Science and Sustainability

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ocean.alanna

Science and Sustainability
• Marine Scientist 🌊
• @umiamirsmas BSc 🙌
• @umassdsmast PhD Student 🎓

How cool is this little fish?? Check out those tee

How cool is this little fish?? Check out those teeth!

This is an anglerfish, which many people may be familiar with from the movie Finding Nemo. Here are some fun facts about anglerfish:

• Anglerfish comprise the order Lophiiformes, and are recognized for their most anterior spine which is utilized as a lure, known as the esca.
• Some species of anglerfish display extreme dimorphism between male and female, with only the female anglerfish hunting for prey while the much smaller male anglerfish lives a parasitic lifestyle.
• Some deep sea anglerfish known as “dreamers” (what I’m fairly certain is pictured here) are considered ultra black fish, and have been proven to reflect only about 0.05% of light due to tightly packed melanosomes.
• The glow that anglerfish produce to lure prey is a result of bioluminescent bacteria that live symbiotically with the fish.

Definitely one of my favorites that we find out at sea!

#anglerfish #lophiiformes #deepsea #deepseafish #findingnemo #esca #dimorphism #parasitic #ultrablackfish #bioluminescent #bioluminescence #symbioticrelationship #symbioticbacteria #marinebiology #fishfacts #fish #science #nature #oceanlife #seacreatures #marinebio #oceanscience #fisheries #oceanresearch #deepseacreatures #deepsealife

What happens when floats don’t float? First, we

Can’t believe it’s already spring! Feels like

Can’t believe it’s already spring! Feels like yesterday we were celebrating Christmas on the ship offshore of Costa Rica. Pro tip: if you don’t have a tree to decorate you can always throw some lights on a multi-corer. This piece of equipment is used to collect sediment samples from the sea floor without disturbing the layers of material. The sediment core is retrieved in a long tube so scientists can study the sediment through time, with the newest settled sediments at the top and deeper, older sediments at the bottom. We have a current sediment project in our lab using isotopic signatures in foraminifera from sediment core samples as a tool to study nitrogen as a piece of paleoclimatology. This is a really interesting tool that is used to help build a picture of what is happening today as well as the history of the Earth and oceans!
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#oceanography #marinescience #oceanscience #sediments #oceansediment #geology #marinegeology #multicorer #multicores #sedimentcore #seafloor #earthhistory #climatescience #science #nature #researchlife #fieldwork #shiplife #lifeatsea #oceanresearch #researchequipment #sedimentology #sediment #paleoclimatology #biogeochemistry #isotopechemistry

Did you know evolution has resulted in crabs at le

Did you know evolution has resulted in crabs at least five separate times? This is a prime example of convergent evolution, much like birds and bats evolving the ability to fly separately, in which different groups of crustaceans over time take on a crab-like form. This phenomenon of convergent evolution resulting in crabs even has a name: carcinization. Turns out crabs have the perfect body! For survival as a crustacean, anyway. Now I’m pretty sure this is a blue crab - I’m not well versed in crustacean ID, so someone please correct me if that’s not the case. Blue crabs are native to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, so it really shouldn’t be on the Pacific side of Costa Rica where this picture was taken, but it has become very common for marine creatures to be introduced to new regions particularly in the ballast water of ships (UPDATE: this probably is Callinectes arcuatus, same genus as the blue crab but in the correct region!). We have several invasive species of crab in New England, with lots of research going toward their impacts on native marine life. I personally gave the invasive @greencraborg cookbook as a gift this holiday season, and I recommend everyone looks into their local invasive species to try to learn how to help.
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#carcinisation #carcinization #crabevolution #convergentevolution #evolution #biology #marinescience #marinebiology #marineecology #crustaceans #crab #crabs #bluecrab #invasivecrabs #invasivespecies #greencrabs #science #nature #oceanlife #ecosystems #womeninoceanscience #oceanstudies #oceanography #ballastwater

While out at sea we deployed 8 of these Global Oce

What’s your favorite whale? • Pictured here is

What’s your favorite whale?
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Pictured here is a minke whale! It was one of a pod of around five, spotted off the coast of Guatemala. This friendly group hung around the ship for about an hour while we were stationary for a CTD deployment. Minke whales are the second smallest type of Mysticete whales, yet still may reach up to 35 ft long and 20,000 lbs. They filter feed by straining plankton and other small fish and crustaceans through bristle-like structures called baleen. Minke whales can live up to 50 years and are listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List, but still face threats such as entanglement in fishing gear, climate change, vessel strikes, and continued whaling.
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#minkewhale #minkewhales #whalepod #whales #whale #whalesighting #mysticete #mysticeti #baleen #baleenwhale #oceanlife #whaleenthusiast #marinebiology #marinebiologist #iucnredlist #whalefacts #stopwhaling #charismaticmegafauna #oceanscience #oceanography

Ship safety, but make it fashion ✨ Here we are

Ship safety, but make it fashion ✨

Here we are trying out our immersion suits, affectionately known as Gumby suits. These waterproof dry suits are intended for use during abandon ship, in case of ending up in the ocean. They protect the wearer from hypothermia and aid in floatation. Because the clumsy hands on these suits can make tightening the straps a little tricky, it’s always a good idea to try them on for practice. Plus you get to look really cool doing it.
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#shipsafety #fashion #makeitfashion #vesselsafety #immersionsuit #survivalsuit #gumbysuit #gumbysuits #oceansafety #drysuit #floatationdevice #shipfashion #boatfashion #boatsafety #boatlife #shiplife #lifeatsea #scientists #scientistsofinstagram #safetytraining #welookgood #justboatthings

Bird people - please read to the end because I hav

Bird people - please read to the end because I have a question!! Throughout the cruise the ship was tailed by a variety of seabirds, which ranged from petrels to frigate birds to tropicbirds to a lost peregrine falcon. The most abundant type was the booby, pictured here (this one is named Gary). These birds followed the ship for a very specific reason - hunting!
We were in an area that was rife with flying fish. As the ship moved through the water, these flying fish jumped out of the water to clear out of the way of the ship. The boobies became aware of this and would form large flocks to follow along and fish during our transits between stations.
Years ago I went on a mammal survey cruise in the Gulf of Mexico which included a couple ornithologists surveying the birds of the region. Observing the boobies on this past cruise leads to a question I have for birding folks: while the ship is moving and the birds are targeting the ship in order to fish, how is this human-influenced behavior accounted for in ensuring the data is not skewed? .
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#oceanography #marinescience #oceanscience #marinebiology #seabirds #seabird #oceanbirds #birding #birders #birdersofinstagram #ornithology #birdsurvey #lifeaquatic #birdsatsea #science #oceanecology #oceanresearch #populationecology #birds #oceanlife #seenatsea #nature #birdwatchingdaily #ecologicaldata

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