One of the most unusual creatures evah

I need to start paying more attention. How did such an incredible creature avoid my notice? How did I not see this reported over on DSN? You have to see this to believe it.

How do you like your eggs?

Please forgive me a moment of self-congratulation, but yours truly has just won the Second, Maybe Annual, MBSL&S Spring Ocean Egg Hunt hosted by that magnanimous coral conservationist, Rick MacPherson. All those years of either studying or teaching invertebrate zoology have finally paid off! Amy Johnson would be proud - and would have disowned me if I had missed Mystery Egg #4.

I've always prided myself in being somewhat of a natural historian, so I jumped at the chance to test my knowledge and sleuthing skills. Of the 15 different photos up for identification I can proudly say that I immediately knew what 11 of them were, at least generally. It took some googling to narrow them all down to species level. Mystery Eggs #7, #10 and #13 proved most difficult. With a helpful hint from Rick, #7 came into focus. #13 gave me fits and out of frustration decided they must be related to #7 - turns out my frustration served me well. #10 was easily identified to suborder, but almost impossible beyond that. Luckily, Rick gave another hint, some fellow bloggers, Eric of The Other 95% and Christie of Observations of a Nerd, ran with it, and I did nothing more than swoop in at the final second. I certainly owe them both a cold, frothy beverage or two.

Other than blogosphere bragging rights, what, you ask, do I get out of this win? How about a copy of the incredible-looking book Reef and a snazzy Coral Reef Alliance "Hawaiian" shirt. Who's stylin' now? (though the bragging rights are pretty good too)

So, thanks Rick for hosting a great contest and for the reefy swag. I will wear the shirt proudly and can't wait to flip through Reef. And for those of you not familiar with Rick's coral reef conservation work, head on over to the Coral Reef Alliance, read all about it, and maybe make a charitable donation to a worthy cause.

Moray Mystery

Rick at MBSL&S has a very interesting post about the mysterious deaths of dozens of moray eels in the Antilles. As much as I would rather he didn't have to write about such an event, he does a great job of relaying the real-world issues and science at hand. Go check it out - it's a good, yet unfortunate, read.

"...set an open course for the virgin sea"

2008 - 2009 ANNOUNCEMENT SEA is now accepting applications for the 2008-2009 academic year. Sea Education Association now offers three unique opportunities for undergraduates to spend a semester studying the oceans in the world-renown oceanographic community of Woods Hole, MA and aboard one of our modern sailing research vessels during an oceanic passage in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. SEA Semester: Ocean Exploration - This long-standing, innovative program offers students of all majors a multidisciplinary approach to studying the world's oceans from scientific, maritime cultural, and modern seafaring perspectives. Celestial navigation, meteorology, seamanship, oceanographic sampling techniques and research, and maritime history, literature and policy comprise the core curriculum. SEA Semester: Documenting Change in the Caribbean - Humanities, Environmental Studies, Geography and Social Sciences students are prepared for an extraordinary project-based academic experience. Few regions have seen such enormous changes in the last five centuries as the islands in the Caribbean Sea. Today, there is a dynamic mix of cultures and biota in the islands that bears little resemblance to the world encountered by Christopher Columbus. Students explore how we can document these changes using maps and charts, historical documents, commercial records, harbor pilots, species surveys, and the literature of Caribbean people from both the Colonial and post-Colonial periods. SEA Semester: Oceans & Climate - For advanced science students. This program focuses on the importance of the equatorial Pacific to the global carbon cycle, and culminates in a trans-equatorial research cruise from either Mexico to Tahiti or Tahiti to Hawaii. SEA faculty and visiting researchers from across the country engage students in oceanography, ocean policy and the operation a sailing research vessel. www.sea.edu

Marine bio Camp - day 6 recap

Well, this year's Marine Biology Camp came to a close with a whale watching excursion with Capt. John Boats out of Plymouth, MA. Although our chances of seeing anything seemed slim with the heavy fog rolling in, our luck was good once we hit Stellwagen Bank and the fog cleared. Highlights from the the trip:

• Saw five humpbacks up close, including two cow-calf pairs, as well as a couple of minke whales and a fin whale off in the distance


• One of the humpback whales we saw was Salt, the first humpback to be given a name some 30+ years ago, and her new calf, Sanchal
.

