THROWBACK THURSDAY: DR. PAULY IN THE WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE FORUM

Dr. Daniel Pauly at a White House event on citizen science. (Source: Sea Around Us)

We take pride as SeaLifeBase’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Daniel Pauly speaks in the recently held discussion of the Oceans and Coasts session of the “Open Science and Innovation: Of the people, by the people, for the people”, a live-webcast forum of the White House held last September 30, 2015. The event was hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Domestic Policy Council, having three objectives: (1) to celebrate the successes of citizen science and crowdsourcing; (2) to raise awareness of the benefits these innovative approaches can deliver and; (3) to motivate more Federal agencies and Americans to take advantage of these approaches [1].

In this forum, Dr. Pauly presented FishBase and briefly discussed the efforts of its project staff in the Philippines in gathering and extracting data from vast references in order to make information on all fishes become freely available to the world through the database. FishBase, an online information system founded more than 25 years ago, has grown to become one of the largest global database sources (GSDs) that provides systematic information on all fishes of the world including Etheostoma obama and Teleogramma obamaorum, two species of fish named in honor of President Obama. The database has received almost 50 million hits from over half a million users in a month and has been cited by more than 5000 scientific studies over the past decade, based from the Google scholar [2].

The forum was participated by respected citizen science professionals, researchers, stakeholders from different levels of the government, acadaemia as well as the non-profits and private sectors. It is such an honor for the whole FishBase team to be recognized as a successful science project by the White House. SeaLifeBase and  the whole FishBase Information and Research Group Inc. (FIN) family are very proud of what FishBase, with its founders, Dr. Pauly and Dr. Rainer Froese, have achieved.

Cheers! For future great collaborations that this opportunity might bring.

Watch the complete footage of the event here.

Links to other posts about the event: for Sea Around Us and for FishBase.

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[1] Kalil, T. and D. Wilkinson.  Accelerating Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing to Address Societal andScientific Challenges. Published on September 30, 2015. [Accessed 10/22/2015].

[2] The FishBase Project Facebook page. Coming Soon: FishBase in the White House! Published on September 28, 2015.  [Accessed 10/22/2015].

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Ocean Giants: Giant Squid

Last week we talked about the Kraken, that it's a squid-like sea monster and that its identity can be either of the two known largest extant squids. First was the heaviest, the colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (read article here). The second is the longest, the giant squid Architeuthis dux with a cosmopolitan distribution.

Photo taken by Tsunemi Kubodera from Ogasawara Islands, off Tokyo on December 4, 2006 [1].

There are many different species listed under the genus Architeuthis, 21 nominal species in total. But based on a genetic study conducted by Guerra et al (2013), all species are synonyms of A. dux; thus, there is only one giant squid. Furthermore, like the majority of deep sea species, little is known of its biology. Obviously it's a predator; it feeds on fishes and other cephalopods. It has a short life cycle; spawning occurs only once and the females die after bearing their eggs. The largest recorded species measured 12 m in length, unfortunately there was no record of its weight. Studies on its growth and mortality were very limited since getting a sample population from the ocean was tough. Thus, if you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] Accessed from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/giant-squid/
[2] McClain CR et al (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[3] Guerra A et al (2013) Architeuthis dux: única especie de calamar gigante en el mundo. MOL. Revista de la Sociedad de Ciencias de Galicia 53:46-53.
[4] Bolstad KS et al (2004) Gut contents of a giant squid Architeuthis dux (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida) from New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1):15-21.


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Ocean Giants: Colossal Squid

Who here have watched the movie "Clash of the Titans"? Remember the scene when Zeus shouted "Release the Kraken!" to his men? Kraken actually refers to a squid-like sea monster and among the family of squids, there are two known largest species. First is the heaviest - the colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni commonly found in the Antartic.

