that were rooting…
-
Occupy Jamaica, Part 1: Prelude
[Part 1 in the SeaMonster Expedition series: Jamaica. the team finalizes preparations for a 10-day research trip to Jamaica to solve the mystery of large, cooperative societies in lowly shrimp.] As ice skins over Timberneck Creek among the bare trees of Virginia, we are eagerly staging gear and making preparations for our first expedition of…
-
Flying Penguins
I was perched behind a rock, trying to focus my camera on the blue-eyed shag swimming in our harbor, when this Chinstrap penguin leapt out of the water. He surprised me about as badly as I surprised him! Happy Monday, everyone. I’m in Antarctica! Find my polar posts for SeaMonster here, or check out xyzena.com…
-
On this day in 1642 . . .
. . . the great physicist, applied mathematician, and astronomer Galileo Galilei passed from this world into the annals of history, having spent the last ten of his 77 years on Earth under house arrest for the crime of telling the truth. More specifically, for asserting that the movements of heavenly bodies he had deduced…
-
Marine Ecologist Kristin Aquilino
A nice profile of marine ecology PhD student Kristin Aquilino. Kristin works in the Stachowicz lab at UC Davis on marine biodiversity. This video was filmed and edited by Neil Losin, Kelvin Gorospe, and Annie Schmidt (narration by Kelvin Gorospe). [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/19279147[/vimeo]
-
Record price for a bluefin – supply and demand conspire to drive a species into extinction
The MSM is reporting this morning that a 269 kilogram bluefin tuna sold for $736,700 in a Tokyo fish market today. At least this one is going to be eaten. Mitsubishi Corp has been gobbling up tons of bluefin and putting them into deep freeze – anticipating their eventual extinction when the meat will be invaluable. It…
-
CBD sues to halt expanded bluefin catch
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued NMFS challenging a new rule expanding overfishing of imperiled Atlantic bluefin tuna. The lawsuit seeks to halt the dramatic expansion of commercial fishing from Massachusetts to Florida in an effort to prevent bluefin from being fished to extinction. “Bluefin tuna were once the giants of the sea, but overfishing has depleted…
-
Breaking news – fish mimics the mimic octopus
This is so very awesome you better sit down and pay attention. A fish has been caught in the act of mimicking that master of disguise – the mimic octopus. We all know how clever octopus can be. And of all the brainy cephalopods, the mimic octopus stands out with it’s extraordinary repertoire of impersonations.…
-
Newly evolved for 2012’s climate: world’s first hybrid shark
The changing climate that increasingly dominates the news is beginning to play its hand in some strange and unexpected ways. Creatures from algae to fishes are busting out of their old geographic ranges and striking out into new territories. A case in point: the microscopic phytoplankton species Neodenticula seminae, a dominant primary producer in North…
-
Climate change and the holiday season
From Simon Donnor at Maribo [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEdZj5Eq-hM&[/youtube]
Got any book recommendations?