Deep-Sea Images Reveal Colorful Life off Indonesia - Boston.com

Deep-Sea images Reveal Colorful life off Indonesia

"Scientists used powerful sonar mapping system and the robotic vehicle to explore nearly 21,000 square miles (54,000 sq. kilometers) of sea floor off northern Indonesia, at depths ranging from 800 feet (240 meters) to over two miles (1.6 kilometers). The mission was carried out by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ship, the Okeanos Explorer. An Indonesian vessel, the Baruna Jaya IV, also took part, collecting specimens that, together with all rights for future use, will remain in the country." AP Google News

"More than 100 hours of video and 100,000 photographs, captured using a robotic vehicle with high-definition cameras, were piped to shore in real-time by satellite and high-speed Internet.

Verena Tunnicliffe, a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada, said the images provided an extraordinary glimpse into one of the globe's most complex and little-known marine ecosystems. "Stalked sea lilies once covered the ocean, shallow and deep, but now are rare," she said in a written statement. "I've only seen a few in my career. But on this expedition, I was amazed to see them in great diversity." Likewise, Tunnicliffe has also seen sea spiders before, but those were tiny in comparison, all around one-inch (2.5 centimeters) long: "The sea spiders ... on this mission were huge. Eight-inches (20-centimeters) or more across." AP News

Shelling Out for the Chesapeake Oyster

Monterey Bay Aquarium Public Service Video

Jon Cleese Narrates:



About the video: Produced by Free Range Studios. Narration by John Cleese who carries a reusable bag and to date has refused 3,982 plastic water bottles.

Check out healthebay.org and the Plastic Bag Mockumentary:



In Wallace J. Nichols site, they use three scientific papers to report on all size plastics in Leatherbacks, sea birds, and beaches:

Plastic Counts in Oceans, Maritime Bulletins, 2009

Shark Catch: Pregnant Hammerhead

Shark Catch Controversy



"A Pennsylvania couple on Monday landed the trophy they'd come to Florida for: a nine-foot scalloped hammerhead shark. But not everyone was filled with the same sense of accomplishment. Conservationist Jim Abernethy said he was heartbroken to arrive at Sailfish Marina to find the carcass of the female shark with a hook through its mouth. "What would compel someone to kill this beautiful and endangered animal for absolutely no good reason?" asked Abernethy, who was summoned about 10:30 a.m. by employees at the Palm Beach Shores marina. Hammerheads are renowned fighters when challenged for sport. But once exhausted from the struggle, they frequently drown, experts say..... "The last report of a hammerhead killed in Palm Beach County was April 28, when a pregnant great hammerhead, carrying 35 pups, washed ashore in Delray Beach. It is unclear where that shark was hooked. "They're being driven closer and closer to extinction because of commercial fishing to their fins, and also because of careless and wasteful practices like what we've seen today," Abernethy said. "Sharks don't spawn millions of eggs like other fish. They give birth to a small number of live young, like mammals. This makes them extremely vulnerable and when their populations are depleted, they can't recover."

Giant Squid | EOL

Giant Squid EOL: Learning and Education Group

Mysterious Creature of the Deep:

The Giand Squid

Ocean Classics II

The Cadbury Advert by Glass and Half Full Productions:



The Othe Guys "If I Were A Lion" Scene with Ferrel and Wahlberg:



Finding Nemo Trailer from Disney:



The famous Batman vs. Shark scene from the television series:



Shark Attack 3: Megalodon




Seinfeld: Marine Biologist Episode Link
YouTube Marine Biologist Seinfeld

Ocean Classics

Kirk Douglas stars in the 1954 classic, first published by Jules Verne in 1869, about the submarineNautilus and its Captain Nemo, as seen from the perspective of Professor Aronnax:



Little known 1998 Deep Rising, starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen:



Biologist Mary Callahan and M.I. Sam Rivers (!) takes on a Louisiana monster in Frankenfish, in the 2004 movie directed by Mark Dippe:



The origonal 1975 JAWS classic trailer with Martin Brody, Ellen Brody, Matt Hooper, & Captain Quint :



This is the trailer of the original 1978 Piranha movie directed by Joe Dante:



Piranha 3D Trailer remake (notice Richard Dreyfuss, from "we're going to need a bigger boat" fame):
Every year the population of sleepy Lake Victoria explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for Spring Break. A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Jessica Szohr
Director: Alexandre Aja