The short clip above presents the largest specimen ever caught, it weighed 495 kg and measured 4.2 m in length [1]; but the measurements stated are underrated. Experiments conducted by the Te Papa staff from the Museum of New Zealand showed that fresh specimens can shrink up to 22% when preserved and the specimen above was believed to have shrunk by 14%. Unfortunately, only 9 adult specimens have been recorded and were not enough to fully study their biology [2]. Thus, if you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] McClain CR et al (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[2] The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The Squid Files. Accessed from http://squid.tepapa.govt.nz/the-squid-files


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Vegetarians of the Sea

Dugong feeding in sediment, photo from: www.arkive.org

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) commonly known as sea cow, can be found in at least 48 countries along the coasts of the western Pacific and Indian oceans. They can grow up to an average of 3 meters and can weigh at around 2,200 lbs [1]. Being the only marine herbivorous mammal, they mostly feed on seagrass as they are highly low in fiber and nutrients such as nitrogen and starch and it’s easily digestible [2]. Other herbivorous mammals would be its close relative, the Manatees which are commonly found in coastal waters and rivers such as the Amazon River. 

Dugongs can consume an average of 77lbs of sea grass per day [5]. About 97% of their diet consists of different species of seagrass as the remaining are algae. These numbers however can change depending on the abundance of food species and its ecological distribution [4]. As much as they prefer to be at shallow waters, they can also be found in depths up to 37 meters because of the presence of some deepwater seagrass habitats [3]. There are still a lot of threats that this animal faces. Because of human activities such as development, pollution and some cases of by-catch, the dugong population is decreasing. Another threat is food availability, and it causes a delay in breeding. These threats make habitat conservation a critical issue [3]. Dugongs are now classified as Vulnerable (VU) according to the IUCN red list [6].

To know more about dugongs, visit SeaLifeBase.

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[1] Reeves, R. R., Stewart, B. S., Clapham, P. J., and Powell, J. A. (2002) Guide to Marine Mammals of the world. New York, NY: Chanticleer Press, Inc. 527p.

[2] Marsh, H. (2009) Dugong Dugong dugon. In pp. 332-335, Perrin, W.F., Wursig, B., Thewissen, J.G.M. (2009) Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals Second Edition. Academic Press: London. 1316pp.

[3] Marsh, H. (2002) Dugong: Status Report and action plans for countries and territories Early warning and assessment report series. UNEP: Nairobi. 162p.

[4] Johnstone, I.M., and Hudson, B.E.T. (1981) The Dugong Diet: Mouth sample analysis. Bulletin of Marine Science, 31(3):681-690

[5] Gaus, C., Donohue, M.O., Connell, D., Mueller, Jochen., Hynes, D., and Paepke, Olaf. (2004) Exposure and potential risks of Dioxins to the Marine Mammal Dugong. Organohalogen Compounds. 66:1159-1166

[6] Marsh, H. (2008). Dugong dugon. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. [Accessed 16/04/2015].

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Ocean Giants: Australian Trumpet

If the largest bivalve is the giant clam Tridacna gigas (read article here), the largest gastropod on the other hand is the Australian trumpet Syrinx aruanus.

Photo from the Queensland Museum.

It is found from northern Australia and extends through the Indonesian Papua New Guinea. The largest recorded size measured 72.2 cm in shell length [1]. Based on its size, it can be deduced that this species is a predator. It hunts and feeds on polychaete worms, such as Polyodontes australiensis, Loimia ochracea, L. ingens and Diopatra sp. [2]. Apparently, this species is popularly used as an ornament and the demand for its shell increased over the past decades. Thus, the Australian government limited the amount of its catch for both commercial and recreational fishers [3]. Knowledge on its biology would be a help develop a way to prevent the decline of wild stocks. Unfortunately, little is known on the biology of  the Australian trumpet (to view the information we have, you may visit SeaLifeBase). Thus, if you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] McClain CR et al (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[2] Taylor JD and Glover EA (20030 Food of giants - field observations on the diet of Syrinx aruanus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Turbinellidae) the largest living gastropod. pp. 217-224. In Wells FE, Walker DI, and Jones DS (eds) The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth.
[3] Weis A et al (2004) Ecological assessment of Queensland's marine specimen shell collection fishery. Report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage on the ecologically sustainable development management of a small scale, highly selective hand and shell dredge collection fishery. Accessed from http://155.187.2.69/coasts/fisheries/qld/marine-specimen-shell/pubs/marine-specimen-shell-submission.pdf


