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Tag: Blue Whale

Bot meets Whale: making friends in the ocean; or how I learned to stop worrying and mitigate harmful interactions between recreational ROVs and marine mammals.

Posted on August 21, 2019August 21, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Science
An example of a microROV system. From Thaler et al. (2019)

Today, there are more robots exploring the ocean than ever before. From autonomous ocean-crossing gliders to massive industrial remotely operated vehicles to new tools for science and exploration that open new windows into the abyss, underwater robots are giving people a change to experience the ocean like never before. The fastest growing sector of this new robotic frontier? Small, recreational, observation class ROVs.

Read More “Bot meets Whale: making friends in the ocean; or how I learned to stop worrying and mitigate harmful interactions between recreational ROVs and marine mammals.” »

The fate of the deep sea is being decided behind closed doors, plastic in the deepest trench, memories of whales, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 4, 2019

Posted on March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

  • Last week was a huge week for deep-sea mining and there’s still more coming. Catch up on the latest!
    • Species threatened by deep-sea mining.
    • The future of deep seabed mining.
    • Deep seabed mining: key questions.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Legendary submarine pilot Erika Bergman, a couple dudes, and a group of scientists make exciting discovery inside Great Blue Hole and What Erika Bergman, Richard Branson, Fabien Cousteau, and Aquatica Submarines Found In Belize’s Great Blue Hole.
The voyage meant scientists could construct a 3D map of the hole. Picture: Thomas Bodhi Wade/Aquatica Submarines

Read More “The fate of the deep sea is being decided behind closed doors, plastic in the deepest trench, memories of whales, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 4, 2019” »

Eat hagfish, work at LUMCON, clone Vaquita, question floating trash collectors, and more! Monday Morning Mega-Salvage: August 13, 2018

Posted on August 13, 2018August 12, 2018 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

  • It’s time for Africosh! The annual Africa Open Science and Hardware Summit Heads is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this year!
  • LUMCON is hiring! They’re looking for two exceptional coastal and marine science faculty hires in any discipline. And they have the best “come work for us” video!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Hakai Magazine is my jam this month.
    • How an Epidemic Exposed the Ecological Importance of Sea Stars: The near eradication of British Columbia’s sea stars demonstrated the dynamic role they play in regulating kelp forests.
    • How to Dismantle a Blue Whale: In Chile, a team of volunteers confronts stench and gore to ensure a new life for a dead whale. [Warning: Link contains graphic pictures of whale evisceration]
  • I’ve been following this project for almost 2 years. Awesome to see how far they’ve come. NinjaPCR is a WiFi enabled, Opensource DNA Amplifier and Thermocycler for Polymerase Chain Reaction developed by 2 hackers in Tokyo.
  • Plastic wrap made from shellfish and plants is completely compostable.

Hagfish (just Hagfish)

  • Yes, people do eat hagfish. Yum! Snake-like creature writhes, squirms on grill.
  • Hagfish are the emissaries of love, not war. Stop it. Synthetic ‘Slime’ To Help US Navy Trap Enemy Ships.

Read More “Eat hagfish, work at LUMCON, clone Vaquita, question floating trash collectors, and more! Monday Morning Mega-Salvage: August 13, 2018” »

Southern Fried Science year-in-review, Palau’s Giant, a new challenge for deep-sea mining, Porgs are Puffins, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: December 25, 2017.

Posted on December 25, 2017December 25, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Happy Holidays from the Southern Fried Science Team!

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • The Saipan Blog’s Angelo Villagomez put together a list of extraordinary Indigenous Pacific Conservationists to Follow on Twitter in 2018. Go. Follow them. Learn what’s really happening in Pacific Conservation.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Do-it-yourself science is taking off. A growing movement seeks to make the tools of science available to everyone (including you). I love that The Economist now has a “Punk Science” heading.
  • Palau now requires all tourists to sign an environmental pledge when they enter the country. All flights in now feature this delightful short film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhuY8eNLzBM

  • Arlo Guthrie was right! Cool short video of bipedal “walking” in gastropods. Clamzo boys, Clamzo!