Hell's Aquarium: MEG 5



Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus Trailer:

Sea World Fined for Trainer Dawn Brancheau's Death

October 10, 2010
Killer Whale Born in Orlando

Updated: Sunday, 10 Oct 2010, 12:14 PM EDT Published : Sunday, 10 Oct 2010, 11:59 AM EDT Orlando - There's a new killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando. A 34-year-old killer whale named Katina gave birth Saturday night to her seventh calf. Park officials say the baby is 7 feet long and weighs 350 pounds. It's the 16th born at SeaWorld Orlando. Park spokesman Nick Gollattscheck says the sex of the calf won't be known for some time. Veterinarians are monitoring the whales to make sure both are healthy. The calf's birth is good news for the Orlando theme park. Necropsy results are pending for the first of Katina's calves, Kalina, which died suddenly at age 25 on Monday. The new calf's father is Tilikum, a 12,000-pound whale that drowned a SeaWorld trainer in February.

(CNN) -- "SeaWorld has been fined $75,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for three safety violations, including one classified as willful, after an animal trainer was killed in February.

In a statement Monday, Cindy Coe, OSHA's regional administrator, said that SeaWorld knew of the inherent risks of allowing trainers to interact with dangerous animals."
"In February, a 12,000-pound killer whale at the Orlando, Florida, SeaWorld pulled trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, underwater and killed her as horrified park visitors watched. An autopsy report showed Brancheau died from drowning and traumatic injuries to her body, including her spine, ribs and head....

The OSHA statement said the whale involved was one of three also involved in the death of an animal trainer in 1991 at a Vancouver, British Columbia, water park....
The agency's investigation "revealed that SeaWorld trainers had an extensive history of unexpected and potentially dangerous incidents involving killer whales at its various facilities, including its location in Orlando," the OSHA statement said. "Despite this record, management failed to make meaningful changes to improve the safety of the work environment for its employees."

Safety Director Linda Simons says that this could easily happen again:
ABC News Story, August 23, 2010
From ABC News, August 23, 2010:



From February, 2010:

Great White Confirmed in Truro

WPRI Video: Cumberland, R.I. family gets Great White Shark Attack on Video:
August 24, 2010
"Feet From Shore"



Great White Shark Sighting Confirmed
August 23, 2010
TRURO — A state shark expert confirmed yesterday that a shark spotted in the waters on the Truro and Provincetown border Saturday was a great white.

Catherine Williams, from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said shark expert Greg Skomal examined photographs of the shark.

Great White Shark Sighting Brings Alarm
August 22, 2010
The shark was spotted by someone on land who took pictures. The photographer was interviewed and the photographs were examined by Seashore officials, Price said. The shark was reportedly "very close" to the shore.

The seal attack took place between Race Point Beach in Provincetown and Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro, according to the Cape Cod National Seashore. It was about two or three miles from each of the beaches, which have lifeguards.

Basking Shark Washes Ashore in Plymouth, MA.

NECN Reports, August 23, 2010
NECN Video Report

(NECN: John Moroney, Plymouth, Mass.) - A basking shark managed to beach itself on the shore of White Horse Beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The 20-foot shark had been out swimming in the ocean yesterday.
At about 11:00 Thursday night, it ran itself aground. It is unclear at this point as to why that happened.


View Carol Krill carson's Basking Shark Research Web Site:
NEBShark

Basking Shark Alarms cape Cod Beachgoers
Cape Cod Times, August 28, 2010

UK’s TelegraphTV recently posted this nice piece of video footage of a basking shark off of Isle of Man. The video was shot by Craig Whalley, while he was kayaking.

Basking Shark Video incorrectly identified as a GW Shark, on Stellwagen Bank during a Whale Watch:
September 2, 2010

Pacific NW | Rise of the Ratfish in Puget Sound | Seattle Times Newspaper

Pacific NW Rise of the Ratfish in Puget Sound Seattle Times Newspaper
Facts:
Ratfish are also called ghost sharks.

