Deep Sea News

Image credit: Mike Koh

I love science fiction. I love the ocean. Seems like science fiction & the oceans go together like Old Bay on an oyster. Except that almost all the ocean-themed scifi that I’ve encountered has these bloody annoying frickin’ dolphins. My disgust with dolphins and their nasty habits is nothing new, but I’m afraid that the otherwise cool new blog Science In My Fiction rekindled my dolphin-rage with their debut post. They propose:

Researchers’ recent suggestion that dolphins be recognized as non-human persons is a prime example of a scientific idea ripe for storytellers’ extrapolation.

No no no no no! NO MORE TALKING SCI-FI DOLPHINS! And to once and for all refute the idea that this is a novel plot device, here is my quasi-comprehensive list of dolphins in science fiction and fantasy. (JEByrnes shares my sick fascination with dolphin sci-fi & has contributed to the list over the years.) The list is rough order of good to unspeakably terrible.

• So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, Douglas Adams. This is by far the best of the lot. At least the dolphins are saucy and non-psychic.
• Hyperion, Dan Simmons. An otherwise excellent book, but innocent talking dolphins stand in for Bad Humans & Ecological Destruction.
• Deep Wizardry, Diane Duane. In which human and cetacean wizards team up to fight the forces of entropy – at a hydrothermal vent! I loved this book as a kid.
• A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L’Engle. Psychic dolphins impart spiritual healing.
• The Dolphins of Pern, Anne McCaffrey. Nothing says “let’s jump the shark!” like a friendly talking dolphin. Even if Pern doesn’t have sharks. It’s not like psychic dragons aren’t cool enough – you had to add talking friendly happy dolphins?
• Cachalot, Alan Dean Foster. A murder mystery on a water planet. OMG, did the talking dolphins do it???  At least they’re not happy friendly dolphins.
• A Deeper Sea, Alexander Jablokov. The killer whales speak in weird Elizabethan English. In space.
• Ishmael in Love, Robert Silverberg. A talking dolphin inexplicably falls in love with a human woman. Extreme ickiness ensues, in the way that only obnoxiously sexist 70s sci-fi can be icky.
• I have not read: Dolphin Island, by Arthur C. Clarke. But there are definitely superintellignent dolphins in it.

This is just books and stories. I’m not even getting into talking-cetacean TV/movies like SeaQuest DSV or Star Trek IV.  So, please, sci-fi writers, I beg you, no more talking dolphins! Can we at least have some talking squids in outer space?

For a mere $15.50 you can own science blogging pure gold! Including Deep Sea News’ winning contribution, among many more!

I was very excited when Pelfusion posted 35 Underwater Photographs That Stand Out. Unfortunately most of the photographs feature models underwater in flowing dresses or pseudocharismatic large cats.  Far less than half of the photographs contain the actual denizens of the sea. What’s up with that?

So without further delay, DSN introduces our ten favorite underwater photographers and favorite photographs from each one.  Out of respect for the photographers, we have posted no photos here and instead ask you to visit their respective sites and take a look around. Our criteria for making the list…1) We like it. 2) The biodiversity of the ocean is clearly exhibited. 3) The photographs are artistic and not just a matter of being in the right spot with a great camera while doing scuba.  As a photography instructor once told me… the camera is not as important as who is behind it.

1. Jason Bradley is one underwater photographer you should know.  Sure he’s my friend and dive buddy, but I wouldn’t hang with someone if their work was subpar.  What can I say I have standards.  Kevin Z just barely makes it.  Jason’s work has occurred in multiple venues including National Geographic. That iconic photo of a baby sea turtle venturing into the dangerous ocean that we all know…that’s Jason’s.  DSN Pick One & Two.

2. David Doubilet has photographed over 60 stories for National Geographic where he is currently a Contributing Photographer-in-Residence. DSN Pick One and Two

3. Stephen Frink is among the most published underwater photographers and served as Director of Photography for Scuba Diving Magazine.  DSN Pick One and Two

4. Tony Wu (portfolio) author of Silent Symphony which received the Grand Prize for Books at the World Festival of Underwater Pictures. Wu was featured on DSN previously for capturing the amazing act of a sperm whale actually eating a giant squid. DSN Pick One, Two, and Three

5. Peter Batson, a marine biologist  from New Zealand, has contributed to many books, magazines and newspaper articles throughout the world. His most recent work is Deep New Zealand : Blue Water, Black Abyss.  You probably already know his work and don’t know it. DSN Pick One and Two.

