Category Archives: Otherside

Three Really, Really Bad Reasons to Want to Be a Marine Biologist

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Because it’s a slow Friday and this was a great read – check out the following piece by the ‘piquant’ Dr Milton Love (who really does exist – check out the ‘Love Lab‘ at the University of California) on why being a marine biologist really ain’t that great:

Reason Number Three: “I want to be a marine biologist because I want to make big bucks.”

Okay, here’s the bottom line. By Federal law, marine biologists have to take a vow of poverty and chastity. Poverty, because you are not going to make squat-j-doodly in this job. Just how squat is the doodly we are talking about? Well, five years after finishing my PhD I was making slightly less than a beginning manager at McDonalds. Ooh, a 36 year old guy with 13 years of college and 5 years of post-doctoral experience making just about as much as a semi-literate 19 year old with pimples the size of Bolivia, who can speak perhaps 3 words at a time before the term “you know” enters the conversation.

Indeed. Read more in Part 1 and Part 2 of the series, direct from the Love Lab, or check out the lab’s blog written by their resident fish, the Cow Cod. In the day and age when scientists are assumed to be revered, it’s great to see someone in a high up position (with a great tattoo none-the-less)  not take themselves too seriously:

Milton Love is a Research Biologist at the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published simply oodles of scientific papers on the fishes of the Pacific Coast and has written several books on that topic. He thinks he knows more about these fishes than just about anyone. Whether this is true or merely the delusions of an individual with an ego the size Mount Kilamanjaro is still an open question.

Overfishing – now in a cineplex nearby

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Just thought I’d flag a movie thats just started doing the rounds in cinema theatres in the UK and the U.S (and I’m guessing the DVD-release should follow once its done the festival rounds). “The End of the Line” examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, tackles the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish and investigates the profound implications of a future world with no fish. It also aims to do for overfishing what the “Inconvenient Truth” did for climate change. Although in all fairness, Ted Danson is no Al Gore. Watching the trailer did get me excited (well that, and depressed in light of the HUGE problems facing global fish stocks) as many of the big name marine ecologists and fisheries biologists dealing with the problem of overexploited fish stocks seem to be involved: Daniel Pauly and Boris Worm to name a few.

Bablelgum has some short, related episodes (and some fun interviews and behind the scenes stuff) that you can watch for free.

The never-ending jellyfish joyride

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Whilst the media have run with a series of entertaining headlines (“Sea of deadly jelly lurks, scientist warns“, second only to “jellyfish joyride threatens oceans“), University of Queensland scientist Dr Anthony Richardson issued a grave warning as to the future of the worlds oceans (co-inciding with World Oceans Day). Dr Richardson’s research shows convincing evidence that jellyfish aggregations, associated with overfishing of their main predators and increases in nutrient run-off from fertilisers and sewage, are likely to take over large parts of the worlds oceans in the decades to come.

“Small pelagic fish like sardines and pilchards are being fished out in many places and they eat plankton, which is partly made up of juvenile jellyfish,”

“Nutrient run-off on land causes phytoplankton blooms which produce water with low oxygen which jellyfish can survive but fish can’t.

“As well, a warming ocean associated with climate change sees increasing numbers of tiny flagellates in surface waters, and they are a favourite food of some jellyfish.” (Read More)

Amongst the more impressive of these are the giant Nomura jellyfish (over 2m in diameter, weighing over 200kg), which is already causing problems for fisherman in Japan by clogging nets (click through the image above for a higher resolution photograph). Despite the serious topic, I think Dr Richardson is a definite contender for the best paper title of the year (“The jellyfish joyride: causes, consequences and management responses to a more gelatinous future“, with a subsection entitled “Self-enhancing feedback: the never-ending jellyfish joyride“).

Endangered shark found. Eaten.

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The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is one of the worlds rarest sharks – spotted only 43 times since its discovery back in 1976 off Oahu, Hawaii. These sharks are huge and bizzare creatures, capable of growing upwards of 5m in length, with luminescent light organs surrounding the mouth to attract plankton and small fish. So rare is the megamouth shark, that apparently scientists were surprised to find the 44th megamouth shark (caught by mackeral fishers in the Phillipines) had been cooked and eaten by local villagers before anyone could take a closer look. I wonder which part of the 500 kilogram shark was considered the delicacy? Read more at the National Geographic – thanks to Brian for the tip!