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Ocean Giants: Giant Clam

You don't have to look too deep in the ocean for exotic beauty because the vast coral reefs already offer some of the most spectacular underwater sights. Coral reefs, the marine counterpart of rainforests, serve as habitat to various species ranging from invertebrates such as mollusks to mammals such as sea turtles. And among the species of mollusks is the largest known bivalve, the giant clam Tridacna gigas. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific, from the intertidal zone to depths of 35 m (Bernard et al 1993) [1]. The largest known individual measured 137 cm in length and weighed 250 kg [2]. 

Giant clam on reef, photo from www.arkive.org

Giant clams are known for their unique ability to ‘self-feed’. How do they do it? During an early stage in their life cycle, they ingest dinoflagellate algae. The algae are not digested but rather propagate in the gut. Basically, the clam is dependent on this algae and filters sea water for it to grow at such length. Giant clam meat, i.e., from its adductor muscle, is in high demand. Unregulated harvesting of wild stocks posed and continues to threaten native populations throughout the Indo-Pacific. This led to attempts to develop harvestable cultured populations [3]. Because of this, information on the biology and ecology of giant clams were rendered available in the scientific literature. You may visit SeaLifeBase to view this information.

Giant clams in spawning tank in mariculture plant, photo from www.arkive.org

If you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] Bernard FR et al (1993) Catalogue of the Living Marine Bivalve Molluscs in China. Hong Kong University Press, 121 p.
[2] McClain, C.R., et al. 2015. Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[3] Munro JL (1993) Chapter 13: Giant clams. FFA Report 92/75.


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Ocean Giants: Giant Isopod

The deep sea is full of wonders, and many creatures are waiting to be discovered. Technology makes it possible for scientists to go down the depths of our seas to study and identify these creatures. For example, the photo below was posted by a deep-sea technician in 2010 in the social site Reddit where he wrote, "I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 m depth. Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from is unknown, so I can't tell you what part of the earth this beast was living." Readers' responses ranged from curios to horrified [1]. 

Photo from NOAA/OER.

Later on, it was identified as Bathynomus giganteus, the giant isopod. Isopods are crustaceans (not bugs, even if they look like roaches). They dwell in the deep floors of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and can grow up to 50 cm in length. They often figure as bycatch in trawl fisheries [2]. Not only are they the largest isopod, they also have the largest egg (~10 mm) among pericaridans. Egg brooding is trait of the giant isopod, which may take several months, and at which time, females stop to feed. Instead, they burrow in the sediments and remain quiescent throughout the brooding period [3].

To know more about the giant isopod, visit SeaLifeBase.

If you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] Braun, D. 2010. Bathynomus giganteus: terrifying sea beast hauled up. Accessed on 13/02/2015 from http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/31/bathynomus_giganteus_terrifying_sea_beast/
[2] McClain, C.R., et al. 2015. Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[3] Barradas-Ortiz, C., et al. 2003. Seasonal reproduction and feeding ecology of giant isopods Bathynomus giganteus from the continental slope of the Yucatán Peninsula. Deep-Sea Research I 50(4):495-513. Accessed from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063703000360


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Ocean Giants: Nomura's jellyfish

If the longest medusozoid is the lion's mane jellyfish, the heaviest would be Nomura's jellyfish. Scientifically known as Nemopilema nomurai, it is found endemic to the East Asian Marginal Seas - Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea [1]. The largest recorded species measured 2 m in bell diameter and weighed 200 kg [2].

