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2011-04-15T15:25:00.003-04:00

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2010-10-08T13:28:00.000-04:00

Smithsonian: Mangrove Tree Crab

2010-10-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

Only two species of crabs climb trees. You’re looking at one of them, the mangrove tree crab (Aratus pisonii). By digging in with its sharp claws, the mangrove tree crab can cling to tree bark as well as to wooden docks and pilings. The crabs dine on leaves and insect larvae in the trees. When threatened, they flee to the water, where they select from a different menu of food. Smithsonian researchers have even spotted a mangrove tree crab feasting on a seahorse.

Learn More:

Smithsonian Ocean Portal
Ocean Portal: Mangroves
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Smithsonian holdings of Aratus pisonii

Carnival of the Blue XL: The Saipan Blog

2010-09-08T07:20:00.000-04:00

Carnival of the Blue XL: Top of the Food Chain is now posted at the Saipan Blog. Carnival of the Blue is a rotating monthly compilation of the "best of" ocean blogging, bringing together ocean bloggers and readers and (hopefully) using new media to build a virtual community of ocean lovers.

Coming Next Week: Carnival of the Blue!

2010-08-30T11:13:00.001-04:00

Our Northern Islands

2010-08-18T14:48:00.000-04:00

The release date for Our Northern Islands, Dennis Chan's book about the first expedition to the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, is September 14, 2010. Advance copies will be made available at a discounted price to fans of Our Northern Islands' Facebook page.

Our Northern Islands | Promote Your Page Too

Micronesian Outrigger

2010-08-14T11:46:00.001-04:00

The Saipan Blogger This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Using their knowledge of stars, waves, and wind, the traditional navigators of the Pacific used outrigger canoes to traverse hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles over open ocean. After making contact with the West, the traditional knowledge of navigation died out in most of the Pacific; It only survived on some small isolated atolls in Micronesia. The "discovery" of this traditional knowledge has led to a Pacific-wide renaissance in traditional navigation since the 1970's.

Learn more:
The Saipan Blog: Pohnpei
Youtube: Mau Piailug Society
Carolinian-Marianas Voyaging: Continuing the Tradition
Cultural Erosion and Biodiversity: Canoe-Making Knowledge in Pohnpei, Micronesia

Whitetip Reef Shark

2010-08-13T14:58:00.002-04:00

The Saipan Blogger, Photo: R. Schroeder/NOAA
This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The whitetip reef shark, Triaenodon obesus, is a species of requiem shark usually found resting in caves and crevices along coral reefs. They are rarely aggressive towards humans, but are hunted by humans for their fins. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the whitetip reef shark as Near Threatened, noting that its numbers are dwindling due to increasing levels of unregulated fishing activity across its range.

Learn more:
IUCN Red List: Whitetip Reef Shark
Global Shark Conservation
The Shark Alliance

Yellow Tang in the Wild

2010-08-13T14:39:00.001-04:00

The Saipan Blogger, Photo: R. Schroeder/NOAA This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens, is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Selling for as much as $50 per live fish, populations are threatened by over-harvesting from aquarium enthusiasts. Marine protected areas created in Hawaii have been found to improve stocks of yellow tang in the wild.

Learn more:
Hawaii MPAs Work
NOAA: Marine Protected Areas
NOAA: Anthropogenic Threats to Coral Reefs

A World Inside a Coconut

2010-08-13T14:13:00.003-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal, Photo: Deep Sea News
One day when Kevin Zelnio was an undergrad taking part in a scientific expedition to hydrothermal vents at the East Pacific Rise, he and the researchers aboard the R/V Atlantis found a coconut floating in the middle of the ocean. The coconut turned out to be full of surprises! Read Kevin's blog, Deep Sea News, to learn more about the microecosystem of a single coconut floating at sea.

Learn more:
Deep Sea News: A World Inside a Coconut
Woods Hole: R/V Atlantis
Smithsonian Ocean Portal

Giant Trevally

2010-08-13T13:55:00.005-04:00

The Saipan Blogger, Photo: R. Schroeder/NOAA This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Giant Trevally, Caranx ignobilis, is overfished in the populated islands in the Marianas archipelago, but thrive around the uninhabited islands, such as Asuncion, one of the islands within the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. Fish within the monument's borders are currently protected from commercial fishing, but environmental and indigenous groups have accused the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management of trying to create loopholes in the regulations to intensify fishing in the area.

