Marine Biology

From: http://cdn.cbsi.com.au/story_media/339332313/panorama.jpg

The Caitlin Seaview Survey plans on documenting the Great Barrier Reef and other world wide reef locations in great detail. It travels through the water at 4 kilometers per hour and takes a 360 panoramic image every four to six seconds, then geotaxis and puts the images together for better viewing on google earth and google maps. The launch of this Seaview starts in September 2012.
How do you think this will affect our knowledge of learning about the ocean?
How deep do you think this can go?

http://www.cnet.com.au/explore-the-ocean-with-google-and-underwater-surveys-339332313.htm

According to this article, scientists are trying to understand the ancient nervous systems by studying the patterns on mollusk shells. They think the patterns on the shells are some kind of ancient records which might give clues on how they evolve. In a similar way, it is like trying to record brain wave patterns. Through complex equations and simulations,  researchers use 19 different species of the sea snail Conus to create a model of the pigmentation patterns of mollusk shells.

They use a computer to imitate the patterns on the shells of different species, creating different models. “Since the parameters are telling the researchers something about the circuitry of the mollusks’ nervous system, this is an indirect way to study the evolution of a simple nervous system.“ This is fascinating because I always thought patterns on shells was something natural. I did not know patterns on external shells could have any relation to their nervous system. Evolution sure does bring about unnatural characteristics.

What do you think about the relationship between an animal’s nervous system and their patterns?

How are mollusk shells similar to octopus and cuttlefish?

This is an interesting article. This article is about a crustacean that was found 7km (7000 meters) off the coast of New Zealand. They call this new creature the super giant is a type of amphipod which are found around 2-3cm long. But this creature were found in the Kermadec Trench were ten times bigger than the usual length the largest was measured in 34cm. Alan Jamieson describes it as “It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach.” They were found by using a large metal trap that had a camera equipped to it surrounded by sapphire glass to keep it safe from the pressure as they descended into the deep trench. The biggest they were able to get was 28cm to study.

Why do you think they grew in size?

Do you think there are more creatures out there to be found in these trenches?

This article was pretty surprising to me; I’d never thought such fragile sea creatures could grow to be of an immense population.

Upon the past numbers of years from now, 2012, the increase in the jellyfish population have increased and is causing problems among several areas around the world. They have choked intake lines of power lines, caused dangers for tourists, and clogged nets for fishermen. As for instance in Japan, giant jellyfish have been clogging fishing nets of fishermen’s boats.

It’s been reported that there had been an increase in the jellyfish population at some areas but there are other areas in which the jellyfish population have decreased. This is bad because it will affect the food chain, fishing and ocean environments. The action that the people are taking upon this problem is by continually monitoring them and it will continue to go on in the future.

How the increase in the population of jellyfish came to be was said to be of numerous causes. These causes include over-harvesting fish, tourism, and the impact on human activities. It was still undecided whether the population of jellyfish had increased naturally, or if it was from human actions, or both.

What do you think?

How can we help to prevent the population of jellyfish from increasing in high numbers?

I was looking at this article and I thought it was cool how coral are able to float to the top of the sand to escape from being crushed.  I had always thought that was never able to move when is started to grow. But not for this Sponge coral the movie shows that this sponge coral is able to inflate itself to escape from being buried alive. They were able to catch this on film using time-lapse photography.  Corals need to breathe but due to the sandy bottom they eventually get covered in sand. So to get this all on film he covered this mushroom sponge and took this time-lapse camera and set it up to take a picture every 10 seconds for 20 hours.

What do you think of this shocking discovery?

Do you think that if we did not have this time-lapse technology do you think we ever would of found out about this discovery?

So i recently read an article covering recent shark attacks all around the world and the most recent information that has been released shows that the shark attack rate is at the highest it has been since 1993, While the us saw a four year downturn of attacks the rest of the world are not  experiencing the same result, some scientist think this is because people are swimming and going to more remote places then usual. Seventy five attacks occurred worldwide, close to the decade average, but the number of fatalities doubled compared with 2010.The average global fatality rate for the last decade was just under 7 percent, and it rose to 16 percent last year. Which is a huge jump.

