Deep Sea News

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Peter has made 4 years of contributions to Deep Sea News! Between January 2007 and July 2009 Peter averaged 12.7 ± 5.4 posts per month. Not bad! I did not have data for the 1 and half years spent at Blogger prior to joining Seed Scienceblogs, but he ranged from 3 posts in July 2007 to 25 posts in April 2009. From January 2007, DSN’s first full month at Scienceblogs, to Peter’s farewell post, he racked in 402 posts (31.5 months). I’ve compiled my Top 25 of Peter’s posts for readers to enjoy looking back on, ordered chronologically.

February 10-11, 2007 – Just Science Weekend: Gadid Fish and They Eat Their Young
March 13, 2007 – Webcasting Exploration
March 25, 2007 – A Fish that Starts with “X”: Children’s Book about the Sea
June 8, 2007 – Our Ocean Future: The Glass Half Full
July 9, 2007 – How safe Is Your Sushi?
August 7, 2007 – Deep Corals of Washingtpn State
September 6, 2007 – As NGO’s Rise Greenpeace Goes Under
January 14, 2008 – Clueless about Big Tuna
January 24, 2008 – Scary Sushi: Guerilla Science and the Fish Fog Syndrome
April 28, 2008 – Deep Sea Corals Are Rich and Beautiful, Like Their Shallow Tropical Counterparts
May 1, 2008 – Footprint of the Atomic Age in the World’s Oceans
May 2, 2008 – Deep Corals Provide Habitat for Numerous Associated Species
May 22, 2008 – A Motion in Google Ocean
July 12, 2008 – Is It All Over for Corals?
August 5, 2008 – Making the Deep Sea Connection to Mangroves
September 7, 2008 – The Glacial Pace of Sea-Level Rise
December 2, 2008 – My Take: A New Species of Isidella Bamboo Coral
December 11, 2008 – One Question Interview: Champ Williams
January 22, 2009 – Naming a New Species Is Tricky Business
February 3, 2009 – Broadcast Media’s Comman Performance
February 5, 2009 – Pimp Your Google Ocean
February 6, 2009 – 19th Century Voyage Through Google Earth
March 3, 2009 – Tips on Consulting for the Marine Sciences
March 25, 2009 – Deep Sea Corals Are World’s Oldest Animal
April 14, 2009 – Finding Nemo by DNA Parentage Analysis

Plus Peter spearheaded Megavertebrate Week, The Great Turtle Race DSN Iron Man Challenge and Coral Week. Additionally, Peter and I, as well as several other fantastic bloggers, participated in a panel session Real Time Blogging in the Marine Sciences at the 2nd North Carolina Science Blogging Conference in 2008 (now Science Online). An accomplished blogging career, see you later Peter!

The Daily Green has the full list of the Top Ten Highlights from Census of Marine Life. We covered the octopus’ ancestor from the "thermohaline express" the day before yesterday. Here are some other compelling stories:

1. A "New Continent" in the Mid-Atlantic
   A survey of area in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, under more than a mile and
   a half of water, is prompting scientists to describe their findings as
   a "new continent" — because of the abundance of rare or unknown
   species.

2. World’s Deepest Hot Vent
   The world’s deepest known active
   hot vent, Ashadze,
   is more than 2.5-miles deep. It is dominated by anemones, polychaete worms and shrimp. Scientists are finding signs of life even in areas
   mostly devoid of oxygen.

3. Trawl Scars on a Boulder’s Pencil
   The Earth’s largest methane seep, Boulder’s
   Pencil, is 112 square miles near New Zealand. It was mapped for the first time, and
   scientists discovered the scars of deep-sea trawls. Doh! Draggers beat us to it. Again.