Photo by Choi, Jong-Kwan taken in Korea.

Majestic as this species can be, fishers have found them troublesome. Since the early 2000s, jellyfish bloom has threatened the fisheries of Japan; instead of fishes, nets were full of this jellyfish. Studies conducted to determine the cause of the increasing frequency of jellyfish blooms in Japan revealed global warming and overfishing as the main factors [1, 3]. 

1. Global warming: It appears that podocysts are carried out by the Tsushima Current from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan. Exposure to higher temperatures triggers their development into medusa form. This explains why the bloom occurs only in Japan, not in China nor in Korea. 
2. Overfishing: Note that both fish and jellyfish prey on zooplankton. Thus, excess fishing is advantageous to jellyfish because of decreased competition. Since there are fewer fishes, they can easily dominate the area where food is readily available.

Photo by Shin-ichi Uye, Hiroshima University, posted on BBC.

To know more about the biology of Nomura's jellyfish, visit SeaLifeBase.

If you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] Uye, S (2008) Blooms of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai: a threat to the fisheries sustainability of the East Asian Marginal Seas. Plankton Benthos Res 3 (Suppl.):125-131.
[2] McClain, CR, et al (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 2:e715. Accessed from https://peerj.com/articles/715/
[3] Kawahara, M, Ohtsu, K, Uye, S (2013) Bloom or non-bloom in the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae): roles of dormant podocysts. J. Plankton Res. 35(1):213-217.

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Ocean Giants: Japanese Spider Crab

What crawls, has 8 legs and can be scary and creepy?

Yes, that's correct. 

A spider. 

But did you know that there are spiders at the bottom of the sea? They look like spiders but they're actually crabs.

The largest of these is the Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi. It is endemic to southern Japan, found at depths between 50 to 400 m [1], hence the name; although its distribution has extended to eastern Taiwan [2]. The largest known specimen on display at the Scheveningen Sea Life Center in the Netherlands has a legspan of 3.7 m and weighs 13.6 kg [3].

Little is known on the biology of this species. Thus, if you have other information on them, you can e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or come be a collaborator.

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[1] Okamoto K (1993) Influence of temperature on survival and growth of larvae of the giant spider crab Macrocheira kaempferi (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majidae). Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 59(3):419-424.
[2] Huang JH, Yu H, Takeda M (1990) Occurrence of the giant spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi (Temmink, 1836) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majidae) in Taiwan. Bulletin of the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica 29(3):207-212.
[3] McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm RR, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 3:e715.


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Ocean Giants: Giant Tube Worm

When you think of worms (not the nasty things you normally associated with stomachs), what first comes to mind are long and slimy creatures burrowing themselves in the ground. Not all worms are like that, though. Take for example the Christmas tree worms we featured back in 2012 (see article here). At first glance,  without a background check on the species, surely you won't think that it's a worm. 

Here we feature a "not so ordinary" worm, that is, the giant tube worm, Riftia pachyptila. It is the world’s largest deep sea annelid worm (Family Siboglinidae, Order Sabellida, Class Polychaeta) found in hydrothermal vents in the East Pacific, measuring up to 2 m in length. This is a sessile worm, contrary to the picture of worms moving about. Although it lacks a digestive system, its nutrition is dependent on vent plumes through an endosymbiotic relationship with a chemoautotrophic bacteria stored in a specialized organ called trophosome [1]. The plume is a gill-like organ, made up of a complex network of blood vessels thus the red coloration (see image below) [2].

Giant tube worm plume (photo by Peter Batson, posted in www.arkive.org).

Little is known on the biology of this species (see what SeaLifeBase has on it here). Thus, if you have other information on them, you can e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or come be a collaborator.

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[1] McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm RR, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD. 2015. Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 3:e715.
[2] Van Dover, CL. 2000. The ecology of deep sea hydrothermal vents. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 424 p.