6. Dr. Alexander Mustard underwater photographer, author, and marine biologist, has also won many photography awards including being a multiple winner of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and World Festival of Underwater Photography. He has done just about everything. Portfolio here, make sure you look at DSN picks 8/102, 38/102, and 96/102.

7. Magnus Lundgren has won many national and awards and prizes. Recent examples are a silver medal in the World Championship of Underwater Photography in 2007, Best in Show of Wetpixel’s DEEP Indonesia and two awards in the same competition during 2008.  DSN Pick One and Two

8. Michael Aw, an underwater photographer who also founded OceanNEnvironment with the mission to promote and initiate preservation projects and to document the status of coral reefs, biodiversity and the impact of man-made pollution through research programs, and measurable conservation projects. DSN Pick One and Two are “The Boxer” and “You Talking to Me?” on this page

9. Brian Skerry has been a contract photographer for National Geographic since 1998 and his work is also occurred in numerous other magazines. Several favorites just let the slide show play on the homepage.

10. Ernie Brooks has contributed to numerous magazines and organizations including: Cousteau Society, California Highways, Ocean Realm, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Nature Conservancy and Natural Wildlife. He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards including: 1973 ‘Triton Award’ Inner Space Pacifica, Hawaii; 1975 ‘NOGI’ The Underwater Society of America; 1977 ‘National Award’ Professional Photographers of America; 1971 through 1980 Hall of Fame elector Photographic Arts and Science Foundation; 1978 Camera Craftsmen of America; ‘Hall of Fame’ Underwater Photographic Society; was honored by the Oceanic Community of SSI and Nikon for 5000 hours beneath the sea ‘Platinum Pro Diver Award’; and  ’The 1996 Partner’s Award’ from the American Oceans Campaign for his lifelong commitment and dedication to our oceans. Yes, that is a lot.  Check out DSN Picks 8/51 and  12/51

11.  I was going to stop at ten but then Jason Bradley turned me on to Paul Nicklen.  Like the others his credentials are tight… lots of awards, lots of photographs in publications you know like National Geographic, some books, and so forth.  DSN Picks include the whole damn Narwhal gallery.

Ginormous halibut from Cousteau Society's World Ocean Census. Picture taken c. 1910 at Provincetown, MA. (click image)

Perusing the internet for maps, I came across the Cousteau Society’s World Ocean Census. They have several extracts available to read online. I clicked on Extract 4: Painting a Picture of the Past – Whaling Logs, Menus and Other Records and found this ginormous halibut! As an example of how baselines shift, I didn’t even know halibut got that frikkin big!! Its pretty frightening to think how I have lived slightly over 30 years with the image in my head of a fish that I typically eat that is only a fraction of the size it once was. The scarier part is that, halibut, indeed all fish, may be even smaller or not even around for my kids to enjoy. A world without smoked halibut or halibut Bearnaise is not a world I want to pass down to my adorable children.

I want my kids to be as enthralled with tasty large fish as I was with this image. Except, I do not want to look at pictures of ghosts of large fish past, I want to see them out there in the ocean. I want to eat halibut, but see healthy populations thriving on seafloor.

Can I have my cake and eat it too? I think so, this is why we need to continue providing sound science-based management and interact with policy makers and fisheries manager.  Most importantly, we need to reach out to fishermen and provide incentives and technology that aide them in earning their living sustainably and support an industry that provides many jobs in rural economies. This includes reducing demand, and thus raising prices, to relieve pressure on the fish. Are you prepared to pay the real worth of your food in the western world? I’ll put my money where my mouth is.

Buy The World Ocean Census, visit The Cousteau Society.

During my Ph.D., my advisors began drafting a book. I patiently awaited the tome on the deep sea biodiversity. My wait is no longer. Rex and Etter’s Deep-Sea Biodiversity: Pattern and Scale is finally here and the first book dedicated to synthesizing this subject. I received my copy last week and am quickly consuming every chapter. You can expect a full review soon. The early review’s of Rex and Etter’s book highlight its importance, novelty, and depth and from my initial reading I concur.

Deep-sea ecology is experiencing an international resurgence. This book should become a landmark.
–Robert S. Carney, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University

Rex and Etter’s great achievement will be an essential volume on any marine scientist’s bookshelf. It relates the great discovery of biodiversity patterns in the deep-sea floor to the physical and biological dynamics of the global ocean and its regions, and provides an important evolutionary and geological history perspective on the assembly of present day patterns of biodiversity.
–Jeffrey Levinton, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University

Rex and Etter offer a truly novel synthesis of an exciting and dynamic subject. They have done an exceptional job of compiling new data that captures the history, idea development, and current conceptual understanding of the abundance and diversity of the deep sea.
–Lisa A. Levin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Species diversity is considered briefly in the few books that address deep-sea biology but there is nothing to compare with the depth, insight and clarity of Deep-Sea Biodiversity. This book fills an important niche in deep-sea ecology.
–Paul A. Tyler, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

I can say that if you have any interest in biodiversity or the deep sea this reasonably priced book should be a must for your shelf.

