In a remarkable turnaround, Craig directed me to a very cool new study about manta rays (next thing you know I’ll be sending HIM papers…
View More Ever seen a manta ray’s bellybutton?Category: Biology
The Great Recession of the Deep Oceans
If energy is the currency of life then deep-sea organisms are in a long-term recession. Energy comes in three major forms important for life: solar…
View More The Great Recession of the Deep OceansUnderstanding How Hares and Big Lineman Lose Races Through Sucking Feet
In Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare a slow-moving but determined tortoise defeats an obnoxious and speedy hare, who decides to nap mid race. The…
View More Understanding How Hares and Big Lineman Lose Races Through Sucking FeetWith a snail’s help a fish transitions from dying to dead
Like manna from heaven, food from above rains on the deep. Those productive shallow waters full of light, photosynthesis, and food are an extreme contrast…
View More With a snail’s help a fish transitions from dying to deadEncomium: Lonesome George
I just read that Lonesome George, the presumed sole-remaining member of the Pinta Island giant tortoise species of the Galápagos, has died. Lonesome George was…
View More Encomium: Lonesome GeorgePreserved in the Act and Fossilized Turtle Whoopie
This is really too good not to share immediately. A recent study reports on numerous pairs of fossil turtle couples caught in the act of copulation. The…
View More Preserved in the Act and Fossilized Turtle WhoopieDramatic impacts on beach microbial communities following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Ironically enough, I was at a meeting about oil spills when the Macondo well blew. The “Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) in Arctic waters” workshop…
View More Dramatic impacts on beach microbial communities following the Deepwater Horizon oil spillFishy phone home
If you’re at all interested in charismatic megafauna (it’s OK, embrace the shame), then you’ve probably heard of satellite tagging before. This is the idea…
View More Fishy phone homeCoordinated Hunting in Red Devils
With just reason Humboldt or Jumbo Squid are called Diablo Rojo. The skin of Dosidicus gigas is blood red but can change to bone white.…
View More Coordinated Hunting in Red DevilsThese Arms Were Made For Walking
Unlike their Echinoderm brethren, brittle stars do not move along on tube feet that can propel them in any direction. Instead, brittle stars ‘walk’. This…
View More These Arms Were Made For Walking