ocean acidification
Deep-sea gator falls covered in isopods, more struggles for the Ocean Cleanup, a robot lost in the cold (but not the one you’re thinking of), and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 18, 2019
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
What do you do if you find yourself at the helm of a major Louisiana marine science institution? If you’re Dr. Craig McClain, you plant the first experimental Alligator falls in the deep Gulf of Mexico!
On the other hand, if you find yourself at the helm of a US Navy destroyer, you might want to review this incredible and exhaustive accounting of the USS Fitzgerald disaster and how training deficits, exhaustion, and poor decision making compounded to create a deadly situation.
Cinnamon-flavored hagfish, how to open a coconut, hunted by sperm whales, speaking up for the blue, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 11, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Great ocean outreach webinar: Bless your coast: communicating acidification with lessons learned in the Southeast. Tune in June 13th at 1 PM EDT!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Another entry into the “A Deeper Sea” keeps coming true file: Sperm whales are tracking fishing boats and stealing their fish.
- I’m bummed to be missing Dinacon, but they’re putting out some awesome videos. Ever wonder how to crack open a coconut?
- Join in on an oceanographic cruise already underway! Follow along with the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Observatory.
- Introducing #OceanX and #Alucia2, a bold new initiative to explore the ocean and bring it back to the world! Yes please!
Invisible squid and fish with glowing eye spikes: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, April 5th, 2018
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Follow Louise Chavarie, an Arctic aquatic ecologist, on twitter!
- A squid-skin inspired invisibility cloak. From Nature News research updates.
- Underwater noise pollution disturbs fish, too. From CBC News.
- NOAA publishes list of global fisheries and their risks to marine mammals. By John Cannon, for MongaBay
- Antarctic ice melting faster than thought. By Jonathan Watts, for the Guardian.
Spoils (long reads and deep dives):
- Why did this fish evolve a glowing eye spike? By Troy Farah, for Smithsonian Magazine.
- Spying on whales to save them. By Marguerite Holloway, for the New Yorker.
- Why red coral lives 500 years. By Liz Langley, for National Geographic
- Rising CO2 levels could be messing with squid. By Maddie Stone, for Earther.
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!
Giant whales and collapsing cod stocks: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, March 29th, 2018
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Follow shark and ray biologist Jeremy Vaudo on twitter!
- Science may have a reason why whales get so big. By Carrie Arnold, for National Geographic.
- Paleo profile: The fish from China. By Brian Switek, for Scientific American.
- Mass stranding in Australia claims 130 whales. Video, for the Guardian.
Spoils (long reads and deep dives):
- Newfoundland cod stocks suffer serious and surprising decline. By Jessica Leder, for the Globe and Mail.
- Under the sea: life is the bubbles in newly discovered deep reef zone. By Basten Gokkon, for MongaBay
- Scientists just fast-forwarded ocean acidification on a coral reef. By Maddie Stone, for Earther.
- Can Aquaculture solve the fishing crisis in the South China Sea? By Zhang Hongzhou, for the Diplomat.
- To save whales, Maine’s lobster fishery must change. By Fred Bever, for NPR.
- Ocean scientists forecast huge plankton blooms in the Arabian sea. By Jeff Tollefson, for Nature News.
- Fish crossing genetic borders as oceans warm. By Matthew Berger, for OceansDeeply.
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!
Giant penguin colonies and tiny squid: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, March 8th, 2018
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Follow Travis Tai, a graduate student studying climate change and fisheries, on twitter!
- Thumbnail-sized pygmy squid discovered in Australia. By Shreya Dasgupta, for MongaBay.
- This octopus is 40,000 times heavier than its mate. By Liz Langley, for National Geographic.
- Seal poo reveals plastic’s path in the sea. Nature research highlights.
- Grass is back in the Chesapeake, and crabs will follow. By Dan Charles, for NPR.
- Be sure to fill out your Mammal March Madness brackets, now featuring a Cookiecutter Shark! (Don’t know what March Mammal Madness is? Check out my 2017 article about it)
Spoils (long reads and deep dives):
- Mega-colony of 1.5 million penguins discovered. By Damian Carrington, for the Guardian.
- Supplemental nutritional assistance for whales. By John Strang, for Hakai.
- Is ocean acidification a chance for bipartisan cooperation in Congress? By Ian Evans, for Oceans Deeply.
- The fish that makes other fish smarter. By Ed Yong, for the Atlantic.
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!
Deep-sea mining goes to court, a year in climate reporting, oyster-adorned singers, and more! The Monday Morning Salvage: December 11, 2017.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- 2017 Year in Climate. It’s been a wild, woolly years of climate highs and policy lows.
- Fossils of Congress, featuring real, non-elected fossils, found around DC, might be my new favorite thing.
Reducing seabird bycatch, rescuing vaquita, and cod comebacks: Thursday Afternoon Dredging: October 26, 2017
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Watch aquarists at the PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh zoo target train a zebra shark so it comes when it’s called
Video by PennLive.com
- Follow PNG Sharks and Rays, a twitter account associated with a project studying “one of the last frontiers of marine biodiversity research,” on twitter.
- 5 things you should know about the Marine Mammal Protection Act. By Katie Hogge, for the Ocean Conservancy blog.
- First vaquita “rescued” in effort to save the species. By John Cannon, for MongaBay.
HAGFISH! Also deep-sea mining, climate change, The Ocean Cleanup, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 17, 2017
Fog Horn (A Call to Action)
- Hakai Magazine want to hear from you! Dear Hakai Magazine Reader, Who Are You?
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Everything Tangier is utterly fascinating right now: Angry messages to the Trump-supporting mayor of Tangier Island illustrate a need to listen, not to shout.
- I’m still just dumbfounded by this: Did a Glowing Sea Creature Help Push the U.S. Into the Vietnam War? In other words, Ocean Literacy could save us all from annihilation.
- I really hope you’re not sick of hagfish yet. Because Hagfish!
- Best headline, ever: Sea Spiders Pump Blood With Their Guts, Not Their Hearts.
Cuttlefish camouflage, climate change, ShellBorgs, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 19, 2017.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- This cuttlefish:
- Thanks to Nik Hubbard for bringing it to our attention.