If there was anything interesting happening with brittlestars we’d tell you about it. Promise. – PJE

Best DSN Post (Fuzzy Yeti): Maybe not the Pulitzer but it matters to Peter and I (and now Kevin). You decide the winner by casting your votes in the comments. The final 6 nominated by The Judges! include:

Canadians Should Root For Global Warming by Craig. One of The Judges! stated this was “a truly informative post on global warming and the NW passage.”
Sea Turtle Advocates Appeal to the Vatican by Peter
Rogue Waves by Craig
Hydrothermal Vents=Global Warming by Craig. One of The Judges! commented “You dealt with that well and highlights the ignorance of some sectors of the media. I also love the comment debate with Mr. HarleysR2fuknloud.”
A Fish That Starts With X: Children’s books about the Sea by Peter. One of The Judges! noted “Being a new father (11/3), this will guide my book-buying for her for a while.” Another of The Judges! nominated this for the best book review.
From the Desk of Zelnio: Dermochelys coriacea by Kevin. “Using the incredibly detailed and fascinating information found in this post on leatherback sea turtles, I was able to much more efficiently focus my efforts on one of my life’s missions: the extermination of all leatherback sea turtles.”

Best Photo (Ansel Adams On Ship Award): Again in the peace loving, utopia that is DSN…we are all winners.

International Polar Year
Scaly Foot
Radiolaria “I’m kind of a Haeckel groupie and this picture of the real thing is obviously a rip off of his artwork“stated one of The Judges!
The Art of Kawika Chetron.
Animals in Formalin Overheard judges comment, “Yeah, yeah… call me a classicist.”

Best TGIF video: Peter introduced the Thank God Its Friday Video series this year, thereby creating more work for me but making Friday a little more enjoyable.

Fish Guys
Cruise, Cruise, Baby (Honorable Mention) updated link
GIANT ISOPODS! (Honorable Mention) updated link
Its hard not to like Fish Guys for all of its magnificent geekdom…systematics, museums, obscure pop culture references. Two of The Judges! pointed to the line, “Yeah, she’s like Thelma going to Scooby-Do’s Funeral.” One of the Judges! noted, “This was probably a no-brainer for someone using the blogging handle FishGuyDave” Another of The Judges! commented, “I’ve also tried to make office space jokes to stiffs. I totally run around in my lab shouting species names too. You can ask anyone.” Cruise, Cruise, Baby gets a nod from The Judges! and myself (secretly we all love Vanilla Ice and Rick James) GIANT ISPODS! is also in because as Chief Justice I can do whatever the hell I want and one of The Judges! is ” partial to this amazing footage of my brethren at a holiday meal.”

Best Conservation Post: Me being overly optimistic that we can actually do this.
How to Save the Ocean

Most Entertaining/Funniest Post:

Gorton’s Law
Hurricanes Lead to Incursion of Deep Sea Squid Up the Mississippi (honorable mention)
So You Want to Be A Marine Biologist (honorable mention)

Multiple votes were cast for each one of these but ultimately Gorton’s Law took the cake. I thought we only had 8 judges? The first likely won because “sometimes the truth is funny and sad.” My April Fool’s Joke originally duped at least one of The Judges!. The last caused one commenter to criticize us all for hating dolphins and hating those who love dolphins.

Best Cephalopod-Related Post: Who doesn’t love tentacled mollusks? If you love charismatic megavertebrates then you’re in the wrong place but if you love charismatic mega-INvertebrates then welcome home!

Three way tie

Biggest Squid Ever (part one & part two)
Voracious Deep-Sea Squid
Humboldt are here and they are hungry

Post Most Likely to Put Zooillogix out of Business:
Attack of the 2000lb Deep-Sea Monster

The long awaited results…

Best New Discovery/Research (Heights of the Abyss Award): When it’s the deep sea its all new. 2007 was no different with more big discoveries and novel research than you can shake a stick at. The Judges! were more indecisive than the Democratic party on what to do about Iraq. The result is a wishy-washy, utopian, happy unicorns and rainbows, “we’re all winners” pile of links.

Humboldts Are Here and They Are Hungry
Jackelopterus rehnaniae
Corals In Acid
Sound Generated By Mid-Ocean Ridge Black Smoker
Lost Years For Sea Turtles Revealed

Best Conservation News: Umm…there was good conservation news? Surprisingly, yes. First, you made a difference twice! Just when I thought we couldn’t top 2006’s Donor’s Choose, along came 2007.

