This is some footage from the series Shark Men from the National Geographic Channel. These scientists are under the gun to get a great white shark back in the water alive while still gathering all the pertinent data. AMAZING!
Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Follow BCS on Twitter
My TweetsWant updates on BCS posts?
Scroll through the BCS archives …
Learn more on …
Random posts from BCS …
How is it I can find some species of fish in fresh and saltwater?
Some species of fish can regulate their salt tolerance easier than others. For instance, many of the species that call the estuary a nursery or breeding ground can adapt to a wide range of salinity (less than 30 ppt). These animals (or plants) are known as euryhaline. Other animals that cannot tolerate a wide range […]
Can you write with a sea pen?
No. Sea pens resemble a quill pen and that is how they got their common name. Most amazing is that when brought to the surface the plume will light up green – glowing the entire sea pen! This is really the sea pen’s nervous system responding to predators. Sea pens (just like their relatives the […]
Action Project Ideas: Bath & Laundry (3 of 5)
One idea I had when I started this website almost ten years ago was that I wanted to make science simple and accessible. I hope I have created a place where questions on anything from barnacles to whales can be answered in a knowledgeable no-nonsense or overly jargon tone. My secondary goal has also been […]
Answer to “Take a guess! What do you think this lobsta weighs?”
Paul Tasha, a commercial lobster diver, has been fishing for about 40 years had a big surprise. He was diving for lobster off of Race Point in Provincetown, MA, a part of the Outer Cape Cod (OCC) management area when he came across a 31-pound male lobster crawling along the bottom (at a depth of […]
Everyone loves Shark Week!
It really feels like a phenomenon – especially when Poets.org is also celebrating Shark Week! Here is a good one from the site by Isaac McLellan (poem “The Bluefish“): The weaker tenants of the main Flee from their rage in vain, The vast menhaden multitudes They massacre o’er the flood; With lashing tail, with snapping […]
31 facts about Arctic whales
This past week offshore drilling in the Arctic was approved to get underway (it’s been 20 years since this previously happened). This is going to severely affect the quiet and serene home for whales and other marine animals in the area. Here are 31 facts about the beluga, narwal, and bowheads whales – species that […]
An important call for more forage fish to remain in the sea
A report titled “Little Fish Big Impact”, written by the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, came out earlier this month recommending that the amount of forage fish (e.g., menhaden, herring, shad) that we take from the ocean should be cut in half. However, since forage fish have an annual value world-wide of $5.6 billion dollars […]
Is a starfish really a fish?
No. The classic common name is very misleading. Scientists and environmental educators are transitioning their language to seastar when referring to this animal because, well, it is not a fish. The seastar is in the same family as the sea urchin, sea cucumber, sand dollar and a few others that all have these things in […]
How many animals and plants live in the ocean?
(Please note: This post does not give an exact answer to the question.) It is comparable to the amount of stars in the sky. Especially if you think that 95% of the world’s oceans are unexplored. That is why in 2000 a huge census of what lives in the ocean started. The Census of Marine […]
FLASH: Florida Aquatic Science Heros
While I was in graduate school in Florida I spent a lot of time in and around the Indian River Lagoon. It is one of the most diverse estuarine ecosystems in North America mainly due in part that it’s expansive length stretches across two geographic zone, the temperate and the tropic zone. This seamless mixing […]
Resources & more …
Flickr photos …
What people are saying …
- Robert Emahiser on Why you should never walk on dunes
- Lesa on 10 brief facts on bioluminescence
- Lisa on Limulus Love
- Beach Chair Scientist on 17 facts about the wee sea potatoes
- Bernard Rejterada on 17 facts about the wee sea potatoes
- Brian on What is the difference between a summer and winter flounder?
- Inbound marketing on 15 facts about the Portuguese man-of-war that’ll have you saying “Didya know…?”
- Donnie Huckabee on Wordless Wednesday | Shell art
- John on Why you should never walk on dunes
- ItzJaylaD on What I know about whale sharks
Top posts & pages from BCS …
- Hurricane vs. Cyclone vs. Typhoon
- A House for Hermit Crab
- How to handle a horseshoe crab
- Snot's your house
- Wednesday Wisdom: Various quotes (Alaska scenes)
- A naturalist's must-see destination: Fossil Hunting at Bayfront State Park in Chesapeake Beach, MD
- Belly biology creates lasting memories
- Five awful puns about courtship in the sea
- Horseshoe crabs confirmed as members of arachnid family
- Beyond the bag: Other plastics being banned
Speak Your Mind