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Captain Phil of the F/V Cornelia Marie. He suffered a massive stroke a week ago and though he was showing signs of recovery, passed away yesterday.

You can say what you want about Discovery Channel and their program Deadliest Catch, but Captain Phil was a fisherman through and through. The show is about real people doing real work, dangerous work. He always had his crew’s best interest in mind and was an inspiration to sons, also fishermen. The next time you crack open an Alaskan king crab leg, think about all the fishermen past and present who risk their lives on the high seas to bring you that food. Though they choose that life (some might say it choose them), they are out there working hard to help feed all of us who eat seafood. As part of the Alaskan fishery, he participated in one the best managed fishing areas in the US.

Below is a segment of Captain Phil and his two sons on Larry King Live.

The World's Authoritative Guide to Vent Fauna

Clearly, last week’s Cephalopod Beak ID Contest was too easy! So This week’s contest is going to be a little harder. I’m testing you guys out, seeing where your limits are. This week I am highlighting the Handbook of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna by veteran deep sea colleagues Daniel Desbruyères, Michel Segonzac and Monika Bright. It is a 2nd edition and was published by Biologiezentrum der Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen in Linz, Austria. It actually went out of print and they recovered their costs of production so they made it freely downloadable on their website!

Your task is to download and look at the amazing photos and line drawings of some of the planet’s most amazing critters. You will need to identify the species of worm using the clues in the poem below.

As always, fame and (not) fortune will follow as your name will be graced on the front page of the one and only Deep Sea News! First person to post a comment with the correct answer and include their name/pseudonym (or how you would like to be acknowledged) and a valid email address, will attain MAD TAXONOMIC SKILLZ STARDOM!

R U READY FOR THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE!!!!!!

My mouth don’t look like much

But when its time to munch

I spit my jaws

bare teeth and alls

to make you part of my lunch

Though my home is hot as an oven

I wear armor 1 less than a dozen

Adorned with beads

Hiding gills like trees

3 pairs papillae for island lovin’

Due to popular demand and a limited run the authors of the Cephalopod Beak Guide for the Southern Ocean have their book freely available for download on the internet! The guide is published by the British Antarctic Survey and is available is 10mb low-res download and well as a 55mb hi-res download.

As the only defining character left after digestion, the squid beak is important in determining the type of squid that eaten. As Paul Rodhouse wrote in the preface:

“This new guide will be an essential identification tool for ecologists working on the diets of higher predators. Nevertheless it is clear that there are still cephalopod beaks being found in predator diets that belong to species that are unknown to science.”

As a fun game the first person to download the book and identify this lower cephalopod beak will win the love and adoration of Deep Sea News and have their name (or pseudonym) displayed on our frontpage for all the world to see how awesome they are and get Mad Taxonomic Skillz bragging rights!

Rules:

1) Download the Cephalopod Beak Guide

2) Bask in its glory

3) Identify the squid beak below (hint: it is the lower beak)

4) Post a comment with the answer and include your name/pseudonym (how you would like to be acknowledged) and a valid email address

5) Get adoration and see name on top of website until next contest

5) You better get to it fast because there are lots of DSN readers with Mad Taxonomic Skillz!

I’m back from a productive trip to Ireland to work with colleagues there and then a nice Christmas break with the family on the Mississippi River in Illinois. So regular posting will now resume!

I found this gem in my reader this morning courtesy of Boing Boing and subsequently wasted about 1.25 hrs of my morning looking at old Weekly World News covers, which are now available freely on Google Books. Here are a few of my favorite covers!

Click on each Weekly World News cover to embiggen!

Craig is the hipster around here, always keeping up on the latest trends and knows exactly what the kids are doing these days. Me, I more of a laid back folkie. Give me a can of Dale’s Pale Ale, an acoustic guitar and a summer night sky filled with fireflies. Now I know all the kids around here have been uppity about this neat “I’m on a Boat” tune, but its nothing new. You can’t pull a fast one me, no sir. I’ve seen this same ole song before. This is the original “on a boat” song in my mind and will always be. So you can have mermaid blow-up dolls and your afghans, they ain’t got no ponies or slide guitar. I’d like to see guy sail across the English Channel to this tune.