LINKS TO INTERESTING STUFF ON THE WEB – CETACEAN EDITION “Seven North Atlantic Right Whale Calves Spotted So Far This Year,” The Scientist The number is still too low to be sustainable, but last year it was zero, so it’s promising. “Beaked Whales Are the Deepest Divers,” New York Times Not that much is known about them, but they dive deeper and can stay longer than any other marine mammal. “Migrating blue whales rely on
INTERESTING STUFF FROM AROUND THE WEB A marine biologist snorkeled with a great white shark, even touching it. She called it “magic.” Others call it risky behavior and tell you to please not try it. Story and video, Washington Post. An anomaly in our age of global warming, a deep region of the Pacific Ocean is actually cooling. It’s because of the very slow churn of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt; the water in question
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INTERESTING STUFF ON THE WEB Jellyfish have generally been regarded as more nuisance more than key players in the ocean food web. But they may be much more significant than has been previously thought, according to a study described in the online magazine Anthropocene. While they have long been considered “tropic dead ends” ignored by predators, in fact they’re regularly consumed by marine life as diverse as fishes, penguins, turtles, crabs, octopuses, sea cucumbers and
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Happy Holidays from Poseidon’s Web! May your 2019 include lots of bubbles! Ralph Fuller, Editor & Publisher Photo: A Panamic cushion star (Pentaceraster cumingi), found mostly in the eastern Pacific along the American coast, from the Gulf of California to northern Peru. This guy photographed in the Galapagos Islands. Sometimes referred to as a knobby sea star. I.D. REFERENCE: “Pentaceraster cumingi,” Wikipedia.
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THIS POST HAS TWO PARTS: One is a terrific video about giant larvaceans, deep seazooplankton, featuring a cast of many other deep sea denizens and a terrific jazz piano score (It’s from the estimable folks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, naturally). Then there’s the article from the quarterly science magazine Cosmos, focusing on research on giant larvaceans’ role in sequestering carbon in their “mucus houses” – yes, “mucus houses” – and sending it to
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BLACK DURGONS (MELICHTHYS NIGER) HAVE LONG BEEN BOTH A FAVORITE FISH OF MINE and a challenge to photograph. A favorite because I like their dramatic effect – all that blackness with blue stripes along their anterior dorsal and anal fins – and their wiggly technique of swimming powered by those fins. A challenge because, well, they’re black. They suck up light like a black hole. And (see above), they’re wiggly. I’ve shot more black, blobby
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Links to News, Research and Other Interesting Stuff on the Web “THE SWISS CONSIDER THE LOBSTER. IT FEELS PAIN, THEY DECIDE” A British scientist concludes it’s possible that lobsters feel pain when placed in boiling water, the Swiss order it no longer be done, a Boston scientist says it’s all hooey. “THE BLOODY PIRATE LIFE OF ONE OF THE OCEAN’S MOST ELUSIVE CREATURES” It turns out that giant squids steal from each other. “TRASH IN
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BASED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION is probably better known in Europe than in the United States, but it draws entries from around the world and the photos are fantastic. The group has just announced its 2018 winners, competing in eight categories – Wide-Angle, Macro, Portrait, Compact, Behavior, Black & White and Up and Coming – plus three British Waters categories, Wide Angle, Macro and Compact. Here are two
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In Plain English…. Christmas Tree Worms! Happy Holidays! Ralph Fuller, Poseidon’s Web
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THE MISSION OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION’S Okeanos Explorer research vessel is to study deep-sea habitats all over Planet Earth, using remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to view life at the depths. Among its expeditions during the past couple of years: waters around the Hawaiian Islands, the Mariana Trench and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. THE GULF’S TURN During December, it’s turned its attention to the Gulf of Mexico, mapping and focusing
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