Cephalopodcast

I will be attending the FMSEA 2007 Annual Conference this week in Naples. My presentation notes and updates will be posted here. Not sure about connectivity, but I will update as much as possible.

More oceanic adventures from PBS. They updated the site to include an educators guide.

VOYAGE OF THE LONELY TURTLE
Premieres Sunday, April 15th at 8 p.m.

A solitary loggerhead turtle in the middle of a vast ocean may not sound like an adventure film, but stick with her. Along her 9000-mile voyage to nest, our loggerhead tour guide in VOYAGE OF THE LONELY TURTLE encounters hammerhead sharks, deep ocean tempests, and man-made death traps in the form of fishing nets and hooks. Her body of well-suited armor and specialized adaptations for deep-ocean dwelling will help the sea turtle evade many of the ocean’s menaces. But this is just one set of challenges to overcome. Here is another: she must find her way across the Pacific, from Baja to a small stretch of beach in Japan, a precise location that she has been to just once before, as a two-inch hatchling, decades ago.

• PBS educators guide Tale of a Lonely Turtle (3-5)
• PBS educators guide Ancient Travelers of the Ocean (9-12)

Hey, NOAA has updated their online photo library. Because most of these images are taken as part of the normal operations of this federal agency, they are copyright free and in the public domain. All they ask is that proper photo credit is given.

Bizarrely, the search function is currently not working, making perusal of the collection a somewhat arduous expedition.

• More than 10,000 new images.
• New search capability.
• Many new albums that better reflect NOAA’s stewardship role and range of operations.
• Hundreds of Hurricane Katrina images that help record the extent of damage of this American tragedy.
• Thousands of stunning ocean exploration photographs, coral reef photographs, and polar regions photographs.
• New additions to albums including remarkable lightning photography, coastal photographs detailing the nooks and crannies of our American coastline including a medley of American lighthouses, and new images detailing the Treasures of the NOAA Library.
• And in this, the 200th Anniversary of the Coast Survey, NOAA’s oldest ancestor agency and America’s first science agency, thousands of newly digitized historical photographs detailing the work of the Coast Survey, Fisheries Commission and Weather Bureau.

In addition to still images, NOAA also makes available a number of copyright free video clips. The quality is a bit mixed, but it’s a nice way to build a royalty-free library.

NOAA maintains a library of video footage, which is compiled and categorized by subject. It’s available for the cost of reproduction on a public domain basis—no license or clearance required. It’s requested that you credit “NOAA” or “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” when using the footage.

• NOAA Photo Library
• Other NOAA photo sites
• NOAA video B-Roll

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest and most ancient lineage of marine turtles. Eleven of them have been fitted with satellite transmitters as part of the Great Turtle Race, which begins on April 16, 2007.

The event is organized by The Leatherback Trust, Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP), Conservation International and Costa Rica’s MINAE. Some of the turtles are sponsored by Plantronics, Yahoo and West Marine, among others.

The whole site is a pretty slick production and includes Flashified trading cards for all the animals and a Flickr page. No word on whether the sponsors got to stencils their logos directly onto the turtles.

The sponsored turtles…are “racing” toward feeding areas south of the Galapagos Islands after nesting at Playa Grande in Costa Rica’s Las Baulas National Park, the primary nesting area for leatherbacks in the Pacific. The leatherback is a 100 million-year-old, massive sea animal that outlived the dinosaurs but is now dangerously close to extinction. Leatherback numbers have decreased at Playa Grande from thousands of nesting turtles 10 years ago to fewer than 100 in the last five years. This online event will raise funds to protect Playa Grande and raise awareness about what individuals can do-no matter where they live-to help protect sea turtles in our daily actions.

Lesson plans for K-5 and 6-12 grades are hosted by ERIC. Additional educational materials are supposed to be available in the “Sea Turtle School” area at www.GreatTurtleRace.com.

• Wikipedia: Leatherback Sea Turtles
• Great Turtle Race
• Great Turtle Race: Lesson Plans
• Flickr: Leatherback Turtle
• Yahoo Video: Great Turtle Race
• The Leatherback Trust
• National Geographic: It’s Tough to Be a Leatherback Turtle (3-5)
• National Geographic: Can Research Save the Leatherback Turtle? (6-8)

UPDATE: Stephen Colbert devoted part of his monologue to the leatherback race. One of the turtles is named after him.

While browsing through the PBS website for the Kings of Camouflage, I came across a link to a free UN document of cephalopods. It is available in a manner similar to the sea turtle anatomy book PDF. However, it is produced by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, so it’s emphasis is more on cephalopods as a fishery. Still, there is a lot of great info and illustrations in there. And it appears that educators can reproduce and distribute the information freely as long as they provide proper attribution.

