Le Carnaval du Bleu, No. 29

Ladyfishes and gentle menhadens,
gulls and buoys,
welcome to the 29th monthly
Carnival of the Blue.

The most remarkable ocean blogs of the world, pooled together in one monumental post!

Sensational! Educational! Inspirational!

Thrill to the amazing adventures of sea-faring scientists.

Marvel at the mysterious matter of energetic algae and pelagic plastics.

Peek at the protrusiblity of deep-sea (pseudo)genitalia.

This way folks to the great egrets…

Bon Voyage

Deep-Sea News
The Beagle Project Blog

Summer slipped away from us last month, and many folks seemed to squeeze in trips and vacances before returning to school and work. Chief among these were Kevin and Karen, who went on a Darwinian Adventure to South America. Billed as a scientific workshop to identify key opportunities for using sailing vessels for modern research, Kevin blogged about the two day science cruises aboard the Tocorimé. During the trip they were joined by an international group of researchers, an astronaut and local school children.

Neptune’s Beard! Is that Karen aloft in the rigging? And oh my swordfish, look at those lovely mutton chops!

• Deep-Sea News: Darwin and the Adventure
• The Beagle Project Blog: The Beagle Project goes to Brazil

The Oyster’s Garter @ Double X
SEAPLEX blog

Not to be left high and dry, Miriam spent some time at sea this summer too as the principal investigator on the SEAPLEX cruise, Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (aka, Seeking the Science of the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch). There is little public understanding of the perils of plastic in our oceans. There is even less scientific information on its composition, extent, and effects. So from August 2-21, the SEAPLEX team set out to collect as much data as they could and shared the preliminary findings with the public via blogs and video.

What does 1,700 miles of fingernail-sized pieces of plastic look like?

• Slate’s Double X: What I Did On My Summer Science Vacation
• SEAPLEX: blog archive

Escargotoires

Wanderin’ Weeta

Another milestone passed last month was the 3rd annual International Rock Flipping Day. This year’s IRF Day events were coordinated by Susannah. But it’s not just terrestrial critters that have a home on her blog. She also has an aquarium and was surprised one day to see a mysterious mollusk poking up its proboscis. Can you guess what it was just by looking at the picture? It’s not always so easy, as Susannah found out.

What is a weeta and why does it wander?

• Wanderin’ Weeta: There’s always more to learn
• Flickr: International Rock-Flipping Day

Cephalopodcast

Like Susannah, I’ve learned that its easy to overlook snails. They try so hard to be inconspicuous. But one day I noticed an unusual abundance of them clumping together at the base of some trees. I could have just walked by, but I decided to dig a little deeper and discover what makes these snails stick so close together. It was an interesting investigation that was part intuition and part research blogging. It’s part of a ongoing feature on my blog to document some of the sea life in my area. I call the series What the Shell is That? .

There is wisdom in these little shells and they can tell us much about a place just by their presence (or absence) there.

• Cephalopodcast: What the Shell is That? 9.9.28 – Coffee Bean Snail, Melampus coffeus

Tendentious Tenaculae

Blogfish
Deep-Sea News
Why Evolution is True

It isn’t just snails that have enigmatic protuberances. Several blue bloggers made note of the recent description of a new species of ghostshark off the coast of Californica. Also known as a chimera, both Mark and Craig were effusive about the protrusive nature of this animal’s putative reproductive structures. But as Jerry notes, the tumescence of it’s tenaculum pales in comparison to the bifidity of its spectacular claspers.

Is that a rabbitfish under your hat or are you just happy to see me?

• Blogfish: Do you have a retractable sexual appendage on your forehead?
• Deep-Sea News: Another Species With Forehead Sexual Organs
• Why Evolution is True: That’s not ratfish genitalia. That’s ratfish genitalia.

Positive Piscivory

SeaNotes

The staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium have a different cartilaginous creature to consider. For the fifth year in a row they’ve collected a juvenile white shark to place on display in their Outer Bay exhibit. As she continues to grow and thrive in her new home, she is helping to draw the public’s attention to the threats these fish face in the wild. Visit the SeaNotes blog to find out how you can help support shark conservation today.

As my buddy DB used to say, “When your only tools are teeth, everything starts to look like food.”

• SeaNotes: Film Friday: Ten Pounds

Observations of a Nerd

Sometimes the fish gets to eat and sometimes the fish gets eaten. And if Christie has her way, they’ll be a whole lot of lionfish on the menu. Also known as the turkeyfish, these animals are naturally found in the Pacific. However, they have recently been introduced into the Atlantic and have quickly become an invasive nuisance. Many ecosystems are threatened by these venomous vermin and Christie says we need to step up to the palate and start eating them. I know what I want for Thanksgiving—a turkeyfish! Be sure to also check out Christie’s fab interview on the Nature Blog Networks.