Readers Make A Difference (2006)
Readers Make A Difference (2007)

Out of 2007 came an increased awareness of the threat to deep-sea environments from bottom trawling. An initiative began among the Pacific Islands to ban trawling. In October, 20 countries agreed to restrict trawling until further study is conducted.

Good News From The South Pacific
Some Countries agree to end deep-sea bottom trawling

Worst Conservation News (The “Wish We Didn’t Need An Award For This” Award): One of The Judges! noted, “it’s a bit sad that this category was easier than the others.” Unfortunately, the destruction of the earth occurred in 2007, just like 2006 and will continue in 2008, bringing a tear to the eye of those who care.

Underwater Ticking Time Bomb & Munitions Dumping At Sea
Plastic Expanding Inevitable (Honorable Mention)
And the first cetacean to disappear as a result of human activity… (Honorable Mention)

With regard to the military confusing the ocean with a trash can one of The Judges! noted “I used to do a lot of work with the Mid-Atlantic sea scallop fishery, which would dredge over some of the most heavily-used disposal sites. We’d bring up old .50-caliber and artillery shells, luckily empty, as well as other miscellaneous equipment — I have one of the flight harnesses brought up on one trip hanging in my office right now. As those canisters and shells start leaking in the next decade, I fear that we’ll be in a world of hurt.” As if that’s not depressing enough another species is gone and plastic outnumbers plankton in the Central Pacific.

Most Rotten Tomato:

Underwater Ticking Time Bomb & Munitions Dumping At Sea
The Benefits of Seawater (Honorable Mention)
Hydrothermal Vents=Global Warming (Honorable Mention)

2007 saw a lot of Rotten Tomatoes. The military ultimately won out for dumping a bunch of really nasty stuff into the ocean. Top generals noted “Not my problem anymore!” Quinton’s Super Special Seawater and the internet buzz they tried to generate until DSN stopped them cold in their tracks also deserves the decaying fruit award. With regard to the last post, one of The Judges! noted this was worthy of another award “The Most Like Something I Said When I Was 6″ Award. Seems our judges told their friend’s mother that summer was hotter because magma came closer to the earth’s surface. “The truly funny part was that she believed me.” The same judge also nominated me for this post that presented something aweful/wonderful, “a riddle wrapped in a conundrum…” The brother of this judge also nominated this post for some reason and stated, “this only reinforced [my] belief that you would totally make out with Ballard if you were sure that no one would find out.”

Intersection of Art & Science: 2007 was a year for breaking stereotypes. Turns out scientists aren’t the socially-inept, Dungeon-and-Dragons-playing, well-behaved, uncreative and unartistic automatons you think we are. Sometimes we have tattoos (Octotat!) and turn crabs bad. Indeed, naughty arthropods inspired a hit song.

When Crabs Go Bad
Science Tattoos

Best “Deep-Sea” Book or Product:What can no deep-sea scientist, aspiring deep-sea scientist, or armchair deep-sea scientist go without? One judge noted that our post on Haggis-On-Whey’s….”Made me buy the book, best purchase of 2007 and the source for all of Zooillogix’s cephalopod knowledge.” If this is the case then stay with DSN for all your cephalopod information. 2007 also saw one of the best deep-sea books to hit the scene…ever! This year The Judges! also seemed to favor products that allowed them to transfer essential electronic files to and fro.
Books:
Haggis-On-Whey’s World of Unbelievable Brilliance: Animals of the Ocean, In Particular the Giant Squid (Note the posts was also nominated originally for funniest/best post and best book review)
The Deep (best book of 2007)
Flash Drives:
Field Rated Flash Drive
Big fin reef squid flash drive

Coolest Technology/Gear: If you want to do serious deep-sea science while enjoying a GnT on the promenade deck then a $78 million luxury sub is just what the doctor ordered (not a medical doctor, just me).

Proteus

Apparently, Peter and I have finally done something right. Who I am kidding, Peter is perfect. I on the other hand am working Toward the Year of Craig to balance out the hell that was 2007. Low and behold I will not be needing this to wear around because Peter and I have managed to make it into OpenLab 2007

Well, The Day has arrived! After reading all of the 486 entries at least once (and many 2-3 times) and after calculating all of the judges’ ratings of all the posts, Reed Cartwright and I are happy to announce which [50] blog posts will be published in the second science blogging anthology, the “Open Laboratory 2007″.

