Marine Life Series: The Blue-ringed Octopus

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Saturday May 11, 2013 · 10:53 AM PDT

2013/05/11 · 10:53

I’ve owned fourteen octopuses over the years, and the most depressing part of bonding with these incredibly intelligent animals is their short life span. My local ones only live for about a year. I once stretched one’s life span out to 18 months by severely restricting its calorie intake, but I felt guilty about that and now just let their natural longevity take its course.

Native to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the blue-ringed octopus’ life span is only about two years. But it could end yours in a matter of minutes.

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Quahog Grades

15 votes

Tonic Immobility

12 votes

Striped Killifish

10 votes

Marine Life Series: Shame-faced Crabs

Mark H

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Saturday April 27, 2013 · 10:46 AM PDT

2013/04/27 · 10:46

If there’s one crustacean that can be described as tank-like, this is it. The body is compact, the exoskeleton incredibly hard and the claws have evolved to form a perfect fit to cover the entire face. This “face”, actually the breathing apparatus and mouthparts, is the most vulnerable part of a crab’s body, but the shame-faced crab’s claws form an impenetrable barrier to this opening.

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Blue-ringed Octopus

58 votes

Tonic Immobility

12 votes

Striped Killifish

15 votes

Marine Life Series: The History of Oyster Farming

Mark H

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Saturday April 13, 2013 · 12:02 PM PDT

2013/04/13 · 12:02

Harvesting oysters in New England goes back to way before colonial times. Although today oysters are harvested mainly for food, back in the 1700’s they were collected for their shells. Limestone, vital to the production of masonry mortar, was scarce in the northeast. So oysters and other mollusks were captured and added to kilns to take advantage of the calcium carbonate in their shells.

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49 votes Show Results

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Shame-faced crabs

21 votes

Tonic Immobility

14 votes

striped Killifish

14 votes

Marine Life Series: Commercial Fisheries Kickstarter

Mark H

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Monday September 17, 2012 · 9:42 PM PDT

2012/09/17 · 21:42

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The Biomes Center commercial fisheries exhibit.

Mark H

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Tuesday May 22, 2012 · 6:04 PM PDT

2012/05/22 · 18:04

Five years ago I attended Netroots Nation in Chicago. It was the highlight of that year for me (although in that same year my dog died, a long-term relationship ended and my son moved out, so the bar was set pretty low). Still, I loved every minute of it. This year, NRN is taking place in my backyard. I live just 30 minutes from Providence.

Mark H

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 10, 2011 · 10:02 PM PST

2011/02/10 · 22:02

It's been a long time, way too long a time, since I've posted an MLS diary. But PBS ran an episode on animal intelligence, and they asked me and Ruby the octopus to star in it. So, I thought I'd share.

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67 votes Show Results

MLS

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MLS

Miss it

53 votes

Don't miss it

10 votes

Don't know what the hell it is

4 votes

Marine Life Series: Paul the Octopus is a Fraud

Mark H

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Friday July 09, 2010 · 9:59 PM PDT

2010/07/09 · 21:59

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I did an hour-long phone interview with CNN last night. They were looking for an alternate explanation for the "psychic octopus" named Paul. Paul lives in a German aquarium and has become famous for correctly picking the winners of World Cup games.

Poll

321 votes Show Results

Paul is:

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Paul is:

A psychic

38 votes

A fraud

60 votes

A harmless diversion

223 votes

Marine Life Series: The Red Knot

Mark H

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Thursday October 15, 2009 · 6:12 PM PDT

2009/10/15 · 18:12

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Twice each year shorebirds along the eastern seaboard migrate thousands of miles between North and South America. In the fall they head south to their wintering grounds, and then return to their northern breeding grounds in the Spring. To make this trek and still survive means finding high protein foods to provide the energy they need. And there aren’t many items on a bird’s menu that packs in more protein than the eggs of other animals. This is where the horseshoe crab comes in.

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Tonic immobility

38 votes

Striped minnows

29 votes

A history of oyster farming

40 votes

Marine Life Series: Expat Sargasso Community

Mark H

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Sunday August 30, 2009 · 4:24 PM PDT

2009/08/30 · 16:24

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Although like most people I’m not all that thrilled about the damage caused by hurricanes and tropical storms when they landfall, I’m guessing that unlike most folks I eagerly await the arrival of one of the by-products of these storms. Southeasterly winds (remember, winds are named for the direction they are coming from, not for where they’re going) carry floating debris from way out in the middle of the Atlantic across the ocean and onto the shores of the Eastern seaboard. I spent most of last week picking through the mats of algae drifting towards the coast, especially sargassum weed, looking for stranded pelagic creatures clinging to the flotsam.

Mark H

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Wednesday July 01, 2009 · 7:00 PM PDT

2009/07/01 · 19:00

As a marine educator I’ve become acutely aware of the threat posed by overfishing. In fact, I’m rather distressed about it considering that continuing our current rate of depletion of this resource it’s entirely possible that the marine ecosystem as we know it may collapse by the middle of this century.

Years ago I decided to do my part and swore off seafood completely. Although I have no animosity towards commercial fishermen, and indeed I rely on them often to obtain hard to get specimens for my education center, I’d really like to see the industry regulated in an intelligent way to preserve and protect at-risk species and the ecosystem as a whole. And as I’ve learned more about fisheries science I’ve come to the realization that boycotting commercial fishing en masse isn’t necessary. But carefully choosing what we consume is. Not only which species we eat, but how and where they are harvested or cultivated.

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I'm liking the DK GreenRoots marathon

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I'm liking the DK GreenRoots marathon

a little

3 votes

a lot

12 votes

a really, really lot

35 votes

Marine Life Series: Reflex Amputation

Mark H

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Friday June 19, 2009 · 5:20 PM PDT

2009/06/19 · 17:20

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Most people are familiar with a lizard’s ability to drop its tail off at will. Also known as autotomy, reflex amputation is an adaptive behavior developed by a wide range of organisms as a means of escaping from predators. It is especially common among various groups of marine invertebrates.

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The red knot

34 votes

Striped minnows

22 votes

An history of oyster farming

30 votes

Marine Life Series: Coral Bleaching

Mark H

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday June 12, 2009 · 5:36 PM PDT

2009/06/12 · 17:36

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As the term suggests, coral bleaching is the whitening of living coral colonies, a phenomenon associated with anthropogenic changes in the animal’s habitat which lead to the weakening of the colony’s health and its eventual death. Let’s take a look at what exactly is being bleached, what’s causing the bleaching and why bleaching is so devastating to these animals and their ecosystem.

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156 votes Show Results

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156 votes Vote Now!

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Reflux amputation

62 votes

Striped minnows

36 votes

An history of oyster farming

58 votes

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Marine Life Series: The Blue-ringed Octopus

Marine Life Series: Shame-faced Crabs

Marine Life Series: The History of Oyster Farming

Marine Life Series: Commercial Fisheries Kickstarter

Marine Life Series: NRN Invitation

Marine Life Series: Ruby on NOVA

Marine Life Series: Paul the Octopus is a Fraud

Marine Life Series: The Red Knot

Marine Life Series: Expat Sargasso Community

Marine Life Series, DK GreenRoots: Responsible Shrimp Buying

Marine Life Series: Reflex Amputation

Marine Life Series: Coral Bleaching