• Great bubble net feeding beahvior


• Best of all, Sanchal gave us a show with a "spinning head breach" right in front of the bow of the boat. This was the first time I had ever seen a breach and was as amazing as I thought it would be!

Upon our return to campus, we gave the Marine Bio students their final exam. We'd been hyping it up all week long, scaring them into paying attention and taking notes, even offering bonus points for various things throughout the week. In the end though, the "final" was a fun scavenger hunt across campus, complete with a bucket for bringing back samples (e.g. an herbivorous marine gastropod, a piece of flotsam, a member of the phylum Arthropoda). No grades are assigned - everyone had fun, learned some stuff, did some things they never did before, and got a cool RWU Marine Biology t-shirt. A success by all accounts (excepting the one kid that left mid-week).

It was an intense week - I feel like we did an entire semester of a Marine Bio lab/field course in one week. I think I'll go to bed now and sleep for about three days!

Marine bio Camp - day 5 recap

Today's Itinerary:
Morning Session
Trawling on the 54' fishing vessel, the Captain Bert - students got to see the deployment of a smallish otter trawl and learn some fish biology while examining the haul;
Our catch included fluke, flounder, lobstahs, sea robins, scup/porgies, and squid;
Observe fluke dissection - examine internal anatomy and stomach contents (two recently eaten scup);

Afternoon Session
Winkler titrations of light/dark bottles from yesterday;
determine and graph primary productivity (gross and net) and respiration rates for surface and deep water;

Evening Lecture
Marine Mammals, given by yours truly (why me? cause our resident marine mammologist is on sabbatical and I lost the coin flip; thank goodness for wikipedia!)

Marine bio Camp - day 4 recap

Today's Itinerary
Morning session
Take RWU boats out for plankton sampling - one boat deploys a 150μm zooplankton net, the other deploys a 20μm phytoplankton net;
Using Van Dorn bottle, collect water samples and set-up primary productivity analysis (using the light/dark bottle technique);
In lab, use microscopes to examine the plankton samples - sketch and ID five phytoplankton and five zooplankton;
use spectrophotometers to measure chlorophyll concentration in samples filtered yesterday;

Afternoon session
Head to Fogland Beach for some fish seining along the shore and salt marsh;

Evening Lecture
Fish Biology

Highlight of the Day
Catching a 20-inch striped bass in the beach seine

Lowlights of the Day
1) Lion's mane stings
2) For tomorrow's Winkler titrations I wondered if I should use glass or plastic graduated cylinders. Are the high schoolers careful enough for the glass ones? I don't know...they're pretty fragile...and tippy (the cylinders, not the kids!)...oh what the hell, let them use the good stuff. Any bets on what I did while setting up? I decided to go with plastic.

Marine bio Camp - day 3 recap

Today's Itinerary:
Morning session
take RWU's two small boats (a 19' Lema Skiff and a 29' Master Marine) out on the Bay;
on one boat - take CTD and Secchi disk readings from three different stations; collect surface, mid-column, and "deep" water samples using a Van Dorn bottle (for chlorophyll analysis back in the lab);
on 2nd boat - deploy Van Veen Grab and small otter trawl, identify and discuss critters found

Afternoon session
discuss productivity, photosynthesis, and ways of measuring both;
process water samples collected in morning - for each sample, filter 1L through 0.5μ membrane, place membrane filter in 10ml acetone to extract chlorophyll, let sit overnight (will quantify chlorophyll spectrophotometrically tomorrow);
discuss what characteristics make a good graph;
create depth profiles using CTD data from morning (salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen vs depth);
interpret depth profiles and relate to the geography of the Bay;

Evening Lecture
Phytoplankton, primary productivity, and marine invertebrates (characteristics of major phyla) - presented by our two senior undergraduate camp assistants

Issue of the Day
Lost a kid. OK, not really, but one kid did decide that he hated the camp so much he didn't want to stay. So, his dad came by this evening, picked him and his stuff up, and took him home. Oh well. Maybe he was expecting dolphins and sharks or something.