Spotted ratfish hatch as miniature adults, a few inches long.
The ratfish's dorsal spine is made of dentin, similar to mammalian teeth.
Mature fish can exceed 3 feet in length.
Females are dominant and larger than males.
Females can store sperm and use it later to fertilize their eggs.
There are 37 species worldwide in the Chimaeriformes order, which includes ratfish. Among the odder ones are the cockfish of Argentina and the elephantfish of New Zealand.
Spotted ratfish occur from Alaska to the tip of Baja.
Biologists have netted two albino ratfish in Puget Sound, one in 2007 and one this year.
Ratfish mature at about 13 years of age, and probably live more than 20 years.
Ratfish tend to hang with their own age group. Divers have reported seeing masses of young fish.
The green glow of the ratfish eye is due to a lowlight adaptation called a tapetum lucidum, a membrane similar to that in cats' eyes that reflects light back onto the retina.
Aquariums around the world collect Puget Sound ratfish.
Want to know more? "Life History, Abundance and Distribution of the Spotted Ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei," by Lewis Abraham Kamuela Barnett
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/casg/casgy08001.pdf

Here is elasmodivers.org information page on "Ghost Sharks"

Ratfish Info. Sheet

Blue Crabs Flooding Narragansett Bay

Blue Crabs Abundant in Rhode Island Waters
Providence Journal Article, August 21, 2010

In contrast, Chesaeake Bay crab increase in numbers have not made it easier for the crabbers and industry:
Baltimore Sun Article from August 1, 2010

"While watermen chiefly blame pollution for the decline of the blue crab population, scientists and government officials counter that overfishing was the main culprit.

They note that crabs rebounded almost immediately after the restrictions were imposed. Scientists counted nearly twice as many adult crabs during the winter dredge survey in early 2009 as in early 2008.
"The increase in the crab population was clearly driven by the regulations put in place baywide," says Lynn Fegley, assistant director of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' fisheries service."

Study Reveals Plastic Accumulation in Atlantic Over the Last 22 Years

BBC Online News
Study Measures Atlantic Plastic Accumulation
August 20, 2010

National Geographic Article, August 20, 2010

The team analysed data from ship surveys collected over 22 years between 1986 and 2008, which involved in excess of 6,000 net tows that gathered more than 64,000 pieces of plastic.

The largest number of plastic pieces in the data set was collected in 1997, in which 1,069 pieces were recovered by researchers in a single 30-minute tow. This equated to 580,000 pieces per square kilometre. The team observed that the highest concentrations of floating plastic were "clearly associated" with a convergence of surface ocean currents and prevailing winds.
"This convergence zone... extends across most of the sub-tropical North Atlantic basin," they reported.

They said the global production of plastic materials had increased five-fold between 1976 and 2008 and the amount thrown away in the US has risen four-fold during the past two decades.

Meanwhile, the volume being dumped by vessels had fallen as a result of rules introduced in 1988 that prohibited the dumping of plastic at sea.

By Mark Kinver

Science and environment reporter, BBC News

Penguin Amusement!

African Penguin Extravaganza at the New England Aquarium This Summer
September 1, 2010



From the New England Aquarium: Learn more about pipping on the Penguin Blog at http://penguins.neaq.org! For anyone concerned about the eggs in this video, we share your concerns! Here's some information that might clear up a couple questions. The first thing to keep in mind is that the video is a time-lapse montage of many different chicks raised at the Aquarium this year. The eggs stay with the parents for the whole 40 day incubation period and well after they've hatched! Our biologists have to remove the eggs from the parents periodically to check for any problems, like the egg accidentally being cracked before its hatch date. If everything looks OK, as is most often the case, the eggs are returned right back to mom and dad. The same goes once the chick is hatched. The biologists check on their health and weight every couple days, then the chicks are returned to the parents.

Space Photos This Week: Nat. Geo.

Space Photos This Week: Plankton

Swirling plankton blooms create electric-blue eddies off the coast of Ireland, as seen in a satellite picture taken in May and released this week by the European Space Agency.

Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the ocean's surface. The annual spring plankton blooms in the North Atlantic—driven by natural conditions—can color the water enough that the hordes of tiny plants become visible from space.
Published August 18, 2010

Sea Turtles Released Off Cape Cod

Boston Globe Sea Turtles, August 18, 2010

Eighteen endangered sea turtles were returned to the ocean yesterday off Dowses Beach in Barnstable. Staff and volunteers from the New England Aquarium and the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, began placing the turtles, who were rescued last fall off various Cape Cod beaches, on the sand at about 5:15 p.m., said Connie Merigo, director of the rescue department at the Aquarium.

