Tag: biodiversity
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Fish – the tool user
Used to be us primates. Then the birds, and now this. Watch your back–the lower vertebrates are getting uppity: The perpetrator was an an orange-dotted tuskfish. The deed was caught on film by Giacomo Bernardi of UC Santa Cruz. From the story at Science Daily: ‘”What the movie shows is very interesting. The animal excavates sand…
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Yeti crab – the Movie!
Live from the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in Aberdeen, it’s . . . Yeti Crab – the Movie! Perhaps a bit of explanation is in order. We’re live (sort of) in Aberdeen with 953 of our closest friends and colleagues, catching up on the cutting edge of research on the wondrous and varied life…
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Live blog: World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2011
The second triennial World Conference on Marine Biodiversity begins next week in Aberdeen, Scotland, and your dedicated SeaMonster reporter will be on the scene. We will be trying something new and experimental (for us, at least) — pseudo-live blogging from the Conference site, covering late-breaking news on marine research advances, marine conservation, fantastic new animals,…
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Three ocean scientists receive Heinz awards
Shout-out to three of our colleagues who’ve received the prestigious Heinz award for work that benefits the environment. The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation has presented the awards since 1994 in memory of Sen. John Heinz III. From the WaPO: “Teresa Heinz told The Associated Press that the awards recognized innovative approaches to serious topics for…
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The coolest animal in the world
As a marine biologist it’s my job to understand the complex workings of our mysterious ocean planet, and to wrestle with the great questions of our time. One that has been exercising me lately is this: What is the coolest animal on earth? After considerable deliberation, I’ve made my decision. And I don’t say this…
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Warming-induced killer crab invasion threatens Antarctic biodiversity
[Editor’s update: One of our observant readers and experts on deep-sea crabs, Dr Thomas Shirley of Texas A&M, points out that the photo above taken from the Mail article is of the tanner crab (Chionoecetes sp.), NOT the the giant king crab Neolithodes yaldwyni that is moving onto the Antarctic shelf. This is correct –…
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Fish – a good idea on paper
During a visit to the Suma Aqualife Park in Japan a few months ago, I came across a captivating display of little origami sea creatures arrayed across an entire wall. The lighting was not right for photos at the time but I’ve since found a great collection of these online, most notably — and…
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A fish out of water — and lookin’ for love
“Fish gotta swim”, as Julie put it in explaining why she can’t stop lovin’ dat man in the 1927 musical Show Boat. And we all know what she meant. But do they? Not this one. The Pacific Leaping Blenny (yes, that is its real name) wants to do anything but swim. It literally flees from…
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All the things in the sea (and on land too)
Number of species alive today = 8.7 million. About a quarter of them live in the sea. That’s the news from a study just out that examines what we don’t know about life on earth. It means that should aliens come down and ask one…
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Bluefin land on the Red List: SeaMonster interviews the expert team
Every five or ten years since 1963 a growing number of wild animal and plant species have been assessed for their risk of extinction to provide hard data useful to conservation and management. The unlucky ones found to be slipping go on the “Red List” overseen by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature…