jellyfish | Southern Fried Science

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, 2019 by Andrew Thaler

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!

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

Doodles from the deep sea, a mining company founders, finding lost warships, rogue scientists, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: December 24, 2018

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

‘We Are Not Prepared to Die’: Island Nations Push Ambitious Plan at UN Climate Talks.
This is beautiful: What the ocean floor can tell us about climate change.

Plastic Eating Worms and Scientists Running for Office: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, August 16th, 2018

Posted on August 16, 2018 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Follow underwater engineer Amy Kukulya, as seen on Shark Week, on twitter! (And have you seen my review of Shark Week 2018?)
Marine worms are eating plastic now. By Michael Allen, for Hakai Magazine.
Predatory coral bring down jellyfish by working together. From MongaBay news updates.

Spoils (long reads and deep dives):

Canada is flying blind into Arctic Conservation. By Cody Dey, for the Narwhal, about research I’m a coauthor on (Cody is lead author). We’re excited about this paper, which, among other things, shows major gaps in the research and understanding of many Arctic fishes. This is a big problem as Arctic fishing is only going to increase in frequency.
Are narwhals starting to go extinct? By Matt K. Smith, for the Daily Beast
Tax havens shield companies responsible for deforestation and overfishing. By Fiona Harvey, for the Guardian.
Shifting baselines: another threat to coral reefs. By Todd Woody, for OceansDeeply.
Florida’s gulf coast battles smelly, deadly red tide. By Greg Allen, for NPR.

Plumbing the depths (discussion):

An unprecedented number of scientists are running for elected office in the United States this year… but is that a good thing? I do not see how an elected official who is a trained scientist will be a stronger advocate for science than an elected official who has a good scientific advisor that they listen to, and the latter has many advantages over a scientist. (Obviously a scientist in office is better for science than an anti-science idealogue). What do you think? Let us know in the comments! And check out Maggie Koerth-Baker‘s excellent in-depth article about this for 538.

Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!

If you appreciate my shark research and conservation outreach, please consider supporting me on Patreon! Any amount is appreciated, and supporters get exclusive rewards!

Gently jelly-nabbing bots, deep-coral under threat, albino stingrays, #JacquesWeek, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 23, 2018

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

All Hands on Deck! You’re got one week left to apply to join the MIT Media Lab and NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research for this year’s National Ocean Exploration Forum as an Ocean Discovery Fellow!
Jacques Week 2018 is here!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

What just happened? Everyone is going wild for the deep-sea fish attack video.

A gentle jellyfish-grabbing claw for collecting squishies without squishing them!

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Stitching Hope for the Coast – communicating coastal optimism for Louisiana. Deadline for submissions has been extended to October!

Plastic Free Fish, Chainsaw Lobsters, and Artificial Horseshoe Crab Blood: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 17th 2018

Posted on May 17, 2018 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Follow the Pacific salmon network on twitter!
Looking for plastic free fish? Here’s one to put on the menu! By Maggie Gillis, for CBC news
Scientists find new deep sea species off Java. BBC slideshow.
Unexpected walruses crowd Alaska beach. By the Associated Press.
The bigger the mother fish, the more babies she has. By Christopher Joyce, for NPR’s All Things Considered. (And see this paper that Andrew and I were involved with that extends this argument to recreational fishing ethics).

Spoils (long reads and deep dives):

Inside the biomedical revolution to save horseshoe crabs. By Deborah Cramer, for Audubon magazine.
Arctic sea ice is getting younger. By Chelsea Harvey, for Scientific American
Maine’s lobster boom won’t last, but here’s what fisheries are coming next. By Bill Trotter, for the Bangor Daily News.
Meet the shrimp with superpowers to see colors we can only imagine. By Paul Tullis, for OceansDeeply.
This jellyfish looks like a plastic bag. By Elaina Zachos, for National Geographic.
Toxic plastic pollution is traveling up the food chain. By Erica Cirino, for the Revelator.

Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!

If you appreciate my shark research and conservation outreach, please consider supporting me on Patreon! Any amount is appreciated, and supporters get exclusive rewards!

Science as graphic novel, baby eels, anglerfish emoji, drone ocean rescue, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: January 22, 2018.

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

The US Government is shut down. This is not great news for science (at the moment, my project to train ROV technicians and deliver 5 – 10 observation-class underwater robots to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is on hold pending resolution). Call you congressperson and give them an earful. Call you senator and give them an earful.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Women Writing About the Wild: 25 Essential Authors: A primer on who to start reading and who you’ve been overlooking for too long.

Nan Shepherd. (Wikimedia Commons)

This paper: Managing marine socio-ecological systems: picturing the future, which, holy mola, is written in graphic novel format!

Managing marine socio-ecological systems: picturing the future.

Bone-eating zombie worms, octopus overlords, old wooden ships and new woes for deep-sea mining. It’s the Monday Morning Salvage! January 1, 2018.

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

Stop. Breathe. Take a step back. This can all be incredibly overwhelming. Pick the fight that matters most to you and take a few days deciding what success looks like, what strategies will work, and what tactics are available to you. And then hoist your flag and get to work.

And when you meet someone fighting a different fight, remember to support them. There are already enough fronts to advance without taking friendly fire from our flanks.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Maybe it’s time to seriously consider just giving control of the world to the cephalopods. A New Species of Giant Octopus Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight.

The frilled giant Pacific octopus. Photo Courtesy D. Scheel

The most depressing annual run-down on the environmental science web: The Animals That Went Extinct in 2017.

Pacifist fighting fish and entangled right whales: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, December 4th 2017

Posted on December 7, 2017 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Watch this manta ray in footage from Blue Planet 2!
From Blue Planet 2
Follow Dr. Douglas Rasher, a marine ecologist, on twitter! (And read my interview with him for Gizmodo’s Earther here)
Sea lions have unique whiskers that help them catch even the fastest fish. By Robyn Grant, for the Conversation.

Ocean Noise, Parasite Extinction, and Jellyfish Blooms: Thursday Afternoon Dredging: November 9th, 2017

Posted on November 9, 2017 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Watch this manta ray (or should I say mobula ray) at the Georgia Aquarium
Video by Georgia Aquarium
Follow Serena Wong, a graduate student at SFU studying shark and ray respiratory physiology, on twitter!
9 reasons you can’t help but love manatees. By Katie Hogge, for the Ocean Conservancy blog

A new Gulf oil spill, opposition to deep-sea mining, DIY drop cameras, and more! Massive Monday Morning Salvage: October 30, 2017

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Andrew Thaler

I’ve been away for 2 weeks, so it’s a super-massive edition of the Monday Morning Salvage!

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

There’s still an unimaginable amount of work to do in Dominica and across the Caribbean. Support the Rebuild Dominica Hurricane Relief fund or any of the other funds from our list: How to help our island colleagues in the wake of total devastation.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

This is such a cool story: A Trail of Rocks Traces Historical Steamship Routes. We can track old steamship routes from rocks scraped out of the furnaces and tossed overboard.
Former Papua New Guinea Attorney General attacks deep sea mining project. They always pick pictures for these articles that don’t show how much life is right around the vents.

Sampling SMS under the sea Photo: Nautilus Minerals

Whose ecological footprint is bigger: Medics, economists, or environmentalists? Spoilers: conservationists still have an impact, but they sure ain’t number 1.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

There’s a fresh oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s pretty darn huge:
Some fun from Deep Sea News: When real-life marine biologist and mom goes to sea, she takes the octonauts with her.

This is fine: Report on U.S. Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Sent to White House, Not Released to Public. This is totally fine: Trump Administration Proposes Largest Oil and Gas Lease Sale in U.S. History.
Alaska’s Oyster Farmers Are Filling an Acidification-Driven Void. The state’s oyster farming industry is gaining ground as growers elsewhere struggle. From Hakai Magazine, which is great.
Nature is one of the most under-appreciated tools for reigning in carbon. From Anthropocene, which is fast becoming my favorite environmental print magazine. Sorry, Orion.
Thousands of penguin chicks starve in Antarctica.

Hey, Andrew, how about you give us at least *some* good news today? Ok, fine.