Channel 5 was there with aerial footage of the release:
The Boston Channel.com

New England Marine Animal Rescue Blog:

"Yesterday was an extremely exciting day for the Rescue Team and our sea turtle patients! Six of our sea turtles (3 Kemp's ridley sea turtles and 3 green sea turtles) returned to the ocean on a beach on the south side of Cape Cod. We were joined by our sea turtle partners at Mass Audubon and the University of New England's Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center (UNE). UNE brought 12 of their own rehabilitated Kemp's ridley sea turtles making this one of our biggest release events."

CNN News: Heroes

August 28, 2010

"Aranda's conservation group, La Sociedad Ecológica del Occidente, is dedicated to protecting turtles that nest along Mexico's northwest Pacific beaches. From June through December -- prime nesting season -- Aranda and his unpaid volunteers watch over the shorelines where the turtles lay their eggs. Aranda's group, which is also known as Vallarta Rescue, is nonprofit and relies entirely on private donations. To earn a living, Aranda works during the day as an ecotourism boat driver. At sunset, he heads out to what he calls the perfect job in the perfect place. "We go out to the beach and we wait for the turtles to come," he said. "Sometimes we may see one, sometimes there are 13. It all depends. We might miss a turtle, and then we dig for the nest she left behind. We have to be there all night." "Twenty years ago, the Mexican government outlawed commercial fishing of sea turtles. It started fining people up to $16,000 for killing turtles or trafficking turtle eggs, turtle meat or products manufactured with turtle hides. But Mexico still has one of the highest rates of turtle poaching in the world. Since 2004, when he started his conservation group, Aranda has facilitated the rescue and release of more than half a million baby turtles. The turtles' determination to keep nesting despite natural and manmade threats inspires him to continue -- all night, every night." CNN News

CNN Sea Turtles iReport
CNN Turtles

"Every single one of the world's sea turtle species is listed as either threatened or endangered. Four of the world's six endangered sea turtles species lay their eggs on El Salvador's beaches. The most common species in El Salvador is the Olive Ridley and Barra de Santiago is one of its few remaining major breeding sites. In El Salvador, FUNZEL (Zoological Foundation of El Salvador) leads the way in the conservation of turtles and other at risk species. Last year, FUNZEL recovered nearly 1,000,000 turtle eggs. I caught up with FUNZEL's VP, Rodrigo, to find out more about the organization's turtle conservation efforts and we even spotted a female Olive Ridley on the beach."

Boy Survives Stingray Barb Piercing in Florida

NBC Today Show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How Will The Gulf Oil Spill Affect Public Health?

Woods Hole Scientists Have Sights on Deep Sea Plume



Boston Globe Article, August 20, 2010
Wired Science's Great Article on Undersea Presence of Oil
Gulf Oil Plume in Wired Science, August 19, 2010

Gulf Oil Plume Discovered:
National Geographic, August 19, 2010

BBC News Story
Where is the Oil?
Augiust 19, 2010

Scientists Dispute How Much Oil is Really Still in the Gulf:
Boston Globe Story
August 18, 2010

University of Georgia and Georgia Sea Grant's News Report:
70% of the Oil is Stll There!
August 17, 2010

From Deep Sea News:
"The report also emphasizes that the most toxic components of crude oil (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a.k.a. PAHs) are not typically degraded by marine decomposers, who usually prefer short-chain hydrocarbons. In terms of human impacts, these scientists underline an urgent need for an atmospheric sampling program to measure airborne oil components—these may have serious environmental and health-related effects on downwind Gulf cities like Atlanta. Such a study would also help to accurately assess evaporation rates of oil.
The good news? The oil appears to be staying in the Gulf (so far) and Eddy Franklin is currently blocking the Loop Current from dragging oiled water into the Gulf Stream and up the Eastern seaboard."
Read about Oily Bottom Syndrome in the Gulf:
CNN Reports from The Gulf, August 17, 2010


Map of the Impact of the Disaster, CNN Reports

Read about the value of the dispersants used in the Gulf Spill:
May, 2010
Wired Science Reports