Marine bio Camp - day 2 recap

Itinerary:
kayak in Ninigret Pond;
explore the salt marsh, tidal flats, eel grass beds, sandy beach;
search for, find, and identify critters, discuss their ecology/natural history;
discuss sedimentation, local geology, glacial past, anaerobic decomposition, hydrogen sulfide production;
visit rocky intertidal zone at Beavertail State Park;
discuss important physical and biological factors at play here;
examine zonation;
search for, find, and identify critters;
compare and contrast with sandy beach environment;

Problems encountered:
Shuttle bus with students taking the long way around, getting stuck in morning rush-hour traffic;
kayak outfitter unable to unlock kayaks -> go out and rent bolt cutters -> cut lock;
kid from CA forgetting his parent-signed kayaking release form;
RWU shuttle failing to return to pick us up to take us to the rocky intertidal (they didn't see the second destination on the shuttle request form);
hung around kayak center parking lot for a couple of hours waiting for RWU security to "do their best to get someone out to pick us up";
had approximately 40 minutes at rocky intertidal;
one bloody shin and one smashed toe (neither mine);

At least it didn't rain on us. And I didn't lose anyone.

Kayaks, Winklers, and Otter Trawls....oh my!

Today was the start of the RWU Summer Marine Biology Camp, a one-week, intensive, hands-on marine biology experience for high school kids. And I'm running it. Or rather, I'm co-running it with Scott Rutherford, our resident geologist. Today, 15 students arrived with their parents (well, technically, 14 arrived with parents, 1 flew in solo from CA), got settled into their dorm rooms, and got oriented to the program. Our week is packed full - so much so that I think I may not see my wife and kids until Saturday. Sorry, Linda! Here's a quick run-down of some of the things happening the week:

• kayaking at Ninigret Pond - we'll explore this coastal lagoon (aka salt pond) and associated habitats (salt marsh, sand/mud flats, barrier beach, eel grass beds), keeping an eye out for as many critters as we can


• tidepooling at Beavertail State Park - a great, wave-swept, rocky intertidal area - perfect for observing zonation


• using a small, hand-deployable CTD to create water column profiles in Mt. Hope Bay (a part of Narragansett Bay)


• using Van Dorn bottles to collect water samples at various depths for chlorophyll analysis


• phyto- and zooplankton tows and then some microscope work to see what we caught


• investigation of primary productivity using light and dark bottles and Winkler titrations (if I can find the burets!)


• fish seining at a local beach - we should find plenty of silversides, mummichog, and sheepsheads, among other things


• deploying an otter trawl off the 54' fishing-cum-research vessel, the Captain Bert - I am really looking forward to this one as I have never done or seen this before - we should pull up a good variety of critters, hopefully with minimal harm/bycatch


• whale watching on Stellwagen Bank - a good way to end the week.

Just so you don't think the students are having all fun this week, there are also evening lectures after dinner that they have to endure and a final exam at the end. I'll be giving a lecture later in the week on marine mammals (!!) in prep for the whale watch (more on this later). Should be an exhausting, but fun week!

Selachophobia

Seems like the perfect time for this. First, it's almost Shark Week. Second, there are sharks in Boston and now also on Nantucket.