New coral reef blog on the scene

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One of my PhD Students, Siham Afatta, has started a new science blog called ‘Laut & Kita’ (Sea & Us). Siham (a seasoned blogger) is targeting this as one of very few scientific blogs written in Bahasa (the official language of Indonesia), which focuses primarily on marine conservation in Indonesia. I think this is a great effort and great example of the power of blogging – check out the link below.

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The secret history of nuclear testing and coral reefs

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I stumbled cross these stunning satellite images of Bikini and Enewatak Atoll on the Artificial Owl blog. Top left is a 2000m crater left by Castle Bravo in 1954, the second biggest thermonuclear hydrogen bomb (weighing in at 15 megatons, 1200 times more powerful than Hiroshima). Top right is the 120m blast crater in the reef flat created by the Cactus test in 1958. The ‘dome’ construction on the island in the same image is a concrete cover built in 1977 to cover over 85,000 cubic metres of radioactive soil and debris from across the Marshall Islands. I’m staggered by the scale of these tests – whilst I remember the end of the French underground nuclear weapons testing at Muroroa and Fangataufa Atolls in the late 1990’s (after 147 tests had been conducted), I had no idea of the sheer size of the early impact craters left from earlier explosions. The good news is that recent surveys of the coral reefs surrounding Bikini Atoll  shows signs of recovery from the disaster, and the bomb crater itself now supports vibrant and diverse coral communities. However, when  compared to surveys conducted ‘pre-bomb’ in the early 1950’s, at least 28 species of coral have now become locally extinct, most likely as a result of the initial impact, radiation, increased sedimentation or altered atoll hydrology. A few highlight pictures are featured below, but go check out the original postings here and here for more information and photographs.

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The worm will turn: a tale of a (large) marine polychaete

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I stumbled across this creature whilst reading The Other 95% (a fantastic blog documenting the oddities of invertebrate life). As Eric points out, “I guess it’s fortunate that they didn’t comment on the hyper cool, but horror movie inspiring, evertable pharynx and the jaws which look awfully like giant fangs.” Have a read through the original newspaper article below (with slightly dramatic headline “Barry the giant sea worm discovered by aquarium staff after mysterious attacks on coral reef“).

Aquarium staff have unearthed a ‘giant sea’ worm that was attacking coral reef and prize fish. The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months. Workers at the Cornwall-based attraction had been left scratching their heads as to why the coral had been left devastated and – in some cases – cut in half.

After staking out the display for several weeks, the last resort was to completely dismantle it, rock by rock. Halfway through the process the predator was revealed as a four-foot polychaete worm. Staff eventually lured it out with fish scraps, but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

Matt Slater, the aquarium’s curator, said: ‘Something was guzzling our reef but we had no idea what, we also found an injured Tang Fish so we laid traps but they got ripped apart in the night.

‘That worm must have obliterated the traps. The bait was full of hooks which he must have just digested.’

He added: ‘It really does look like something out of a horror movie. It’s over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws.

Ebay a bid to win the naming rights to a new species of shrimp

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Go check out the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s latest fundraising quest over on ebay, and bid for the exclusive rights to name a new deep water shrimp species from south-west Australia! The bid is currently at $1102.00, which is an impressive effort having started at 99c. The society do a great job for conservation of Australia’s marine environment – read more about their work here. Keep any eye on the auction in the meanwhile, which is due to end on the 31st March (permanent link to the auction here).

In early April this year, a small spotted shrimp discovered deep in the waters of south west Australia will be given a new scientific name. PhD student Anna McCallum, who discovered the shrimp, has generously chosen to auction the naming rights of the shrimp and dedicate all profits from the auction towards marine conservation. This is a rare and exciting opportunity!

This newly described species is a mysterious little creature living in the cool dark depths of our South-west oceans. Despite living 400m below the surface, this shrimp species has a jewel-like appearance. Morphing from yellow to green, this spectacular shrimp is covered in scarlet spots and sports a toothed crest across the top of its body, which gives it the delightful appearance of having a mohawk. It is in the group or genus of shrimps known as Lebbeus, and is waiting for you to place your bid and choose a unique species name that will go down in scientific history (Read More).