How Will The Gulf Oil Spill Affect Public Health?: Popular Science Magazine

The Coast is Not Clear: Bloomberg Business Week

"The single biggest challenge to the Gulf's ecosystem may be the ongoing loss of wetlands, estimated at 25 to 30 square miles' worth per year. Estuaries and marshes provide shelter for commercially important crabs and shrimp. They also buffer humans from the impact of hurricanes and soak up the nitrogenous compounds from fertilizer and manure runoff that are borne down the Mississippi. Nitrogen that the wetlands don't capture feeds algal blooms. Bacteria that feed on the algae use up oxygen in the depths of the Gulf, creating a seasonal "dead zone" that's hospitable only to jellyfish, bacteria, and some worms. This month the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium announced that the low-oxygen zone extended for 7,722 square miles, the fifth biggest on record."

Gulf Oil Spill: Dead Zone in the Making
National Geographic, May, 2010

Shark Stories From the Month of August

Cape Cod Great SWhite Shark Tagging

Cape Cod Online, August 28, 2010

"The tagging is the fifth this summer as part of research into the habits of the marine predator, state shark expert Greg Skomal said yesterday.

The majority of this summer's shark sightings have been in shallow waters off the town's Atlantic barrier beaches, particularly along South Beach, according to Harbor Master Stuart Smith. There have been additional sightings off adjacent North Beach and Monomoy, he said. There was a sighting inside the harbor Aug. 12, but there have been no sharks reported inside the harbor since."
Growing Hong Kong Campaign Against Shark Finning:

A video of a finned whale shark filmed in the Philippines by Chung Shan Shan, a Hong Kong biology professor, has helped to fuel the movement against shark fin soup. The campaign seems to be supported primarily by the younger generation, some of whom, have decided to go against tradition and serve alternatives to shark fin soup at their own wedding banquets.

Summer of the Shark

NBC Today Show: August 18, 2010

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Also here: Tracking Great Whites, on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook:

NPR On Point August 16, 2010

Anderson Cooper works and swims with Mike Rutzen on 60 Minutes:



South African Rutzen contributes this about Great Whites:


Jeff Rosen on the NBC Today Show last March, 2010:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Read Scientific America's Report on Sharks and a quick mention of Dr. Samuel Gruber's comments:
Scientific America Online
August 13, 2010

Scientific American's Companion Slide Show:
Sharks: Smart, Tagged, and in Short Supply

Seaside Beach in New Jersey

Shark Scare Approach on Beach

August 3, 2010

White Water Ask Dr. Knowledge Boston Globe

Ask Dr. Knowledge:
What Makes White Water White?

August 16, 2010
First let’s think about what you see when you look at clear, still water in a shallow pond. You see light that reflects from the bottom of the pond, and light that reflects from the surface. Every time there’s a change in the material the light passes through — air to water or water to bottom — you get a reflection.
If there’s an air bubble in the pond, you can see it due to reflections when a ray of light goes from water to air or air to water.
If the water flows slowly, there’s not much change in what you see. Ripples on the surface will reflect light in slightly different directions, but it won’t be a big effect.
Now suppose the water starts to move quickly. If the speed is fast enough, there is a transition between smooth so-called laminar flow and an irregular frothy state called turbulent flow. In this case, lots of air bubbles get mixed in with the water, and each acts as a tiny reflector, reflecting light in pretty much random directions that change with time. All the colors are reflected back pretty much equally well, but instead of a simple mirrorlike look, you just see white.
You can easily see this effect at home with a water faucet. A slow stream looks like a piece of glass, but if you run more water, eventually it breaks into a frothy turbulent flow.
How exactly does turbulence start? This is not well understood. We think we know the right equations, but they’re hard to solve; there’s a million-dollar prize offered essentially for just showing that they make sense. For prize information, check out www.claymath.org/millennium/NavierStokes_Equations/
Ask Dr. Knowledge is written by Northeastern University physicist John Swain.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

Scientists to Create 3-D Map of Titanic site - The Boston Globe

New Images From Titanic Expedition
Boston Globe, September 3, 2010

Scientists Create 3-D Map of Titanic Site - The Boston Globe


Boston Globe Graphic of Operation

Expedition Titanic Web Site:
RMS Titanic Inc.

View Lara Logan's profile of Robert Ballard on 60 Minutes:

Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic, the Bismarck and the PT 109 and now 60 Minutes cameras are there for his latest discovery, 1,500 feet down in the Aegean Sea off Turkey. Lara Logan reports.