I grew up in Massachusetts. I spent my summers at the beach on Cape Cod. I have studied the ocean and its critters. I love the ocean and its critters (yes, even molluscs). I think sharks are incredibly cool. I know that people are far more likely to die in a car accident than by being attacked by a shark. But still, every time I go in the water or take my kids to the beach I can't help but think of Jaws. EVERY time. Now, it doesn't stop me (normally) from going in the water or letting my kids have fun splashing around and throwing seaweed at each other, but there it is, always in the back of my mind, tickling my amygdala. Don't get too deep, kids. OK, that's far enough. Maybe we should build a sandcastle now.. My wife likes to tell a story about a time when we went swimming near dusk and I kept getting more and more anxious, refusing to go any deeper - she used to think it was silly until she heard about great whites being reported off Cape Cod. Part of me thinks it's silly too, but a bigger part of me likes all my limbs, thank you very much.

Irrational? Yup. But not terribly surprising either - being attacked by a shark seems to fit all four types of things we fear:

1. We fear what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear. As a survival tactic, fear of being eaten has served us well.


2. We fear what we can’t control. I don't care if you're Michael Phelps, you ain't in control. I'd feel more in control being attacked by a grizzly bear.


3. We fear things that are immediate more than the long-term. Sharks don't nibble.


4. We fear threats readily available in memory. Thanks for nothing, Mr. Spielberg.

So, as much as I enjoyed Jaws, and all its memorable quotes ("You're gonna need a bigger boat"), I think I'd rather my kids never see it.

Critter collecting

I just came across this blog that documents a fish critter collecting expedition in the Bahamas by the President of the New England Aquarium. The collecting has finished (and thus the blog as well), but this "behind-the-scenes" account of the week-long trip is an interesting read.

Following the Alewife

I've been going to Cape Cod since before I can remember. I spent every summer there growing up, which undoubtedly has had a major hand in shaping who and where I am today. Yet after all this time, it took me until today to witness one of the most dramatic and awe-inspiring feats of biology the Cape has to offer - the running of the alewife. In fact, it wasn't until I read John Hay's The Run a few years back that I even knew such a phenomenon was right in front of me all this time. Written in the 1950s, this book is, as most John Hay books are, a wonderful combination of natural history and philosophy. Since reading it, timing and distance have kept me from witnessing the run for myself, but about a month or so ago, I decided that I would make a concerted effort to see it this year. So with camera in hand, I headed out to the Cape over the weekend in hopes of catching the little critters in action.

Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, are anadromous fish of the shad family (Clupeidae) found along the eastern seaboard of North America from Newfoundland south to the Carolinas. Also known as herring (though not a "true" herring), alewife spend the majority of their life at sea, returning to freshwater ponds to spawn (as opposed to catadromous fish, such as Anguilla eels, which live primarily in fresh water, but spawn in the ocean). After spending a few years in the ocean, feeding and growing and surviving, the alewife gather just offshore in late-March to early-April. Shortly after this, on some cue (temperature? light? tides? moon phase? boredom?), the alewife start to migrate up the various tidal creeks to their spawning grounds, first in spits and spurts of individuals and then finally, by mid to late April, en masse. On the Cape there are a number of historic "herring runs", but one of the best known (and healthiest) is the Stony Brook run in Brewster. This is the run that John Hay wrote about and this is the run that I visited to follow the path the alewife take.

The Stony Brook run begins here at the mouth of Paine's Creek, a tidal stream that empties into Cape Cod Bay at Paine's Creek Beach:


Alewife that have successfully reached maturity and have made it to this point must now run a gauntlet to the spawning grounds. As they leave the ocean and travel upstream, they meander approximately a half mile through Paine's Creek into fresher and fresher water:






At this point, the creek goes through a culvert:


and crossed under route 6A:


Emerging on the other side, Paine's Creek becomes known as Stony Brook. The alewife must now swim another half a mile or so through Stony Brook and its surrounding marshes:



I am sure not every alewife that enters Paine's Creek makes it this far, but the journey to this point has been a cake walk compared to what comes next. As the alewife approach the fish ladder they have to contend with a nightmarish scene right out of Finding Nemo:





The only way any alewife can make it past that is if they come through in such numbers that the gulls can't possibly catch them all. Those that make it this far school together in shallow pools before continuing on:





After they've had a chance to rest a bit, individual alewife start to make the final push and head up the fish ladder. Here they make sprints up each cascade and are bashed and batted by the water and rocks. Many have to make several attempts as they are pushed back down or smack against the sides of the ladder. The energy it takes to do this must be enormous.





