Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Dont want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I cant trace time

The first major change in my life is note in the sidebar to the right.  The second is below…

One of our best pictures of deep (~300 m) scleractinian cup corals in Green Canyon 234 in the Gulf of Mexico, to commemorate the kick-off the 4th International Deep-Sea Coral Symposium in Wellington, New Zealand this Monday, Dec 1 2008. The lasers are set 7 cm apart. Callogorgia sp. sea fans dominate the scene, but the cup corals are captured in profile, with polyps fully extended.

The image was collected by digital camera mounted on the Saab SeaEye Falcon DR ROV launched from the RV Nancy Foster with the Lophelia II 2008 Deepwater Coral Expedition. Don’t know the genus of the cup corals (sorry, not really my thing), but maybe we’ll collect some next time. – PJE

I’ve watched Chris Mah’s Echinoblog intermittently with a blended mix of fear and admiration since he debuted more than 6 months ago, but now he’s posting regularly, and more and more I’m impressed with his endless overflowing flountain of starry-eyed holothurian content. I really like his day in the life series, and especially the stop-motion animation of sea urchins (showing above) he posts to toss hungry dogs a bone while he tries to get some work done. Congrats Chris, on a great first year. – PJE

My advisor (Tom) just returned from a two week trip to Valencia, Spain where he participated in the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity. It sounds like a lovely time, complete with a beautiful setting, a retinue of 700+ academics, and its very own Declaration. See "The Valencia Declaration: A Plea for Protection of Marine Biodiversity" at their website. Nice pictures of the venue there, too.

Bloggers Craig McClain of DSN and Emmet Duffy of Natural Patriot also participated.

Tom said lots of conversations started something like this… "Hello. An American! How wonderful. You have a new President! Congratulations.", assuming that, if you’re at a Biodiversity Conference, you’re probably not a Republican. "Yes, yes. Thank you." Tom said. "We’re very pleased, and quite relieved." "Yes, Of course," said the European,  "and SO are WE!", laughing heartily with his hand on his chest. Tom said he heard a dozen versions of this same conversation over the course of a week.

Isn’t that remarkable? Even in the face of a global financial crisis and surmountable losses to marine biodiversity, we can be thankful for the winds of change, investing so much of our Hope in the one Man that embodies this emotion, President-elect Barack Obama of the United States of America. I’m amazed and thankful, not just for the US, but for the world I live in.

Wallace J Nichols captures this spirit in his Thanksgiving Day Op-Ed piece at Good Times Santa Cruz called "The Annihilation of Cynicism". If you find a quiet moment today, take a few minutes to check it out. It’s hopeful. - PJE

Happy Thanksgiving to all our american readers! Take a tip from the shrimp and get some exercise after stuffing yourself with delicious food and beverage all day!

As I participate in this great U.S. of A holiday that celebrates whats best about the country…overindulgence, you can enjoy these videos.

I’ve discussed the MARS project here before.  To recap its 32 miles of cable, both power and ethernet, running from the shoreline under the seafloor to spot at about 900m slightly north of Monterey Canyon.  There a hub exists where various instrument packages can be plugged in.  Those then can send back data in real time which I can access on my desktop while drinking my morning brew.

Below is a nice little audio and photo montage KQED did about the project.

Long time readers will be all too aware of my absolute fascination with the bone-devouring zombie worms from the ocean’s depths. Since their discovery merely 6 years ago, researchers have uncovered many discoveries about these strange creatures. To review: Fun Facts on the genus Osedax (meaning “bone-devourer”)! Gather round the whole family!

• Not only do they dine on whale bones, they apparently can dine on cow bones too. Make sure you lock up the cattle in the barn at night!
• There are more than one species and they appear in multiple parts of the world! I wouldn’t sit there looking so smug and contect landlocked countries. It is only a matter of time before crawl out the ocean for a taste of human flesh! Yes I’m talking to you Bolivia and Switzerland.
• They lead disgusting lives that would have made Jerry Falwell weep in despair. It is a female dominated society with males relegated to pathetic little sacks of sperm. The females have evolutionarily beaten down the men in the Osedax world to worthless little semi-parasitic dwarves. Alas this appears to be the condition in all Osedax species discovered thus far.
• Not only are the men made into mice, but females exploit them by keeping them confined to harems! Talk about keeping the man down! Up to 114 males have been found in a single female oviduct.

Really, can you take much more of them? Maybe the Japanese and Norwegians are on to something. Kill the whales, destroy the zombie worms, restore decency to the world. Cut them off from the top? Another approach is to cut them off from the bottom, by depleting (freeing?) the females harem of enslaved males. In order to understand how we might fight these most unholy of sea creatures, Vrijenhoek and colleagues sought to understand where the supply of males came from.

Details below the fold!

(more…)

Underwater cinematographer Champ Williams hosts an AWESOME three-way invertebrate cage match between a keyhole limpet, sunflower seastar, and a commensal scaleworm at his video website. Once you connect, click on "The Secret Weapon". This is required viewing. There will be a quiz.

Just have to think of some questions first… -PJE

One of the unexpected consequences of collapsed and mismanaged fisheries worldwide is… more pirates! Somalians are now claiming they were forced into piracy by foreign fleets who destroyed their fishing vessels. In the face of poverty, piracy is apparently their best option. Read the primer on 21st century piracy at ABC News called  Who are these pirates?.

In an interview with The Guardian this week, Asad Abdulahi said he and
his shipmates considered themselves "heroes running away from poverty".

"We don’t see the hijacking as a criminal act but as a road
tax," he said, "because we have no central government to control our
sea.

Is that a curveball or a slider? Can’t be sure. I just didn’t see that one coming. But then again, I never lived in a country that hasn’t had a government for 20 years.

When you’re finished with Pirate 101, check out this story about Yemeni fishermen in Somalian waters at the EagleSpeak blog. It digs a little deeper into the fishing aspects.

Species thanks to Pirate Shantyman and Bonnie Lass for letting us have fun with their image. In return, we dub you DSN "Rogues of Week". Expect an autographed picture of Craig McClain to arrive by carrier pigeon any day now. – PJE