The deep sea between Turkey and Greece is a graveyard for ancient shipwrecks. Many still lie undiscovered at the bottom of the ocean, fragments of history that remain beyond reach thousands of years later. Now, one of the greatest undersea explorers in the world, Robert Ballard, is trying to uncover their secrets. You may know him as the man who discovered the Titanic, but what he couldn't say then is that he was on a clandestine mission for the Navy at the time. It was a secret he kept for more than two decades until the mission was declassified. You'll hear how that mission helped him find the most famous wreck in modern history and about Ballard's many other discoveries in his 50 years at sea.

Here is how Robert Ballard found the Titanic:



Exploring wrecks is a dangerous business. That point was brought home to Dr. Robert Ballard during his search for the Lusitania, a passenger liner sunk by the Germans during World War I.

The Public Service Announcement & The Cove Trailer

The PSA sparked by The Cove:


From the official web site: The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening. The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.

And it’s been working. The film has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of Japan. Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins. The film, which was originally rejected, was shown at the Tokyo Film Festival due to public outcry. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue.Close to a million people have signed on to the campaign, but this is just the beginning. The fisherman are clearly rattled, but haven’t stopped killing dolphins.
TakePart now to help shut down the cove for good.
The Cove Web Site

Diana Reis, 61, was a scientific advisor for the Cove, and shares her concerns and cries for action on their Act Now web site:




GrindaDrap Video
Pilot Whale Capture and Slaughter in Faeroe Islands
Recording of "the grind"

Torshavn, Faeroe Islands 23/7-2010
Warning: Contains graphic footage.



BBC Report on Contaminated Pilot Whale Meat Warning:
BBC News, August 28, 2010

Science Friday Archives: White Shark Sightings On The Rise On East Coast

Science Friday Archives: White Shark Sightings On The Rise On East Coast

2010 White Shark Sighting and Tagging Updates

August 7, 2010 Single Great White shark tagged off the shores of eastern Monomoy. Third shark tagged this summer.
August 3, 2010 Single Great White shark spotted by spotter pilot George Breen in the early morning off south Beach Chatham.
July 31, 2010 The team tagged the second shark of the season with a pop-up satellite tag. This shark was estimated at 10 feet long. Over the course of the day, six different white sharks were seen in the area by the spotter pilot- all within 1 mile from shore. One of the sighted sharks was a re-sighting of the previously tagged white shark from July 27.
July 30, 2010 After 3 white sharks were sighted off South Beach in Chatham, town officials closed the east facing beaches of Monomoy until further notice.
July 27, 2010 Spotter pilot George Breen spotted seven white sharks east of South Beach near Chatham. Estimated length ranged from 10-18 feet. One female white shark (14 ft.) was tagged with a pop-up satellite tag about 150 feet from shore.
July 25, 2010 Three great white sharks sighted, one off the tip of Monomoy Island and the other two near the north break of Chatham Harbor.
July 20, 2010 Spotter pilot George Breen observes a great white shark stalking seals south of Lighthouse Beach, on the Eastern side of Monomoy Island.

Sean Gonsalves' Approach to Shark Sightings:
CapeCod Online Editorial on Great White Sharks

The Biology and Ecology of Salps

The most recent news article from the online Oceanus, Woods Hole Oceanographic's web site, describes Larry Madin's work with gelatinous zooplankton:
Oceanus Salp News, August 14, 2010

"The research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the WHOI Ocean Life Institute, “does imply that salps are more efficient vacuum cleaners than we thought,” Stocker said. “Their amazing performance relies on a feat of bioengineering—the production of a nanometer-scale mucus net—the biomechanics of which still remain a mystery.” (The net strands are mere nanometers, or billionths of a meter, thick.) The finding is important for a number of reasons. First, it helps explain how salps—which can exist either singly or in “chains” that may contain a hundred or more individuals—can survive in the open ocean, their usual habitat, where the supply of larger food particles is low. “Their ability to filter the smallest particles may allow them to survive where other grazers can't,” Madin said.

Second, and perhaps most significantly, it enhances the importance of the salps’ role in cycling carbon from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. As they eat, they consume a very broad range of carbon-containing particles and efficiently pack the carbon into large, dense fecal pellets that sink rapidly to the ocean depths, Madin said."