Peter and I were one of honored ones for our biting commentary on the future of our oceans.

Our Ocean Future: The Glass Half Empty and Our Ocean Future: The Glass Half Full

2007 at DSN…Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. For 2008…Work It Harder, Make It Better, Do It Faster, which will Make Us Stronger. As usual as the end of year comes up I get a bit weepy and nostalgic. During this time I send Peter an email harassing him to produce the Best of DSN and Best of the Abyss. Peter this year gently reminded me it was my turn. This year I trekked around the globe and found experts in many fields to find the best of 2007. Well…actually I spent a half-hour emailing people I actually thought I could sucker into this. The judges are hodgepodge of internet semi-celebrities, closeted debutants, science ubergeeks, wacko-liberal-atheists nutjobs, and pinko-commie-dolphin-huggers with a combined weight close to my gin consumption for last year. Stay tuned for the absolute BEST of 2007.

The judges:

Jim Lemire of from Archaea to Zeaxanthol, dedicated teacher and warper of young minds, inordinate fondness of rum and Darwin, forced students to read DSN, potentially saltier than me

Christina Kellogg, fanatical for microbial theme weeks, repository for 80’s culture, masochistic government employee, actually reads DSN, definitely smarter and more attractive than me

The Brothers Belimann of Zoologix, passionate about forbidden passions, vaudevillian humorists except on Tuesdays, actually triplets who molt on Tuesdays, may have heard of DSN, liable to be more insane than me

Sheril Kirshenbaum of The Intersection, ghostwriter of the Republican War on Science and some book on hurricanes, triple threat as singer/songwriter/dancer, the person you love to hate because they’re good at everything but can’t because they’re actually nice, heard of DSN first when I emailed her to be a judge, absolutely signs more autographs than me

David W. Kerstetter, spends most of time thinking about fish, spend rest of time thinking about fish thinking, raised by manatees in Belize rescued by a magical marlin who transported him to Florida, wrote 11 pages on J-style hooks but completely ignored the dreaded O-hook, reads DSN out of pity, probably eats more fish than me

MikeG, microbial DJ extraordinaire, like Christina with a great big bushy beard, wanted to be brewmaster but went for fame and fortune with USGS, reads DSN but doesn’t generally want others to know, same blood type and potential organ donor for me

Kevin Zelnio of the Other 95%, the Frasier of DSN, more talented but not as cute as Justin Timberlake, 15 time winner of the Southeast Pennsylvanian Noodling Jamboree, taught his children how to make macaroni sculptures of invertebrates, only reads DSN to see if we plugged his blog, only links to DSN when he references his old posts here, when he gets his Ph.D. will be a cooler, smarter, younger version of me.

Since this won a Fuzzy Yeti Crab (The Fuzzy) for 2006, I thought a repost was in order.
There is a great article at the San Francisco Chronicle on cosmeuceuticals and the extent people are distributing snake oil including this beauty…

At the highest end of the skin-care spectrum, Saks Fifth Avenue on Union Square sells Estee Lauder’s Re-Creation daytime and nighttime cream set (a store exclusive), which contains “deep sea water” for minerals and sells for $900.

So what are the purported effects of deep-sea water? I collected some claims from around the internet which range from plain wrong to distorted truth.

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Our Best of the Abyss awards were conceived to recognize important deep-sea happenings around the world, and intended to pay our humble respects to all the hard working scientists, technicians, and policy makers that make our postings possible here on the blog. If it wasn’t for these people, we would have precious few good things to report.

This post, the “Best of Deep Sea News 2006″, is a little different because these awards are intended to recognize our best attempts to deliver something fun and interesting. However, rather than turn the contest into a mutual self-admiration society, we solicited several unbiased judges from federal, non-profit and private sectors to admire ourselves for us. ; ) As in Best of the Abyss, the Best of DSN award reviews are in the style of the Zagat Guide, quoting insights from the panel. Enjoy.

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