Cephalopods of the World
www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0150e/a0150e00.htm
…free downloads of illustrated fact sheets on nearly every living cephalopod.

There are similar documents available on other marine organisms too:

• 548 Species Fact Sheets (bony fish, crustaceans, marine mammals, algae, shellfish, sharks, cephalopods, etc.)
• FAO Sea turtles of the world
• FAO Marine Mammals of the World
• FAO Sharks of the world, Part I and Part II

[via TONMO]

PBS airs another oceanic special, this time on cuttlefish. My tentacles are tingling!

Cuttlefish: The Brainy Bunch by Kaufmann Productions
a film by Gisela Kaufmann & Carsten Orlt
Premiers Tuesday, April 3 at 8 pm

Join NOVA on a voyage beneath the waves, where you’ll discover a bizarre, alien-like creature like no other. It’s an animal with eight sucker-covered arms growing out of its head, three hearts pumping its blue-green blood, and a doughnut-shaped brain. It has the ability to change its color and shape to blend in with seaweed and rocks, and it has a knack for switching on electrifying light shows that dazzle its prey. Perhaps most surprising of all, this animal is quite intelligent, with a highly complex brain. In this program, underwater cameras capture the extraordinary, transformative powers of the cuttlefish.

• Cuttlefish camo videoclips
• Anatomy of a Cuttlefish (web interactive)
• Cephalopod links and books to accompany the program
• Teacher’s Guide: Kings of Camouflage (nb: taping rights-can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air.)

I am thinking of hosting a webcast/Skypecast during this program. Would anyone be interested in joining a simultaneous conversation while the show is airing?

(more…)

Mi hombre no necesita huevos de tortuga
My man does not need turtle eggs.

The folks over at Deep-Sea News, along with Argentinian supermodel Dorismar, want to remind all Catholics that sea turtles are not fish and make an inappropriate option for Lent fasting.

Because of the common misconception of sea turtles as ‘fish,’ it is estimated that as many as 10,000 endangered green, loggerhead, and olive ridley turtles are taken for feast food each year during Catholic religious holidays. Other species, such as leatherbacks, are also at risk as their eggs are poached in massive quantities throughout Latin America.

(more…)

PBS is airing its tenth installment of Journey to Planet Earth series tomorrow. The show is hosted by Matt Damon, which is kind of annoying. Expect a disheartening survey of the many ills facing our planet’s oceans interspersed with optimistic words about mankind’s resourcefulness and the hope that technology and international cooperation will someday solve all these problems.

STATE OF THE OCEAN’S ANIMALS
Premiers March 28th, 2007 at 8pm on PBS
Check local listings

Nearly half the world’s marine animals may face extinction over the next twenty-five years. Global warming, over-fishing, and habitat destruction are emptying the world’s oceans. Join host Matt Damon as “State of the Ocean’s Animals” takes a hard look at the future of our watery natural world: the beauty, the incredible animals, and the dangers that threaten them.

Features scenes from the Pacific Northwest (whales, salmon and sea otters), Florida (sea level rise and its effect on loggerhead turtles), Japan (the slaughter of dolphins), China (shark fin trade), and the Antarctic (threats to Emperor Penguins).

• Journey to Planet Earth - State of the Ocean’s Animals
• Educational materials, including Teacher Guides.

[via CTURTLE]

Download a free PDF copy of the Anatomy of Sea Turtles by Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D. Not for the squeamish if parasagittal dissections make you squick. It includes black and white illustrations by Dawn Witherington and color photographs.

…a fundamental background, reference photos of normal anatomy, and diagrams to guide novice or professional biologists, stranding personnel, and veterinarians. Species identification, standard dissection techniques, standard measurements, and basic anatomy are covered with a diverse audience in mind.

• Download the entire book in English [PDF, 25.6M]
• Download the entire book in Spanish [PDF, 27.4M]
• Download various sections.

[via FCS]

The Alliance for Science is running an essay contest for high school students with the topic: Why would I want my doctor to have studied evolution? Essays are due March 31, 2007. First place prize of $300 to the winning student. And the teacher of the first place student gets $250 to “purchase laboratory equipment, supplies, or other teaching materials.”

On this day in 1809, a couple of significant figures were born: Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. And even though it’s still a couple years off, it’s not to early too start planning for their 200th Birthday celebration. It will also be the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On The Origin of Species.

The objective of Darwin Day Celebration is to encourage existing institutions worldwide, such as municipalities, public and private schools, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, churches, private organizations and individuals to celebrate Science and Humanity every year, on, or near, February 12, Darwin’s birthday!

