SeaMonster blog
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Who’s the daddy?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAU-E7KLoaY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] 20 leopard sharks born in April at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, after their mother went through a 12-month pregnancy. But the question is – Who’s the Daddy? PhD student Andy Nosal is doing a paternity test on the little sharks to work out how many males were involved in their conception (chances are, it’s more…
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Ian Alldredge kitesurfing Rincon
[vimeo width=”500″ height=”300″]http://vimeo.com/22451159[/vimeo] From TDZ
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Sea squirts and the secret to eternal life
[A guest post written primarily by my PhD student Jonathan Lefcheck] Have you ever dreamed of living forever? Since the dawn of time people have sought in vain for the fountain of youth. The latest clue to its whereabouts comes from an unlikely source – our closest relative among the invertebrates, the sea squirt. A…
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How to get a horseshoe crab in the mood
Persuading prehistoric-looking horseshoe crabs to mate in captivity may not be on most of our minds, but Carmela Cuomo from the University of New Haven spent 10 years figuring out how to get them in the mood. And it turns out all you need is some sand from home. Horseshoe crabs look like a weird type…
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What fish is in a fillet-o-fish?
Ever wondered what you are eating when you bite into a fish sandwich and whether that species is fished sustainably? Probably not. Well in case you are, Climate Progress has a nice article about it. Read it here. And now a word from our sponsor (not really): [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EeEDKErYJ4[/youtube]
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Causing explosions crustaceanologically
Marine biologists generally aim to publish research in fancy-pants journals read by other science geeks. And that’s all good. But what a thrill to see our favorite critters — from bone-eating worms to eviscerating sea cucumbers to narwhals — in a book of poetry! I’ve just received this wonderful new book of poems for all…
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When one set of sex organs just isn’t enough
Chimeras are weird-looking cousins of sharks that get up to some strange things in the deep sea – the group includes rat fish, rabbit fish, and elephant fish. Here’s Matt Gollock from The Zoological Society of London, on the Naked Oceans podcast (part of our 12 Critters of Christmas special), introducing these peculiar creatures, including…
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Coral bleaching on Ningaloo reef, Western Australia
When I was on stabbatical at UQ last year, I had the opportunity to work with a team of scientists from CSIRO and UWA on Ningaloo Reef in northwestern Australia. (read a blog post I wrote about the adventure here) Sadly, reports of very high water temperatures and immenent mass bleaching on this extremely remote…
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Ocean friendly seafood? There’s an app (or two) for that.
So you’re out on a date at your favorite little romantic seafood bistro, looking at the menu with whatever sanitized name the marketers have just invented for Patagonian toothfish or slimefish or whatever. With all the conflicting information out there, how does the average civilian choose what to order without pillaging the ocean? Fortunately, technology…
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Whale shark aggregations!
Speaking of whale aggregations, check out this cool article at Deep Sea News about whale shark aggregations.
Got any book recommendations?