So a sea robin stuffed inside a pufferfish stuffed inside a turkeyfish would make what?
A turpufin?

• Observations of a Nerd: Pan-Fried Conservation: How to eat our way to healthy reefs
• Nature Blog Network: Featured Blog: Observations of a Nerd

Pelagic Rara Avis

Great Auk – or Greatest Auk?

Carrie recently went in the opposite direction of the lionfish, traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific. She spent some time listing out birds while listing about deck on a pelagic tour of the Channel Islands. She shares her thoughts on spotting the elusive guillemot and the more conspicuous murres as well as showing photos of some those obtrusive marine mammals that sometimes get in the way.

Did you know that fur seals thermoregulate by looking like tires?

• Great Auk – or Greatest Auk?: Pelagic-o-rama: Day 2

Deep Impaction

Southern Fried Science

GIVE ME AN O! GIVE ME A C! GIVE ME AN E! A! N! WHAT DOES THAT SPELL? The Online Community Environmental Action Network! It’s a call to action by David over at Southern Fried Science to get everyone on their duffs and posting about conservation information to as many social networks sites as possible. You can help spread the word about the issues that matter to you by submitting your blog posts, petitions, or websites to David’s new conservation network.

• Southern Fried Science: Help me spread the word about saving sharks, the oceans, and more! Introducing …OCEAN!

The Natural Patriot

Emmett has recently been on a roller-coaster ride while working on a new algae farm at the College of William and Mary. The college and its Virginia Institute of Marine Science are hoping to turn algae from the Chesapeake Bay into something other than a goopy mess. If it works out they could end up with a combination process that produces both algae-based biofuels and environmental remediation. Makes me wonder what would happen if you added some aquaculture to the mix.

There’s algae everywhere, he said. I know, she replied, it’s all ulva the place.

• The Natural Patriot: Algae to the rescue: the egg hatches

Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets

Rick‘s been watching the new PBS television program on the US National Park system. It’s an amazing, heart-stirring series on the history of conservation and the value of wild places in America. But what about protecting all those public lands that are underwater? That’s where Marine Protected Areas come in. MPAs are a system that tries to preserve biological functions while also balancing public use. And this October you can weigh in on the proposed network of MPAs for the coast of California.

More than half of the U.S. population live within 50 miles of the coast and it’s expected that 75% will be there by 2025.

• Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets: Yeah, MPAs Work

So Long, and Thanks for All the Blogfish…

Mark is handing over the Poobah position to Jason

As many of you know, Mark Powell (aka, blogfish) has been the Grand Marshal of the ParadeCarnival of the Blue since its inception back in 2007. What some of you may not know is that he has recently taken a job in Gland, Switzerland, working with the World Wide Fund for Nature. This new position will keep him busy helping to unify WWF’s work on seafood, recruiting businesses and consumers to support ocean conservation. He says his new title will be something like “global seafood coordinator.” In addition, he will be starting a new blog about his Swim Around Lake Geneva, where he’ll don a drysuit and paddle his way through Alpine lakes to raise awareness about imperiled perch and freshwater conservation (all while dodging the cantonal coast guard). That last bit may only partly be true. In any event, things are going to be hectic for Mark, so he has agreed to let me volunteer to coordinate the Carnival in the future.

What does this mean? If I do the job right, you won’t notice much difference. Starting next month I’ll be updating the Web site and sending out reminder prompts to those interested in participating. It is also rumored I might have to endure some bizarre underwater hazing ritual involving a salmon, some blue marbles and a circle hook but that might not be true either. Whatever the case, everyone please wish Mark well:

Nous vous souhaitons une Merveilleuse Réussite, Professeur Powell!

Coming up next month???

So I’ve got some big dive fins to fill and I’ll start by noting here that there are immediate openings for hosting the Carnival of the Blue in November and January. Don’t wait folks, step right up and join the show.

For a list of past Carnivals, visit the mothersite. For immediate updates, follow Carnival of the Blue on Twitter.

One More Thing

Travel Awards for ScienceOnline 2010

Craig has an announcement to make. The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center will be offering two travel awards for ScienceOnline 2010, a science communication conference to be held January 14‐17th, 2010, in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. Meet with hundreds of writers, editors, scientists and educators and explore how online tools are changing the way science is communicated to the public. Each winner gets a $750 stipend to cover travel costs. In addition, winners can spend a morning with scientists at NESCent. For more information, including rules for entry, visit the link below.

• Travel Awards for ScienceOnline 2010

Tagged as: algae, Alison Barratt, bird, blogging, blogs, carnival, Carrie Laben, chimaera, Christie Lynn, Craig McClain, David Shiffman, Emmett Duffy, Jerry Coyne, Karen James, Kevin Zelnio, lionfish, Mark Powell, Miriam Goldstein, ocean, pinguinus, Rick MacPherson, shark, Susannah Anderson