There is also an effort afoot to build a recreation of Darwin’s famous brig, the HMS Beagle. His trip around the Galapagos while onboard provided much of the inspiration for his theory of evolution.

[T]he Beagle Project…aim[s] to provide the most compelling events of Charles Darwin’s 2009 anniversary by building a sailing replica of HMS Beagle and sailing in Darwin’s wake. The build and Beagle’s arrival in the Galapagos in 2009 will be two of the most striking, iconic media events of the 2009 celebrations, aimed at firing the scientific imaginations of a new generation and celebrating the life and work of Charles Darwin, one of the greatest biologists ever.

• On The Origin of Species
• Darwin Day
• The Beagle Project and the The Beagle Project Blog
• Friends of Charles Darwin
• See also: Alfred Russel Wallace
• Writings of Abraham Lincoln
• Wikipedia: February 12

via Plankton Forums (Izzy Dolphin)

Looking for more marine podcasts? Scripps Institution of Oceanography has started offering access to their digital audio and video content via iTunes.

They are also now producing a free monthly electronic magazine about Scripps research, called Explorations@Scripps.

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Scripps Multimedia and Podcasts
• Sign up for their new e-newsletter, Explorations@Scripps

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is offering up free ocean science books and resource kits. No word on how long the offer will last.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with Turnstone Publishing Group and Steck-Vaughn Publishers, has produced a series of books on eight high-interest areas of ocean science. Thanks to a donation by Harcourt Achieve, we now offer this free resource.

These books explore the ocean from the scientist’s point of view: what makes them curious, how they approach their work, and how they go about answering questions about the ocean. All titles conform to national science teaching standards.

Available as:

• Classroom kits (while supplies last): 30 copies of one title, and a teacher’s resource binder including activities and supplies.
• or, book packages 40 books, (five copies of each title).

TITLES, Grades 6-8:

• Dive to the Deep Ocean–Voyages of Exploration and Discovery
• Ocean Detectives–Solving the Mysteries of the Sea
• Down to a Sunless Sea–The Strange World of Hydrothermal Vents
• Meteorite! The Last Days of the Dinosaurs

TITLES, Grades 4-6:

• The Mysterious Ocean Highway–Benjamin Franklin and the Gulf Stream
• Off to Sea–An Inside Look at a Research Cruise
• Follow that Fin! Studying Dolphin Behavior
• Arctic Investigations–Exploring the Frozen Ocean

• For the free offer visit the WHOI/SeaGrant website.
• For more info on the books, try this page.

Two film contests out there for all you new media science interpreter types:

Shifting Baselines 60 Second Flix Contest

The SB FLIX CONTEST is an open call now through March 1st for creative, funny, and otherwise crazy cool videos about the ocean or the environment/Shifting Baselines.

• Offical Rules
• Deadline: March 1, 2007
• Prize: $2500 USD

The 2007 First Annual Phylm Prize

The Phylm Prize is an award aimed at spurring interest in physics and the educational use of new media. To be considered, entries must be posted as video responses to this YouTube posting.

• Offical Rules [PDF]
• Deadline: May 1, 2007
• Prize: $100 USD

Available now from the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel, FL, in VHS format ($19.95) or DVD ($22.00). Quicktime snippets on their website.

Mollusks In Action is a nature video that features living mollusks found on the beaches and tidal pools of Sanibel Island, Florida. It was filmed and produced by Shell Museum education docent Joyce Matthys. The 30-minute video covers, in an easy-to-understand approach, different aspects of molluscan biology such as feeding, locomotion, anatomy, defense strategies, and reproduction.

Here’s some good news for a captive shark:

The young male white shark that has been part of our Outer Bay exhibit since September is back in the wild.

Our husbandry team tagged and released him shortly after sunrise today (Tuesday, January 16). It marks the second time in two years that we’ve exhibited a white shark and then returned it safely back
to the wild.

He was released from a boat in Monterey Bay after our staff fitted him with an electronic data tag that will track his movements for the next 90 days. If all goes as planned, on April 16, we’ll get information documenting where the shark traveled, how deep he dove and the water temperatures he favored. The data will be relayed to scientists via satellite when the tag pops free.

We released him because he’d grown considerably–from an initial length of 5-foot-8 and 103 pounds when he arrived on August 31, 2006 to his current size of 6-foot-5 and 171 pounds. He was healthy and feeding at the time of release, but was large enough that to delay much longer could have posed more risks for both the shark and our staff during the move. We expect he’ll do well after release, just as our first white shark did.

• More: MBAq White Shark 2006
• Previousluy: New white shark at Monterey Bay Aquarium