Pic o’ the Week, World Ocean Day Edition: Emerald Ocean Dreamscape

An emerald wave crashes into the steel-blue sea, ocean water streams white down craggy coastal rocks, a seagull flies low, light fog blankets it all. This ethereal shot at Point Reyes by Paul Jimerson captures the exquisite beauty of our remarkable ocean. "It’s a favorite of mine, in part because it reminds me of that …

Spotlight: Our Perpetual Ocean

A fascinating and rather zen animation of ocean surface currents from 2005 through 2007, from NASA satellites. As NASA notes: "Watch how bigger currents like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean and the Kuroshio in the Pacific carry warm waters across thousands of miles at speeds greater than four miles per hour (six kilometers …

Notable Ocean Quotable: plastic bags

“There is no reason a product we use for a few minutes should float in our oceans for a few hundred years.” --Dave Mathews of Environment Oregon After the state legislature failed to take decisive action to reduce Oregonians' use of single-use plastic bags, a mosaic of activists, conservationists and just plain sensible people are working …

Pic o’ the Week: Technicolor Nudibranch

Nudibranch, Papua New Guinea. Photo ©Jan Messersmith Nudibranch, nudibranch, living in the sea.Bright flashing colors say, ”Don’t eat me!”--by Erin Nash  These mollusks without shells live in seas the world over, and come in all colors - even neons. National Geographic provides some quick nudibranch facts: "There are more than 3,000 known species of nudibranch, …

Water poem for Blog Action Day 2010

Grounded in the Water All of life's problems bleed away When I get grounded in the water. -- by Raymond A. Foss Photo by David Sifry

Pic o’ the Week: Spotted Scorpionfish

Spotted scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri), Florida Keys Can you tell where the oceanfloor ends and the fish begins? Terrific camouflage. Students from Missouri's Saint Joseph School District encountered this creature during their spring field study in the Florida Keys. In their words - "This spotted scorpionfish was photographed in shallow water off Burnt Point in the Florida …

Sea turtle hatchlings LOVE beach resort lights

There's bound to be messiness when creatures who've roamed the seas and beaches for millions of years face the relatively newfangled phenomenon of artifical light. Scientists believe that sea turtle hatchlings, when they emerge from their shells on beaches around the world, institnctually move in the direction where the sky is brightest. On a beach …

Pic o’ the Week: Bathypelagic Ctenophore

Photo © David Shale, courtesy University of Aberdeen It looks like a molar tooth drenched in gold, or maybe a metallic mylar birthday balloon. But this is a bathypelagic ctenophore, photographed near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the Atlantic Ocean. The 'bathypelagic zone' is the layer of the ocean about 3,000 - 13,000 feet deep, sometimes called "The …

Pic o’ the Week: Transparent Sea Cucumber, Gulf of Mexico

A transparent sea cucumber, photographed 1.7 miles down (2,750 meters) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Scientists found this transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes, creeping forward on its many tentacles at less than 1 inch (2 cm) per minute while sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth. From LiveScience; photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.  The …

refuges in the first oil impact zone?

Much news, none of  it good, is streaming to us from the Gulf of Mexico, where an exploded oil rig has likely claimed 11 human lives and its uncapped well has gushed over 818 tons of crude oil into the sea so far and is spewing out more than 210,000 gallons a day. Today the …