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UDub’s Dewey Decimal System of Ichthyology

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I always love to share a new resource. When I stumbled upon the fish collection at the University of Washington I became extremely jealous. Don’t get me wrong … my undergraduate school had many other amazing attributes that were gems for studying fish (being situated next to an ocean in the middle of the pine barrens to start, great internships, Rudy Ardnt …).

Check it out! Learn about the fish collection catalog compiled by the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences. It is great to see so many passionate young scientists keeping this aquatic library ‘afloat’.

Filed Under: Ocean

30 reasons to be grateful for the ocean

June 30, 2011 by 4 Comments

It’s the end of another National Oceans Month. And, on this most lovely of lovely days I’d like to Speak Up For Blue and name 30 reasons to be grateful for the ocean! (OK, and it just so happens to be this Beach Chair Scientist’s birthday)

In no particular order, here are some reasons to appreciate the ocean (and all its glorious ecosystems):

Estuaries (Although the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea. – Led Zeppelin)

  • Nursery grounds for many of the commercially important fish that live in the sea.
  • Make up the public infrastructure that are the harbors and ports used for shipping, transportation, and industry.
  • Serve as a filter for sediments, nutrients, and other pollutants that come from upstream.
  • Coastal areas are home to over half the U.S. population.
  • Mangroves and other estuarine ecosystems are amazing playgrounds and feeding grounds for many wading birds.
  • The smell of low tide!

Intertidal Zone (including littoral zone)

  • Home to the tides going in and out. Where else can we appreciate the ebb and flow of life?
  • This is home to many bivalve species that love to burrow under the muck.
  • We can investigate the wrack line and find many treasures that have washed ashore.
  • Place where my favorite animal, the Atlantic horseshoe crab, likes to come to mate during the full and new moons in May and June.
  • A perfect spot to jump waves with little ones!
  • Home to the lovely and rhythmic sound of waves lapping.

Coral Reefs (Pollution, overfishing, and overuse have put many of our unique reefs at risk. Their disappearance would destroy the habitat of countless species. It would unravel the web of marine life that holds the potential for new chemicals, new medicines, unlocking new mysteries. It would have a devastating effect on the coastal communities from Cairns to Key West, Florida — communities whose livelihood depends upon the reefs. – Former President Bill Clinton.)

  • Support a great diversity of species.
  • Yield compounds that are very important in the medical field (have been used in the treatment of cancer, HIV, cardiovascular diseases, ulcers, and other ailments).
  • Protect shorelines erosion.
  • Center of many country’s tourism income.
  • Home to a myriad of colors and patterns!

Pelagic Zone, Euphotic Zone (Open ocean)

  • The only place large enough for the big blue whale to swim and play.
  • The only place large enough for a blue fin tuna to pick up enough speed.
  • Home to a lot of phytoplankton that helps support oxygen production.
  • Home to the Sargasso Sea the only place special enough for the American eel to breed.
  • Home to peace and solitude.
  • A perfect spot to become humble.

Mesopelagic Zone, Twilight Zone (Open ocean bathyal zone)

  • Home to the many creature with the beautiful twinklings of bioluminescence.
  • Only place deep enough for sperm whales to dive down and grab some food.
  • Home to many elusive squid species.

Deep Sea (Abyssal)

Polar Regions

  • Home to the polar bear (did you know their fur isn’t white? It is actually clear but appears white since it is reflected in the sunlight).
  • Important breeding and mating areas for many migratory species (including the red knot).

And, without it we’d be nothing. Oceans cover about 70% of the earth’s surface, and we rely on it economically, environmentally, and scientifically.

Obviously this is a very personal list and it could go on and on forever. I am looking forward to hearing your reasons to be grateful to the ocean and hope we can get to 100 by the end of the year!

Filed Under: Algae (Seaweeds), Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Ocean Tagged With: , ,

Save Our Seas Foundation

June 29, 2011 by 3 Comments

In case you didn’t notice, every month I like to share one of my favorite marine science conservation website or blogs. And, even though I just posted on The Daily Ocean I want to highlight the Save Our Seas Foundation.

This is the organization (or ‘organisation’ since they are based in Switzerland) that produces the Naked Oceans podcast (one of the 8 great podcasts listed on the right sidebar). The website for this major player in the fight to save the world’s oceans manages to be in-your-face while still maintaining class and a jovial nature. They cite important messages in large font in the center of the page followed up with bullets and lists (see the threats page for a great example of this).

Also, the blog for Save Our Seas Foundation posts pertinent information (in an easy to digest language) about the research projects their own science team is conducting with pictures they actually took in the field. A lot of the focus of their research is on sharks. Recently they hosted a Dutch film crew doing a documentary between the relations of sharks and surfers (no, they aren’t cousins).

All in all, it seems as though the people working with the Save Our Seas Foundation are dedicated, passionate, and fun and I hope you follow and support them in the future.

Filed Under: Ocean, People, Places, Random Fun!, Sharks Tagged With: , ,

The Daily Ocean

June 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’d like to take the time out to applaud one of the best ocean blogs out there, The Daily Ocean.

I cannot tell you the countless hours I have spent drooling over Ms. Bayles world-wind expedition of collecting trash (beginning in Santa Barbara, CA). It is so exciting (I’m really not kidding)! Not only is she dedicated but she is smart and savvy and keeps a wonderful blog with new and insightful factoids and pictures.