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Ocean Giants: Lion’s Mane Jellyfish

The longest known species of jellyfish is the common lion's mane Cyanea capillata found in the northern waters, from the Arctic to the north Atlantic and Pacific.

Lion's mane jellyfish moving sideways (photograph by Herb Segars from www.arkive.org).

The maximum bell diameter and tentacle length were based on an illustrated catalog of a medusae found off the east coast of the United States by Agassiz (1965) where he wrote,

"I measured myself a specimen at Nahant, the disk of which had attained a diameter of seven and a half feet, the tentacles extending to a length of more than one hundred and twenty feet." 

But based on a molecular study conducted by Dawson (2005), the medusae recorded by Agassiz was very much distinct from Cyanea capillata and may thus be an undescribed Cyanea sp. [1, 2] Although no other available literature can provide the maximum length it can attain, the proposed argument by Dawson gives speculations that there may be an unidentified jellyfish waiting to be discovered.

To know more about the lion's mane jellyfish, visit SeaLifeBase.

If you have other information on them, you can e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or come be 

a collaborator.

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[1] McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm RR, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD. 2015. Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ 3:e715.

[2] Dawson MN. 2005. Cyanea capillata is not a cosmopolitan jellyfish: morphological and molecular evidence for C. annaskala and C. rosea (Scyphozoa : Semaeostomeae : Cyaneidae) in south-eastern Australia. Invertebrate Systematics 19:361-370.

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Ocean Giants: Giant Barrel Sponge

As the name implies, the giant barrel sponge abundantly found in the Caribbean is the largest known reef-building sponge.

The giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta (photo by Dr. Joseph Pawlik) [1].

The largest known individual had a base diameter of 2.5 m which served as a scuba attraction off Curaçao back in the 1980s [2]. Based on growth models, the estimated age of this sponge was more or less 2,300 years. It was compared to the oldest known redwood tree Sequoia semipervirens (2,000 years old) and thus was named the “redwood of the reef” [3]. 

The  vast size of the barrel sponge translates to a tremendous filtering capacity, a substantial source of inorganic nutrients and also an association with many important prokaryotic and eukaryotic symbionts. The role of sponges is invaluable as they greatly contribute to the productivity of reef communities [4]. To illustrate, below is a short introductory video on sponge biology by Dr. Joseph Pawlik.

To know more about the giant barrel sponge, visit SeaLifeBase.

If you have other information on them, which you wish to include in our information system, please e-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or join us as a collaborator.

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[1] McMurray, S., and J. Pawlik. 2009. Caribbean barrel sponges. Coral Reef Science Made Accessible. Accessed on 06/02/2015 at http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/climate-a-ecology-16/caribbean-sponges

[2] Nagelkerken, I., L. Aerts, and L. Pors. 2000. Barrel sponge bows out. Reef Encounter 28:14–15.

[3] McMurray, S.E., J.E. Blum, and J.R. Pawlik. 2008. Redwood of the reef: growth and age of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys. Marine Biology 155:159–171.

[4] Bertin, M., and M. Callahan. 2008. Distribution, abundance and volume of Xestospongia muta at selected Sites in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. In Proc 11^th Int Coral Reef Symp (Vol. 2, pp. 686-690).

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The SeaLifeBase Project presents . . .

Tail image of a blue whale from www.conservationmagazine.org.

Awesome Non-Fish in Trouble # 1: A Faithful Hawksbill

Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) inhabit all tropical oceans of the world, and favor coastline where algae, sponges and other benthic invertebrates are abundant. They are highly mobile which makes them difficult to monitor. Contrary to what is known, they are not polygamous. A recent study on their DNA samples revealed that females mate only once at the start of the breeding season and can store sperm up to 75 days or until they reach the nesting site [1].

Photograph by M. Pan-Saniano

They have been highly commercially exploited for their bekko (tortoise shell) since the 15th century B.C. which resulted to a dramatic decline in their population based on the number of females annually nesting. Thus, they have been marked as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 1996 [2].