Here is the link to NSF article:

NSF Web Site Salps

Underwater in the UK

Meet the Aliens in UK Waters
UK Underwater Slide Show

"The seas surrounding the UK - and the rivers that flow into them - are filled with animal and plant species that originate far from our shores.
While some of these non-native invaders will die out over time, others are thriving - and are becoming a huge threat to biodiversity.
Here, two experts - Jack Sewell and Philine zu Ermgassen - explain how these alien invaders are affecting our ecosystems. " BBC

Plankton Extravaganza!

Audio slideshow: Sea drifters: BBC London Zoo, Royal Society's 350th Year Celebration

"Colourful close up images of plankton, the tiny creatures that hold the key to survival in the world's oceans, are going on show at London Zoo - as part of The Royal Society's 350th anniversary celebrations.
They are to feature in a book being compiled by the man who captured them - Royal Society Research Fellow, Dr Richard Kirby from the University of Plymouth. Here, he explains why plankton should not be ignored." BBC

Magnapinna sp. - The Long-armed Squid

From National Geographic:
"In a few seconds of jerky camerawork, the squid appears with its huge fins waving like elephant ears and its remarkable arms and tentacles trailing from elbow-like appendages.

Despite the squid's apparent unflappability on camera, Magnapinna, or "big fin," squid remain largely a mystery to science.
ROVs have filmed Magnapinna squid a dozen or so times in the Gulf and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans."

Macropinna microstoma: A Deep-Sea fish w/ Transparent Head & Tubular Eyes

"Opisthoproctidae are called "barreleyes" because their eyes are tubular in shape. Barreleyes typically live near the depth where sunlight from the surface fades to complete blackness. They use their ultra-sensitive tubular eyes to search for the faint silhouettes of prey overhead. Although such tubular eyes are very good at collecting light, they have a very narrow field of view. Furthermore, until now, most marine biologists believed that barreleye's eyes were fixed in their heads, which would allow them to only look upward. This would make it impossible for the fishes to see what was directly in front of them, and very difficult for them to capture prey with their small, pointed mouths."
"Robison and Reisenbichler used video from MBARI's remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to study barreleyes in the deep waters just offshore of Central California. At depths of 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet) below the surface, the ROV cameras typically showed these fish hanging motionless in the water, their eyes glowing a vivid green in the ROV's bright lights. The ROV video also revealed a previously undescribed feature of these fish--its eyes are surrounded by a transparent, fluid-filled shield that covers the top of the fish's head."

Vampyroteuthis infernalis - The Vampire Squid

From the Tree of Life web site:
"The vampire squid is rather small, reaching a maximum of 13 cm ML (Nesis, 1982/7), and is very gelatinous; its consistency is that of a jellyfish. It occupies meso- to bathypelagic depths throughout the tropical and temperate regions of the world's oceans. The second pair of arms is modified into retractile filaments that can extend to lengths well in excess of the total length of the animal, and they can be retracted into pockets within the web. The filaments, presumably, have a sensory function. The vampire has black chromatophores with reddish-brown ones interspersed. These chromatophores, however, have lost the muscles that enable rapid color change in other coleoids and are probably incapable of changing shape. A few normal chromatophores associated with photophores are still present.

The vampire is a phylogenetic relict and possesses features of both octopods and decapods. In addition, it has many features that are probably adaptations to the deep-sea environment. Among these are the loss of the ink sac and most active chromatophores, development of photophores and the gelatinous consistency of the tissues."

Deep Sea Camouflage

Hide and Seek in the Deep
source: MBARI web site

Oysters Hauled Out of Harbor to Save Possible Aquaculture Thieves!

"As many as 50,000 oysters were hauled out of New York Harbor that were part of a significant restoration project in the NJ portion of the bay:
The juvenile and mostly underdeveloped shellfish were part of a research project sponsored by the NY/NJ Baykeeper as part of a plan to bring oysters back to the harbor, where they were once so plentiful they were common fare for penniless immigrants in Manhattan.

Now there is no commercial harvesting in New York Harbor and no known large beds of the tasty mollusk.
But there is a significant clamming industry in New Jersey's part of the harbor, and state officials ordered the removal out of fear poachers might take some of the oysters growing in polluted waters and then get sick."
MSNBC New York Article