Next it's through another culvert, under Stony Brook Road, past the old mill, and up the last stretch of the brook:



Those that make it this far are rewarded with their ultimate destination, the quiet of Lower Mill Pond:


and the right to spawn before turning around and heading back through the gauntlet to the sea, where the open jaws of the season's first stripers will be waiting for them. It's not easy being an alewife.

This was quite a sight to see and I recommend that anyone on or near the Cape to go check it out. I don't know how long the alewife will be running or if I happened to catch them on a plentiful day, but the numbers were staggering. So many that even the air smelled fishy. However, there were people around who were talking about how much more plentiful the herring were when they were kids and telling stories of people pulling baskets full of fish out of the stream (no taking is allowed now). I don't think these were simply curmudgeony back-in-my-day sorts of stories - alewife numbers are down all along the coast and some historic runs no longer run. A variety of factors are seemingly at fault, such as poorly regulated fisheries, destruction or obstruction of spawning grounds, and polluted waterways.
(UPDATE: just found a video taken at a Harwich, MA herring run a couple of days ago showing the better-than-expected alewife numbers this year.)

In addition to the moratorium on the alewife fishery there are programs in place to help monitor and restore the fish populations. Hopefully enough can be done to ensure the continuation of this primeval rite of spring. As John Hay wrote close to a half-century ago, the running of the alewife has meaning beyond a bunch of fish racing up a stream:

...it seemed to announce that bud scales on shrubs and trees would start to crack and fall away to let the inner shoots unfold as leaves and feed on the sun. It said that flies and wasps and spiders would come out of winter biding and sleeping, that the song sparrows would begin to sing in the willows and viburnum bushes...There is something exciting and strange about the sudden appearance of new life in the spring, coming from another region, another climate...They recur; they are recognizable; and yet they bring in endless tides and vivid journeys

(For more info on alewives, check out this Audubon article and read John Hay's book)

Weekly Urchin - Dominican Republic edition

In anticipation of Linda's and my vacation to the Dominican Republic in a few days, I give you Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin. This urchin is a keystone herbivore on coral reefs throughout the Caribbean and one I hope to see during our vacation.

This particular species was once a dominant part of coral reef communities. However, a catastrophic die-off in 1983, the result of an unknown pathogen, resulted in an over 97% mortality rate Caribbean-wide - the most severe mass mortality ever recorded for a marine organism. The disappearance of D. antillarum from the reefs lead to the proliferation of macro-algae which quickly overtook the coral reefs. This unchecked algal cover resulted in coral die-off and prevented new coral recruitment. The result was an overall deterioration of reef communities. Although there have been reports of localized D. antillarum and subsequent coral reef recovery (Edmunds and Carpenter 2001), populations remain low even decades later (Lessios 2005 - pdf). Continued research and coral reef restoration using reared and/or transplanted D. antillarum are currently underway.

Changing tacks a bit, below is a stunning video of D. antillarum development from Diadema.org. The video is a bit long, but it comes complete with a soundtrack by Enya (I believe) and contains amazing footage of a metamorphosing larva - if nothing else, you need to watch for this (about a third to half-way in).

Best of the Deep Sea

As one of the honored judges of this year's Best of Deep Sea News, I'm happy to announce that Craig and Peter have got their self-congratulatory series of posts online - "The Best of the Abyss", "The Best of DSN", and the "Fuzzy Yeti Award", where you can cast your vote for the best DSN post of 2007 (sorta like an Academy Award for Best Picture if it were only awarded to films by James Cameron) . So, head on over to Deep Sea News and enjoy the best of the best (does that make Craig and Peter, the Eric Roberts and Chris Penn of the deep sea?)