Let us spread the knowledge! It is the primary step to the road towards conservation.

To know more about hawksbill turtles, visit SeaLifeBase.
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[1] Phillips, K.P., T.H. Jorgensen, K.G. Jolliffe, S. Jolliffe, J. Henwood, and D.S. Richardson. 2013. Reconstructing paternal genotypes to infer patterns of sperm storage and sexual selection in the hawksbill turtle. Molecular Ecology.

[2] Meylan, A.B., and M. Donnelly. 1999. Status justification for listing the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) as critically endangered on the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 3(2):200-224.

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Incoming: Awesome Non-Fish in Trouble blog series

For our first series for 2013, we will be posting about the top 10 charismatic non-fish species that are at risk of extinction based on this article by the Huffington Post.

Stay tuned and watch out for our upcoming posts!

The honeycomb coral

Photo by Deng Palomares

This neat-looking coral is one of my personal favorites. Diploastrea heliopora is unique and very easy to identify with its cone-shaped corallites having small openings and thick walls. It is also the only species in the genus Diploastrea. Unfortunately this coral is listed by the IUCN to be "near threatened".

Do you see a lot of this coral in your area? Next time you go diving in the Indo-West Pacific, look-out for this massive beauty.


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Taeng-kalabaw [carabao dung]

Acanthaster planci is a natural inhabitant of tropical reefs across the Indo-Pacific that feeds on reef-building corals. It is an interesting starfish because they are sometimes seen in high densities called an outbreak.

    

Commonly known as crown-of-thorns starfish or COT, it is locally known as 'bula' (Fiji), 'rrusech' (Palau), 'taramea' (French Polynesia) and 'alamea' (American Samoa and Tonga) in different islands in its distribution. In the Philippines, it is locally known as 'taeng kalabaw' (i.e., carabao dung) in the islands of Luzon.

     

Photo by Dr. Jay MacLean from SeaLifeBase

According to Ms. Aida Mendoza (pers. comm., 2009), this common name came from its carabao dung-like form and, just like any fecal matter, who would want to step on a spine-covered starfish?

        

Do you have any funny or peculiar common names of marine animals in your seas? Share it with us. E-mail us at sealifebase@fin.ph or follow us in our Facebook page.

   

Anemone, or not anemone?

"To be, or not anemone."

So, where is Nemo? 
    
Don't go looking for a clown fish on this one. You think it's an anemone? Think again! 
   
This is actually a mushroom coral (Family Fungiidae), specifically Heliofungia actiniformis. Considered vulnerable by the IUCN, this fungid is easily recognizable by its white-tipped tentacles that are always extended, resembling those of an anemone's.

  
This photo was taken by FishBase Scientific Coordinator Nicolas Bailly at the Balitian Reef in Anilao, Batangas, Philippines.

Written by:

Jeniffer Espedido

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project

The blunt-end seahare

This is not turd!

Take a second look!

This nondescript blob is the seahare Dolabella auricularia. Commonly known as the blunt-end seahare or shoulder blade sea cat, this algae-eating seahare is popular for its use in the pharmaceutical industry. It is the source of dolastatin (Auristatin), a drug tested for treatment of some non-small cell cancers.

The importance of marine organisms used for pharmaceutical studies is discussed in this article.

This photo was taken by SeaLifeBase photo collaborator David Harasti of the Underwater Photo Gallery at the Swansea Bridge in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.



Written by:
Jeniffer Espedido
Research Assistant
The SeaLifeBase Project

Photo of the Week: bulb-tip anemone

The bulb-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) is a tropical species found throughout the Indo-Pacific and easily identified by its peculiarly-shaped tentacles from where its common name was derived.
     
This photo was taken by SeaLifeBase Project Coordinator Deng Palomares at Sepoc Wall in Tingloy, Batangas, Philippines.



Posted by:
Jeniffer Espedido
Research Assistant
The SeaLifeBase Project