Read More “Southern Fried Science year-in-review, Palau’s Giant, a new challenge for deep-sea mining, Porgs are Puffins, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: December 25, 2017.” »

Release the Karaqan! How does Aquaman’s latest foe stack up against real ocean giants?

Posted on January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Release the Karaqan! How does Aquaman’s latest foe stack up against real ocean giants?
Popular Culture

Aquaman #27. DC Comics.
Aquaman #27. DC Comics.

It’s been more than 2 months since we last discussed the patron saint of Southern Fried Science, the one and only Aquaman. The Atlantean übermensch has a new lead writer, Jeff Parker, who’s teamed up with Aquaman veteran Paul Pelletier to produce an engaging and visually stunning story. After the epic conclusion to Throne of Atlantis, Aquaman is off on an entirely new adventure. Unfortunately, this new quest puts our hero in the path of a gargantuan guardian of ancient Atlantis, the Karaqan!

The Karaqan is big, but just how big is it? How does the Karaqan stack up against living sea creatures? Could an arthropod ever get as big as the Karaqan? Most important, if Aquaman does successfully slay the Karaqan, just how much Old Bay would we need to steam it?

Read More “Release the Karaqan! How does Aquaman’s latest foe stack up against real ocean giants?” »

The Sex Lives of Spoonworms: 10 marine animals with parasitic, dwarf, and otherwise reduced males

Posted on May 31, 2013September 19, 2013 By Andrew Thaler 8 Comments on The Sex Lives of Spoonworms: 10 marine animals with parasitic, dwarf, and otherwise reduced males
Science

Earlier this week, Fox News commentator and all-around terrific guy* Erick Erickson, while discussing a recent Pew Study that revealed that women were the sole breadwinners in 40% of US households that contain children, had this to say:

“I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology—when you look at the natural world—the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”

source

headshot-thalerSMALL

I’m not sure where Erickson got his science education from, but it’s pretty clear he should have spent a little more time shopping around on the free market, because he sure is wrong. How wrong? I managed to assemble this list of 10 marine species with dwarf, parasitic, or otherwise reduced males (including an entire female-only class) while waiting for my toast**. So have a seat and let me show you how much weirder and more wonderful the world is than Erickson’s Disney-esque misinterpretation of biology.

1. Anglerfish

The deep-sea Anglerfish is among the most common examples of parasitic males in the marine world. Anglerfish comprise a variety of taxa in the order Lophiiformes. Almost all (females) possess a specialized appendage that acts as a lure to attract unwary prey. Life in the deep sea is rough–even though it is the largest and most diverse ecosystem on Earth, biomass is fairly low–so finding a mate is a struggle for these slow swimming fishes. The solution: carry your partner with you.

Male anglerfish are tiny, often less than 5% the size of the female, but they possess powerful olfactory receptors, allowing them to seek out females. Once a mate is located, the male anglerfish latches on to her abdomen, fuses his circulatory system with hers, and is then slowly digested until there’s nothing left but a sac of gonads surrounded by basic life-supporting tissues. Female anglerfish are not monogamous, either. At any given time she could be covered by a half-dozen parasitic males. Kinky.

Read More “The Sex Lives of Spoonworms: 10 marine animals with parasitic, dwarf, and otherwise reduced males” »

Biodiversity Wednesday: La ballena azul

Posted on December 15, 2010November 19, 2010 By Andrew Thaler
Uncategorized

Finding Melville’s Whale – Cetology (Chapter 32)

Posted on November 16, 2010November 6, 2010 By Andrew Thaler 10 Comments on Finding Melville’s Whale – Cetology (Chapter 32)
Uncategorized

Chapter 32 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale. Cetology Let this be the book of the whale, chronicle of tortured naturalists. For who could fathom those … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale – Cetology (Chapter 32)” »

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