Species naming rights

I'm not a taxonomist. I have never been involved in the discovery, description, or naming of a new species. Or even in the renaming of a species once considered something else. So, I really don't know the logistics of providing a name to a species.

I know that species are named for what they look like, where they are found, who discovered them, or in honor of someone else. I don't know the official rules of the game or even if there are official rules, but I never once would have thought that someone could buy the rights to a species name.

Well, that's what seems to be happening according to a story out of Scripps. Apparently, Scripps has a collection of new species that need to be named and has decided to use this as a fund-raising tool. They've got "an orange, speckled nudibranch, a hydrothermal vent worm, two types of worms found living on deep-sea whale bones, and several new species discovered in local La Jolla waters" all up for grabs. Naming rights start at $5,000.

I'm not sure I like this idea. Sure, they're raising money for the preservation of their specimen collection - something that I think is incredibly important, especially at a time where it seems natural history has been given a cold shoulder by "hard science" disciplines. However, the idea of commercializing this scientific process does not sit well with me. Maybe Scripps has a set of rules that must be followed and perhaps I'm being anachronistic, but do we really want to open the door to things like Polycera fedexii or Nereis walmartia?

I've got a green northern sea urchin

Thanks to Kevin Z over at The Other 95%, I've been immortalized in song, forever tied to the green Northern sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.

You see, I am partial to S. droebachiensis as they were my first research subject, the impetus for my undergraduate Honor's thesis, which resulted in my 1st publication. Besides, they're pretty cool in their own right - from their anatomy to their ecology.

Anyways, thanks Kevin! If I had any musical talent, I'd return the honor.

Check out the studio recording of "Jim's Got a Green Northern Sea Urchin", as well as the rest of the great spineless songs and science over at The Other 95%

Double trouble

I am late to the game on this, but just in case anyone somehow wanders my way without hearing about it elsewhere, I have to share. Not sure how I'm just finding out about this now...

MORAY EELS HAVE A SECOND SET OF FUNCTIONAL JAWS IN THEIR FREAKING NECK. HOLY CRAP!

(the x-rays and video are killer).

How have we not known about this anatomical phenomenon? I mean, we're not talking about some obscure creature here. Moray eels are found in just about every aquarium in the world. I feel like I've said this before, but the wonders of biology will never cease to amaze me.

SEA Photos; part 1

Finally, as promised, some photos from my brief, but oh so wonderful, trip aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer. Four days of sailing and oceanographic adventure with Sea Education Association. This wasn't so much a scientific cruise as a chance to relive my days weeks months with SEA as an undergraduate and reconnect with a great organization. We sailed. We scienced. We kept a 24 hour watch. We even set the fisherman (sorry, can't find a link to help you with this one). If you ever get a chance to do this, you must. Encourage all your undergrads to look into SEA Semester as well - from a life experience point of view, its one of the best things they could do. Beyond hands-on, practical oceanographic research, SEA Semester builds leadership, self-confidence, teamwork, responsibility, problem solving, physical endurance, and plundering. Well, maybe not plundering. Anyways, on to the photos...be sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3.

The Corwith Cramer awaits


My bunk...and my hairy legs.

Couldn't find A through D

Ship's compass

"Steer a course for others to follow"

Just in case

Topside

Just in case, take 2
(AKA Gumby suits)

What good is a ship without her bell?

Had to (re)learn the ropes


How better to end the day?

Part 2 and Part 3

SEA Photos; part 2

Shipek sediment grab waiting to be deployed
(one of my favorite no-frills, old-school, bruiser of a scientific instrument)

the Shipek coming back onboard

Mmmm...mud from Menemsha Bight

I've been over this bridge about a billion times.
First time going under it.

Any guesses where we are?

Aloft

Sailing through the night.
Red over Green; Sailing Machine

Sunset via porthole

Peeking in the doghouse.

Night lab work.

Not a bad office view, eh?

Part 1 and Part 3