Learn more:
Friends of the Monument's comments on proposed fishing reguations
Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument
USFWS: Welcome to Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
NOAA: Submarine Ring of Fire 2004
A Scientific Case for a Mariana Trench Marine National Monument

Natural Laboratory for Studying Global Warming

2010-08-13T13:47:00.005-04:00

The Saipan Blogger, Photo: R. Schroeder/NOAA This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The coral reefs of Maug, an ecosystem under federal protection as part of the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, are unique because they thrive next to hydrothermal seeps and vents. Being so close to vents and seeps heats the surrounding waters and makes them more acidic, possibly giving a glimpse into the future of coral reefs faced with global warming.

Learn more:
Smithsonian Magazine: A Swim Through the Ocean's Future
A Scientific Case for the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument
USFWS: Welcome to Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
NOAA: Submarine Ring of Fire 2004

Fishing on Cyrene Reef

2010-08-10T13:17:00.006-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal, Photo: The Annotated Budaker Five large blue-spotted fantail rays, Taeniura lymma, and an anchor tuskfish, Choerodon anchorago, in a fish trap at Cyrene Reef, Singapore. Made up three submerged reef flats: Terumbu Pandan, Pandan Beacon and South Cyrene Beacon, Cyrene Reef is ringed by petrochemical plants on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom.

Learn more:
Ocean Portal: Coral Reefs
Cyrene Reef on Wild Singapore
Facebook: I want to go to Cyrene Reef!
A Guide to Common Marine Fishes of Singapore: Anchor Tuskfish
Wild Singapore: Blue-spotted fantail rays

Contribute to Carnival of the Blue XL: Top of the Food Chain

2010-08-10T10:51:00.000-04:00

Next month the Saipan Blog will be the host of Carnival of the Blue 40, or as I prefer to call it, Carnival of the Blue XL. COTB XL promises to be the biggest, baddest COTB EVER. Why? Well, not only is COTB turning 40, but the theme of next month's carnival is going to be Top of the Food Chain.

COTB XL is going to be all about predators, baby.

Please use this online article submission form to submit your contribution to COTB XL. Please try to make your post about predation (¿cómo se dice de tiburón en Inglés?), but if the predation bug doesn't hit you this month, COTB XL will still publish your ocean blog. If you have any questions you can email me at angelovillagomez at gmail dot com.

By the way, this will be the fourth consecutive September the Saipan Blog has hosted Carnival of the Blue. The Saipan Blog has previously hosted Carnival of the Blue IV, Carnival of the Blue XVI and Carnival of the Blue XXVIII.

*A big thanks to underwater photographer and dive instructor Harry Blalock for letting me use his photo. If you ever find yourself on Saipan in need of a dive guide: http://www.axemurderertours.com/

Ocean Portal Update: During Shark Week, seek the scientific

2010-07-30T17:37:00.002-04:00

This week on the Ocean Portal, we’ve been busy pondering a national milestone, marking an international day of recognition, and preparing for a pop culture event with some serious teeth. If you’re surfing the Web this weekend, check out some of the newest content on the OP, including:

The Spin on Sharks: Starting Sunday, August 1, the fins will be circling on a television near you as the Discovery Channel kicks off “Shark Week,” an annual TV ritual that offers hours of programming about sharks—some bloody, some beautiful, some scientific, some sensational. Tell us, what word comes to mind first when you hear “shark?” Years of sensationalized media coverage and films have stirred up an exaggerated fear about sharks. Our latest Ocean Portal blog post and our feature on the great white fight fear with facts, and remind visitors that unprovoked attacks are truly rare.

A Reason for Hope? After watching oil gush into the Gulf of Mexico for most of the summer, finally some good news on the national policy front, according to Dawn Martin, president of SeaWeb (an Ocean Portal collaborator). Last week the president announced the nation’s first National Ocean Policy—a historic move that will seek to develop a coherent plan for managing the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes. Why should this matter? How will it help? Find out in Dawn’s guest blog post, One Step Closer to a Healthier Ocean.

Got 5 Minutes for Mangroves? Hallmark doesn’t make a card for it, but July 26 was International Mangrove Action Day. To raise awareness about the importance of these swampy forest shallows, the Ocean Portal teamed up with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Md. At SERC, Dr. Candy Feller has been studying mangroves for more than 15 years. Listen in through EOL’s Podcast of Life as Dr. Feller and Dr. Dennis Whigham scramble, climb, crawl, and creep through the tangled roots of a mangrove forest. And check out our special Mangrove Day post on either the OP Blog or Shorelines, SERC's blog.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Ocean Portal Team

Gulf of Mexico Disaster: Measuring the Loss

2010-07-30T17:29:00.003-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal
This piece is located in the Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The NMNH holds a large collection of invertebrates from around the world, including specimens from the Gulf of Mexico. Each collection establishes a snapshot of coastal habitats and biological communities at a specific time and place and provides a baseline in the event of environmental change like the 2010 Deep Horizon disaster. Re-sampling of the same habitats over time provides useful data for tracking climatic change, habitat degradation and species population range shifts.

