Sea Notes

The State of the Seas

Not a day goes by without a headline or broadcast report about something happening to the health of the ocean. The news isn't always good, but at least more attention is focused on the largest living space on the planet. With awareness, you open the door for solutions. (In the case of the ocean, ignorance definitely isn't bliss.)

With that in mind, the bad news first:

In the Mediterranean, new research estimates that shark populations are down more than 90 percent from historic levels 200 years ago -- with all the negative impacts on overall ecosystem health that result when you all but eliminate the top predators in the system. Hammerheads, mackerel sharks and blue sharks have been wiped out as accidental bycatch, or killed as pests by fishermen who don't value their place in the ocean's living web. And, sadly, there are still few regulations in place to protect sharks in the wild.

There's also disturbing news about the presence of chemical pollutants in the deep ocean. Scientists surveying deep-water cephalopods in the northwest Atlantic Ocean have detected chemical pollutants (like tributyltin and PCBs) in the tissues of deep-sea squids. Tissue samples from deep-sea squids and octopus -- including the cockatoo squid (Galiteuthis spp.) and the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) -- yielded surprising concentrations of persistent organic pollutants. Chemical like tributyltin (TBT, used in anti-fouling paint on boats), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and flame retardants were documented in tissue samples collected by scientists in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Why worry? Because these cephalopods are an important part of deep-sea food web -- including a source of food for deep-diving whales and dolphins.

On the good-news front, Southern California Edison is spending $40 million to create an artificial reef off the coast of Orange County as mitigation for damage to native kelp forests caused by discharge from its San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The 2.5-mile-long reef, mandated by the state Coastal Commission, is intended to provide footings to anchor giant kelp that will become the basis for a restored kelp forest ecosystem where wildlife can thrive.

Here in Monterey Bay, the return of sea otters from near-extirpation by fur hunters in the 18th and 19th centuries provided conditions for a similar revitalization of the kelp forests. Today, you'd never know that the bay was denuded of kelp by sea urchins, abalone and other grazers after otters were eliminated in the bay. They returned in the early 1960s, and the kelp forest followed them. Keep your eyes on San Clemente to see if the reef there has the same effect.

Finally, a celebration reported this week for "the most important microbe you've never heard of." NPR's Joe Palca took part in commemorating the discovery of a marine bacterium called Prochlorococcus. Why? Because it's super-abundant in the ocean, and is probably responsible for the oxygen in one out of every five breaths you take. Although it's one of the most abundant organisms on Earth, it was utterly unknown to science until 20 years ago.

Who You Calling Ugly?

Cartoonist Jim Toomey, creator of Sherman's Lagoon, was at the Monterey Bay Aquarium last weekend for World Ocean Day festivities. During one of his presentations, he mentioned that he could never dream up more cartoonish creatures than actually exist in the ocean -- animals much more varied and unusual than the diversity found among land animals. ("Lots of things with four legs and fur" is how he put it.)

Unusual, OK. Diverse, sure. Just don't go calling them ugly.

Wauifekt.com used the U-word to single out its choices for the Top 10 ugliest fishes in the sea.

Of course what the photo parade doesn't mention is that all of these "ugly" animals are successful at what they do: using a diversity of strategies and adaptations to survive in a challenging environment.

Not to take it too personally on behalf of the aquarium, two of the Top 10 are regular inhabitants of our exhibits -- the wolf-eel and the ocean sunfish.

Granted, they're not classic beauties, but they have a certain....charm.

The wolf-eel in particular is amazing. Like many marine fishes, it undergoes a variety of transformations on its way to its final adult appearance.

As a juvenile, it's nearly transparent. A bit older, and its head takes on a pale orange tint, with a blush of red on its cheeks. Still older, and it has a spotted pattern that resembles a slinky aquatic giraffe. Older still and it's almost mauve with a snakeskin camouflage pattern. Only as an adult does it take on a mature blue-grey color.

That's hardly what I'd call ugly.  But beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder.

 

Blue Legacy for Bush?

Say what you will about President George W. Bush's environmental record, he's willing to entertain big ideas when it comes to protecting the ocean.

According to National Public Radio, the Bush folks are looking at designating several marine national monuments to safeguard exceptional sites in the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

While some of the proposals are drawing early opposition because they could conflict with future commercial exploitation, those that remain on the table could leave Bush with a "blue legacy." He took a first step in that direction two years ago when he designated the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.

As the NPR story notes, the Administration is considering sites "without tremendous political blow back" that could be established before Bush leaves office next January. The proposals have the support of ocean conservation organizations, and at least one -- protecting deep sea coral reefs off the South Carolina coast -- is backed by that state's Republican governor, Mark Sanford.

It's an exciting prospect, and one consistent with a similar bold step taken by the first President Bush when he established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in September 1992 -- two months before he lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton.

Strange Days on Planet Earth

This Earth Day, people around the world are getting active, seeking solutions to a host of environmental challenges that  more of us acknowledge must be addressed now, while we have time to make a difference.

Part of the path to solutions lies in understanding the nature of the problems. A great set of television programs exploring just that airs on Wednesday night.

"Strange Days on Planet Earth," narrated by actor Edward Norton, presents a second season with two hours of programs that look at threats facing the oceans -- including overfishing, unsustainable fish farming and the interconnections between what we do on land and the health of the seas.

It's a project of our friends at Sea Studios Foundation, just down the block on Monterey's Cannery Row. Created in collaboration with National Geographic Television, "Strange Days" will air on a PBS  station near you (our on your DVD player, if you buy a disc to share with family & friends).

