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Darwin is most famous for his theory of evolution. But did you know that much of his life’s work was influenced by his time at sea? 

In the spirit of Darwin Day, here is one of his observations of bioluminescent plankton while aboard the HMS Beagle on October 24, 1832:

“The night was pitch dark, with a fresh breeze. — The sea from its extreme luminousness presented a wonderful & most beautiful appearance; every part of the water, which by day is seen as foam, glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, & in her wake was a milky train. — As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was bright; & from the reflected light, the sky just above the horizon was not so utterly dark as the rest of the Heavens.” Charles Darwin

Learn more about Darwin’s connection to the ocean from this article at the Ocean Portal.

Photo Credit: unknown, Turin Museum of Human Anatomy

Behold the blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus), a tiny sea slug that packs a powerful punch! Growing only about 1.2 in (3 cm) long, it’s also known as the blue dragon, and it specializes in eating venomous siphonophores—like the Portuguese man o' war. It then repurposes the toxic chemicals from its prey as a defense for itself. The blue glaucus’ sting has been known to induce nausea, vomiting, and agonizing pain. Their venom can remain active even after death!

Photo: drmattnimbs, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Showing off those glide and pivot skills 😶‍🌫️⁠

Fishes in the family Macrouridae, also known as rattails, can glimpse even the faintest flickers of bioluminescence—the “living light” produced by deep-sea animals. Their keen eyesight reveals prey, like fishes and squid, darting in the waters above the seafloor.⁠ ⁠ A rattail relies on other senses, like smell and touch, to find a meal too. It has a nose for rotting carrion, and sensitive barbels on its chin detect small crustaceans or worms wiggling in the mud below.

Alone in the world is a little catshark 🦈

This is one of the three deep-sea catshark species found in the Northeast Pacific, the longnose catshark, Apristurus kampae. They are found at depths ranging from 180 to 1,888 meters (590 to 6,500).

Catsharks are bottom feeders and are most active at night, often sleeping in groups during the day and hunting at night.

Marine Life of the Maritime Provinces, Canada

After months of work and waiting, here is at long last the full MARS commission. MARS (Marine Animal Response Society) is active in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and is called upon whenever a marine creature is found dead or in distress. These illustrations will be used to educate their volunteers and assist in making species identifications during strandings or at sea.

With 42 separate illustrations, this is my largest project to date - quite a load of work! But it was an absolute pleasure to do. I got to paint animals I have never painted before, as well as revisit some old friends. The diversity of species found in this one area is impressive and made for varied painting.

I’m pretty pleased seeing them all together like this, and I hope you’ll enjoy them too! 

Adjustments to a different educational landscape

Different systems

Less work

Difficulties

I thought it would be appropriate to write about the different educational landscape after taking my first round of exams for a number of reasons. First, it gives me enough time to adjust (kind of) to the different system, and secondly, it gives me a bit of time to reflect on the system as well.

I'll begin with a brief description outlining different education system. First, most students do not live on campus. Some may live two or three hours away too, which makes me feel awkward when I say I live on campus because the two hour is too long to do two times every day. Second, most classes are only once a week, which can make it easy to forget about work and procrastinate. In fact, my only class that is two times a week is my Spanish class taught by a professor with IFSA-Butler.  

In my classes, there is a lot less "busy work," which is bitter sweet for me since busy work helps me stay on top of content but at the same time reduces free time. This also translate into less exams. In each of my three classes that have exams, there are only two. There is a lot of group work, usually including presentations, but in one of my biology labs, it means a lot of lab/field work. In the same course, called Evaluation of Habitat, we had two weekend trips (one to a refuge and one to a biological reserve) to complete small, independent projects.

Adjusting to this new academic system is difficult, especially with the language barrier. I also think that since there fewer numbers of classes every week, it is a lot harder to get a feel for each professor. It is difficult for me to point to few particular skills that I gained during my first year of college that I have used here because for me, I always need to experience it for myself and then I find my footing. It is hard to do it quickly, but I think that the best way for me to make the transition is to simply immerse myself in the system and my work.

IFSA-Butler's main role, especially during orientation, was giving advice to all of us and letting us know that they are there to provide support to us, including offering free tutoring to anyone who wanted it.

Baby loggerhead turtle at home in the sargassum in the Gulf Stream current, where it will spend roughly 5 years, finally being large enough that many animals won’t be able to eat! Sea Turtles have a very difficult life, most of which never make it to maturity and reproduce! Our own existence here on earth as a species is responsible for the death of many beautiful creatures including the sea Turtles, due to mistakes of the past! We have the knowledge, technology and some the drive to fix this, but will we make necessary changes to put our beautiful planet into a sustainable direction? I MOST DEFINITELY WILL! Please join me as our planets future and all creatures are dependent on it! Be the change the world needs! @jim_abernethy #beautiful #babyturtle #gorgeous #cute #precious #underwater #saveturtles #saveoceans (at Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures & Marine Life Art Gallery)

Packing for a Journey into the Twilight Zone

Submitted for your consideration: A team of researchers from more than 20 institutions, boarding two research vessels, heading into the ocean’s twilight zone.

The twilight zone is a dimly lit region between 650 and 3300 feet below the surface, where we’re unfolding the mystery of how tiny ocean organisms affect our planet’s climate.

These tiny organisms – called phytoplankton – are plant-like and mostly single-celled. They live in water, taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Two boats, more than 100 researchers from more than 20 partner institutions, and a whole fleet of robotic explorers make up the EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) team. We’re learning more about what happens to carbon dioxide after phytoplankton digest it.

The Equipment to Find Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton have predators in the ocean called zooplankton. They absorb the phytoplankton’s carbon, carrying it up the food chain. The EXPORTS mission will focus partly on how that happens in the ocean’s twilight zone, where some zooplankton live.  When phytoplankton die, sometimes their bodies sink through the same area. All of this carries carbon dioxide into the ocean’s depths and out of Earth’s atmosphere.

Counting Life

Studying the diversity of these organisms is important to better understand what’s happening to the phytoplankton as they die. Researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are using a very fine mesh net to sample water at various depths throughout the ocean to count various plankton populations.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island are bringing the tools to sequence the DNA of phytoplankton and zooplankton to help count these organism populations, getting a closer look at what lives below the ocean’s surface.

Science at 500 Feet

Taking measurements at various depths is important, because phytoplankton, like plants, use sunlight to digest carbon dioxide. That means that phytoplankton at different levels in the ocean absorb and digest carbon differently. We’re bringing a Wirewalker, an instrument that glides up and down along a vertical wire to take in water samples all along its 500-foot long tether.

This journey to the twilight zone will take about thirty days, but we’ll be sending back dispatches from the ships. Follow along as we dive into ocean diversity on our Earth Expeditions blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

When This Sea Slug Eats, It Prefers the Turducken of the Sea

A species of nudibranch was found to engage in what researchers call kleptopredation — “steal your meal and eat you, too.”

Nudibranchs are dainty, colorful, voracious ocean predators. And this species figured out how to get two meals for the price of one!