What do you think is causing sharks to attack more?

Do you think there is anything that we can do to help prevent these attacks from happening? http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=15462708310

An unusual new trend has been observed by Marine Biologists in the Indian Ocean in regards to the humpback whale, as noted in this article. In a recent study, a research team comprised of Marine Biologists from Colombia University, WCS and Australia, noted that humpback whales on opposite sides of the same basin of the southern part of the Indian Ocean are now singing different tunes. This is considered highly significant, given that whales from the same basin typically sing identical tunes.

These results contradict previous comparisons of whale songs and suggest that the exchange of whales between whale colonies in this region of the Indian Ocean may be limited. If this is so, it serves to provide insight into the extent that cultural change manifests itself between regions in a single ocean basin. Other theories have emerged attempting to explain this phenomenon, including those that have suggested that the cause may be tied to external influences, such as singing whales from other ocean basins in the Atlantic and Pacific.

Are there any other inferences that can be made regarding this phenomenon from this information? What other possible theories could explain this anomaly?

I was reading this article and I think that this is kinda weird. Five killer whales have been named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit and they are arguing that these five killer whales deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans. The US judge may be considering a complaint by people for Ethical Treatment for animals (Peta) against Sea-world. This is the first time that a US court has heard a legal argument over constitutional protections as humans. Sea-world says this is a waste of time and resources. The Marine Park’s lawyers Theodore Shaw had told the court in San Diego “neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the ‘we the people’ when the constitution was adopted.” He then said if this were to pass this would effect not just how other marine parks would work but also how the police use sniffer dogs to detect bombs or drugs.

What do you think about this?

Despite all the other efforts to free these whales do you think it will pass?

I was reading this article talking about a team of W.C.S. (Wildlife Conservation society) conservationists reporting that a young male elephant seal tracked for the past year swam a distance of about 18,000 miles, which the article said was about the distance of going  from New York City to Sydney, Australia and back again.  The WCS tracked the seal they’ve named “Jackson” from December 2010 to November 2011, After tagging him in Admiralty Sound in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.  Jackson was fit with a transmitter that records every location that Jackson surfaced to get air.  It was said that elephant seals are potential indicators of ocean health, and could show how the climate changes affect the distribution of prey species in Patagonia’s Marine Ecosystem.  “Jackson’s travels provide a roadmap of how elephant seals use the Patagonian Coast and its associated seas,” said Caleb McClennen, WCS Director for Global Marine Programs. “This information is vital to improving ocean management in the region, helping establish protected areas in the right places, and ensuring fisheries are managed sustainably without harming vulnerable marine species like the southern elephant seal.”  After the entire year of tracking the conservationists reported that Jackson returned to Admiralty Sound, the original place he was at when they tagged him with the tracker.  I thought that it was pretty insane that just this one seal would travel that much along the Patagonian coast, and just to end up right back where he was in Admiralty Sound.  I thought it was pretty cool how they were able to track the seal just and record locations every time he surfaced to breath.  I think that they’d be able to learn a lot about the seals and what they do when they’re on their own.

Do you think that if they tracked another elephant seal like Jackson, would it be able to travel the distance Jackson did?

Why do you think after going 18000 miles, Jackson would return to Admiralty Sound?

I read: http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=05910287416 , In Southhampton, Hampshire scientists discovered the worlds most extreme volcanic vents 5 km down. They are .8 km deeper than any others and are said to maybe be hotter than 450 degrees Celsius.  They shoot more than a km of mineral laden water into the ocean above. The vents have thousands of new species of shrimp, despite the conditions, the pale species of shrimp have adapted by having a light sensor in their back instead of eyes. A team led by marine geochemist Doug Connelly  named these vents: “The Beebe vent field,” after the first scientist to explore the deep blue sea. “Studying these creatures at these vents, and comparing them with species at other vents around the world; will help us to understand how animals disperse and evolve in the deep ocean,” stated Connelly. What other species from other vents do you think may be linked with these light sensoring shrimp?