Please follow her and take the time to read more about her and her process for collecting trash. Who knows, maybe you’ll get inspired? It is such an honor to be a part of a community of ocean bloggers that includes this wonderful site. Keep up the great work and come home safe!

Filed Under: Ocean

Beach trivia

June 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Can you name the world’s longest beach (at 76 miles long!)?

Want to find out the location of the famous beach from the movie “From Here to Eternity“?

Did you know that a beach on the west coast of Florida is the top spot to find seashells in the U.S.?

You can learn all these facts and a whole lot more with this interactive beach quiz from National Geographic. Have fun and please let us know if you learn anything particularly surprising or fun.

Filed Under: Beach, Ocean, Random Fun!, Test Your Knowledge

World Oceans Day

June 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

On today, World Oceans Day, I’d like to bring your attention to an editorial published yesterday in the Huffington Post “Looking for a Sea Change on World Oceans Day” by Vicki Spruill, Ocean Conservancy CEO. Please share your thoughts on the article and don’t forget to wear your blue!

Filed Under: Ocean

Adaptations

June 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As a new mama, the wheels in my head are constantly wondering how my daughter’s surroundings will influence her personality. I sure hope she’s not bitter like the anglerfish featured in yesterday’s Sherman’s Lagoon cartoon. I will just remind the little one to keep smiling and tell her that adaptations are what led to the strongest species surviving.

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Filed Under: Ocean

The Majestic Plastic Bag – Part IV

June 1, 2011 by 1 Comment
Thin plastic shopping bags

This just in! Another fine addition to The Majestic Plastic Bag conservation series. A reusable plastic bag company, ChicoBag Company, announced recently that they are being sued by three of the nation’s largest disposable plastic bag manufacturers. Those companies are claiming that a link on the ChicoBag Company website educating citizens about the long term implications of disposable plastic bags to the environment is causing “irreparably harmed” their business.

Some of the statements that the disposable plastic bag companies have issue with are:

  • “A reusable bag needs only to be used eleven times to have a lower environmental impact than using eleven disposable bags.” Source: EPA
  • “Only one percent of plastic bags are recycled.” Source: EPA
  • “Somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.” Source: National Geographic
  • “The world’s largest landfill can be found floating between Hawaii and San Francisco. Wind and sea currents carry marine debris from all over the world to what is now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This ‘landfill’ is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and thousands of pounds of our discarded trash, mostly plastics.” Source: National Geographic
  • “Each year hundreds of thousands of sea birds and marine life die from ingestible plastics mistaken for food.” Source: L.A. Times

We’ll keep you updated on how this plays out via our Twitter feed.

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Filed Under: Ocean, People Tagged With: , ,

The Majestic Plastic Bag – Part II

May 26, 2011 by 2 Comments

Yesterday we brought you the “mockumentary”, The Majestic Plastic Bag. As a follow-up today check out this amazing infographic from reusablebag.com. Ireland reduced plastic bag consumption by 90% (1 billion bags!) from 2001-2011 by imposing a tax of 37-cents.

Bag Bans Worldwide
Source: Reusable Grocery Bags

image (c) http://www.reusethisbag.com

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Filed Under: Ocean, People, Random Fun! Tagged With:

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P.J. O’Rourke

May 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Today Ira Flatow discussed summer science reads on Science Friday, my favorite radio program. So, I got to thinking about two very special books that I always wander back to when I want to reconnect with the ocean. Henry Beston’s, The Outermost House, and Jennifer Ackerman’s, Notes from the Shore, are two books written in the spirit and tradition of Thoreau’s, Walden. Beston and Ackerman are alone with their thoughts in a remote marine environment (Beston is on Cape Cod while Ackerman is on Delaware’s Cape Henelope) for an extended period of time. They both contemplate how the ocean can be a metaphor for our existence.

After his return from World War I, Beston built a writer’s cabin on Cape Cod. He called the home Fo’castle and there he wrote The Outermost House published in 1928. This book was an inspiration to Rachel Carson as she wrote The Sea Around Us. Fo’castle was unfortunately destroyed by high tides in 1978.

Here is an excerpt from The Outermost House that I come back to often (especially when I am coveting the latest smartphone): “Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and the dawn seen over the ocean from the beach. ”

Let’s face it. Beston is not for everyone. Jennifer Ackerman is a bit most contemporary in her text and prose. After all, Notes from the Shore was published in 1995. Her outlook on man altering nature is spot-on, “It’s in our nature to see order and when we don’t see it, to try to impose it. We have to put things through our minds to make sense of them, and our minds crave pattern and order. So maybe what we glimpse is only what we desire.” A statement that reminds me sometimes we should just allow nature to take its course and see what happens.

Another reason I gravitate to Notes from the Shore is that she spends a considerable amount of time writing about my favorite animal, Limulus polyphemus. She even reviews her experience counting horseshoe crabs during the late nights in May and June, an activity this Beach Chair Scientist did quite often during undergraduate internships. With that I will leave off with Ackerman’s description on the incredible nature of the horseshoe crab‘s ability to remain so steadfast and unchanged, “These creatures so durable that they antedate most other life-forms, so adaptable that their survival as a species may, for all we know, approach eternity.”

Image (c) goodreads.com

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Filed Under: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Beach, Fish, Ocean, Random Fun! Tagged With: , , , ,