octopus
Mud volcanoes, starfish wasting, the stinkiest fruit, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 4, 2019.

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Mud volcanoes, the baby cousins for hydrothermal vents and methane seeps, don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve. There she blows! Mud volcanoes in the Mediterranean.

- Starfish wasting disease continues to plague the Pacific: A Starfish-Killing Disease Is Remaking the Oceans.

Dive bombing birds, octopus intelligence, and a red tide update: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, December 6, 2018
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Follow Joe Cunningham, a marine engineer who was just elected to Congress, on twitter!
- The dive bombing birds of Newfoundland. By Craig McClain, for Deep Sea News
- How much does it cost to save a species? Less than you think! By Erik Vance, for the last word on nothing.
Spoils (long reads and deep dives):
- Yes, the Octopus Is Smart as Heck. But Why? By Carl Zimmer, for the New York Times.
- Global biodiversity treaty (Convention on Migratory Species) searches for its moment in the spotlight. By Isabel Esterman, for MongaBay. Do you know about CMS? Why do you think it gets less publicity than other conservation meetings?
- It’s Time for Journalism to Ring the Alarm About Climate Change More Loudly. By Daniel Grossman, for the Revelator
- Connecting fish, rivers, and people. By Abigail Lynch, for the Fisheries Blog.
- The secrets of lonesome George: genome may contain clues about longevity. Editorial from Nature.
- Code red: An update on Florida’s toxic seas. From the Save Our Seas Foundation blog.
- Fishermen blame, sue energy companies for climate change that affects their catch. By Alistair Bland, for NPR.
Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!
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LarvaBots, turning the tide on captive dolphins, horror fish from the deep sea, ARA San Juan found, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: November 19, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Congratulations to Dr. Hal Holmes of Conservation X Labs for earning a Moore Foundation Inventor Fellowship for his DNA Barcode Project.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

LarvalBot gently squirts the coral larvae onto damaged reef areas. Credit: QUT Media
Coral reefs lose their champion, which laptop is really the greenest, new sea slugs, and an octopuses garden in the sea. Monday Morning Salvage: November 5, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Help the Victims of Typhoon Yutu.
- Ruth Gates dedicated her life to saving the world’s reefs and training the next generation of reef scientists. The Fight for Corals Loses Its Great Champion.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The newest members of the nudibranch family. (H. iba comes in 2 color morphs.)
Photo: California Academy of Sciences
- Palau Becomes First Nation to Ban Sunscreens That Harm Corals.
- The tiny sponge that could help preserve our deep oceans.

A close-up photo of the sponge that is being studied. NHM.
SeaWorld versus OSHA versus Brett Kavanaugh, sea lions and sucker punches, this dumpster whale is all of us, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 1, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Irrational, unhinged, and belligerent, Sweaty Brett Kavanaugh has no place on the Supreme Court. Call your Senators and let them know. And, because all drains lead to the ocean, read his inscrutable dissent on the SeaWorld v. OSHA case.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- This kayaker got sucker punched. Sorry, I’ll show myself out.
- It was a banner week for ocean gifs. Dead whale spends night in Rye parking lot after movers realize they’re going to need a bigger tote.
- I’m pretty jazzed by the idea of a transparent canoe.
High octopuses don’t love you back, sextants in space, protect our ocean monuments, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 24, 2018
Foghorn (a call to action)
- After a decade spent expanding marine protection throughout the US EEZ, the federal government is going to war on healthy oceans: The Trump Administration’s New Attack on Marine Monuments.
- Want to work for COMPASS in DC? One of the nation’s preeminent science communications institutions is hiring, and trust me, DC needs you.
- If fleeing to Canada is more your style (David (¬_¬) ), Ocean Watch is hiring a manager to plan, manage and execute the Coastal Ocean Health Initiative.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Gulper Eels are amazing. Amazing.
- This is an amazing series of visualizations from the Guardian. Seven endangered species that could (almost) fit in a single train carriage.

There are approximately 30 vaquitas left in the world
Illustration: Mona Chalabi
- There are sextants on the International Space Station and I can’t stop thinking about it.
A new disaster in Ocean Policy, follow the International Marine Conservation Congress at #IMCC5, shallow vents, deep mining, cotton candy lobsters, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 25, 2018
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- We have a new National Ocean Policy and it is exactly as bad as you would expect. I’m at the International Marine Conservation Congress (the largest ocean conservation meeting in the world) and not a single ocean professional from anywhere on the political spectrum thinks this new Ocean Policy is a good idea.
- Follow along with the International Marine Conservation Congress on Instagram, Oceansocial.us, and Twitter.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Denies Insider Trading in Short Sale of Russia-Linked Shipping Company. And then: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Short Sale of Kremlin-Linked Shipping Firm Navigator Holdings Wins Ethics Approval. This seems fine and normal and on the level.
Two new writers, the net that never stops killing, how not to launch a boat, the Blackfish Effect, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 28, 2018
Muster (updates from the blog)
- Southern Fried Science has a fresh, new, mobile friendly look! Let us know what you think in the comments.
- We welcomed two new writers in as many months! Please give a huge welcome to Angelo Villagomez and Rachel Pendergrass. Check out their first articles:
- Spotted in the Chesapeake: We met a friendly Northern Water Snake swimming around the Bay this weekend. Northern Water Snakes are common and completely harmless. If you see one, just say “Hi” and let them be.

Photo by author
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this summer, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper. If you’ve done so, please leave a link to it in the comments.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
“One old gill net found wedged between rocks off the coast of the San Juan Islands reportedly sat atop a pile of marine bird and mammal bones that was three feet deep.”

WHOI
- It’s been far, far too long since we had a really good boat launch fail. Don’t worry, the crane operator bailed out before the flip and is fine.
Write to your newspaper, banning plastic in the Bahamas, vanishing atolls, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: April 30, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this May, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- The government of the Bahamas will ban plastic bags and other single use plastics by 2020!
- Are you listening to Offshore by Civil Beat? The current season on adoptions in the Marshall Islands is a gut punch.
The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

© RAFEED HUSSAIN