"Dirty Secrets" and "Dangerous Catch" address threats to our water supply and the oceans, and the producers challenge us to "find out how we all can make a difference."

Their website offers tools so you can make a difference  --from buying seafood certified by the Marine Stewardship Council to using one of our Seafood Watch pocket guides when you shop for fish.

Check it out & tell your friends. The planet we save is, after all, our own.

Carnival of the Blue 11

It's time again to check out the best of what's being blogged about the ocean and its inhabitants. Check out Carnival of the Blue 11, brought to you this month by the fine folks at Zooillogix. There's even a brief item about the travels of our young white shark.

Giant mysteries of the deep

These giant sea stars were just one of the new species scientists found in a recent deep sea exploration of one of our planet's least visited habitats.

The survey was conducted as part of International Polar Year, a global programme aimed at achieving a better understanding of the land and sea environments of the Antarctic and Arctic and to monitor the effects of climate change in the regions.

You can read the full story here.

For more deep sea news, check out our sister institution's website www.mbari.org

Monday's Photo: Fire and Water

When I was a kid, I loved playing with burning candles -- teasing a stream of molten wax from the pool below the flame, then watching as the streams flowed down the taper before they cooled and hardened.

Fourth of July was another time for sanctioned play with fire. The best were the volcanic eruptions of colored sparks from cones and Roman candles.

Nature can conjure up her own spectaculars, as in this image captured by the folks at Volcano Discovery, who lead tours to volcanic regions around the world. They record the photo as documenting lava floating on the waves on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The shows don't stop at the surface.

Our colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute organized their own expedition to Hawaii in 2001 -- not to observe eruptions on land but their effects in the deep sea.

They were interested in submarine volcanic processes, and did considerable geologic work during the three-month cruise. But they also studied marine life they found in deep water off Hawaii, including amazing animals like this tripod fish.

It's not a species new to science, as are many others seen by MBARI researchers. But it's remarkable nonetheless, because people now have the technology -- and the curiosity -- to seek out life in the remote regions of our own ocean planet.

I say remote, but deep sea animals like the tripod fish aren't immune to our activities up on the surface.

There's drama and beauty in the interplay of fire and water when lava cascades into the sea. But our own survival may be more closely bound to what we're learning about the life-forms with whom we share this fragile world.

Friday's Featured Film: Sea Monsters

Sea monsters are in the news: ancient ones and a contemporary "monster" captured on film about a year ago.

The latest news concerns a newly discovered fossil pliosaur -- a marine dinosaur nearly 50 feet long that, reporters have noted, had "daggar-like teeth in a mouth large enough to bite a small car."

Discovered in Norway, it's likely a Jurassic species new to science. And it's an exciting find because it demonstrates that there were large marine predators in the northern seas during the age of dinosaurs.

No video of pliosaurs to share, though here's one of several dramatic illustrations created by Tor Sponga, BT, for the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo, Norway.

(You'll also find great photos of the paleontologists at work excavating the fossil, and illustrations comparing the pliosaur to other marine mammals --notably a blue whale and a human scuba diver.)

But I did promise video and a sea monster to boot.

If you missed the story a year ago, you can find several clips of a rarely seen frilled shark -- a living fossil from the deep sea -- that was caught near shore and that survived only a few hours at the Awashima Marine Park in Japan.

The only living members of their species, they're classified as a near threatened species on the IUCN Red List. As is true for many marine species that have little or no commercial value, when they're caught it's as bycatch in other fisheries.

Friday's Film: Underwater Astonishments

Check out this great five minute video from last year's TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference held here in Monterey. Amazing footage of animals in the deep sea, followed by camouflage techniques of coastal critters, and the work of Dr. Roger Hanlon at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.

There was a fascinating article about Dr. Hanlon in the New York Times online this week. Hanlon has spent three decades uncovering the secrets of camouflage in cephalopods (squid, octopus and cuttlefish). However, much is yet to be learned. For example, tests suggest that cuttlefish are color blind, and yet their color display repertoire is wide and varied. How is that possible? That's another mystery to be solved!

Meanwhile, scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) continue to unravel the secrets of the deep sea, with almost daily dives into the deep waters of the Monterey Canyon. Come join us on their weekday missions, with live video transmitted by satellite into the auditorium at the Aquarium! Or check out their new web site and visit  Mission to the Deep online. 

Earth's Oldest Animals

It's official: The oldest living animals on Earth live in the deep sea.

In an announcement from Texas A&M University delivered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, the title of Marine Methuselah goes to gold corals and black corals. Their age: between 2,000 and 4,000 years.

That's just a millenium or so shorter than the lifespan of the oldest living thing, the bristlecone pines found in the White Mountains of Eastern California.

Big thanks to Peter Etnoyer of Texas A&M, who posted on Deep-Sea News about the big event. I'd write about them in more detail, but he's eloquent in describing their lives, their rivals and the threats they face.

There's a Monterey Bay connection, too (of sorts). A 2002 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expedition to the Davidson Seamount off the Big Sur coast found other deep-sea corals of enormous size, also presumed to be very long-lived. Similar corals and other amazing animals were documented in a follow-up expedition in 2006.

There have been proposals to expand the boundaries of the " target="_blank">Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to include the Davidson Seamount -- affording protection against bottom-trawling or other destructive human activities that could threaten ancient living treasures like the bubblegum coral (at right).

We'll keep you posted on progress.