Learn more:
Invisible Loss in the Gulf
NMNH Department of Invertebrate Zoology
NMNH Invertebrate Zoology Collections Database
EDUCATORS: Gulf Oil Spill Lesson Plans

Sharks: King of the Food Chain

2010-07-30T17:17:00.003-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal, Caterina Gennaro, Marine Photobank Sharks, including this great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, have six highly refined senses: smell, hearing, touch, taste, sight, and electromagnetism. These finely honed senses, along with a sleek, torpedo-shaped body, make most sharks highly skilled hunters. They often serve as top predators - removing them in large numbers can have ripple effects that throw entire ecosystems out of balance.

Learn more:
Life and Natural History of Sharks
Great White Shark Breaching:
Diagram of Shark Physiology
NOAA Fisheries Shark Website
EDUCATORS: Great White Shark Sea School

World's Smallest Shark

2010-07-30T16:45:00.003-04:00

Ocean Portal, Chip Clark The tiniest shark, a Dwarf Lantern Shark, Etmopterus perryi, is smaller than a human hand. This specimen from the Smithsonian collection was discovered off the Caribbean coast of Colombia in 1985 at a depth of 290 m (950 ft).

Learn More:
Smithsonian Ocean Portal
Shark Conservation
Smithsonian Department of Vertebrate Zoology

A Fairy Tale Springs to Life

2010-07-30T16:37:00.006-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal, NOAA
This piece is located in the Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

NOAA scientists filmed a fluorescent chain catshark, Scyliorhinus retifer, in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time during the Operation Deep Scope 2005 expedition. Dr. Mikhail Matz from the University of Florida compared the discovery to the mythical Jaguar shark from the 2004 Bill Murray film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, calling it a “fairy tale springing to life.”

Learn More:
Fluorescent Shark Caught on Film
Operation Deep Scope 2005
The Day We Found the Jaguar Shark
Shark Conservation
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou on IMDb

Gulf of Mexico Smoothhound Shark

2010-07-30T16:27:00.004-04:00

Smithsonian Ocean Portal, Andy Murch This piece is located in the Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The Gulf of Mexico smoothhound shark, Mustelus sinusmexicanus, is endemic to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (they occur in those waters and nowhere else in the world). The genus name of hound sharks, Mustelus, comes from the Latin word mustela meaning weasel.

Learn More:
Gulf Smoothhard Shark Information
Shark Conservation
EDUCATORS: Endemic Species Lesson Plan
EDUCATORS: Gulf Oil Spill Lesson Plan

Giant Coconut Crabs on Agrigan

2010-07-16T21:41:00.003-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest living land arthropod and a culturally important species in the Northern Mariana Islands. Known locally as ayuyu (a-zoo-zoo), it is sometimes associated with the taotaomono (literal translation: people who came before) because of the traditional belief that ancestral spirits can return in the form of animals such as ayuyu. The ayuyu lives the first part of its life cycle in the open ocean, but returns to land as it grows bigger. The females return to the ocean occasionally to lay eggs; the males never return.

Learn more:
Wikipedia: Coconut crab

Farallon de Pajaros

2010-07-16T21:38:00.004-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Farallon de Pajaros (also called Uracas) is one of three islands inside the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The volcano's frequent eruptions over the centuries have earned the island the nickname, "Lighthouse of the western Pacific." Mariners considered it the entranceway to Micronesia.

Learn more:
USFWS: Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program
Mission Blue

Black Sands of Agrigan

2010-07-16T21:37:00.004-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Agrigan is a stratovolcano which forms an island in the Northern Mariana Islands. At 965 meters, the island's summit is the highest point in Micronesia. The shores of Agrigan are lined with pristine black sand beaches. The island was populated in historical times. Currently it is generally uninhabited, although some Saipan residents will live there for months at a time.

Learn more:
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program

Western Shore of Pagan

2010-07-16T21:34:00.002-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Pagan is the fourth largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands and consists of two stratovolcanoes joined by a narrow strip of land. The western shore of Pagan is lined with pristine black sand beaches. The island was inhabited during historical times, but has been mostly deserted since Mount Pagan erupted in 1981.

Learn more:
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program

Eastern Shore of Pagan

2010-07-16T21:31:00.002-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Pagan is the fourth largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands and consists of two stratovolcanoes joined by a narrow strip of land. While the western shore of Pagan is lined with black sand beaches, the eastern shore is lined with white beaches. The island was inhabited during historical times, but has been mostly deserted since Mount Pagan erupted in 1981.

Learn more:
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program

Marine Debris on Maug

2010-07-16T21:08:00.005-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Maug is one of three islands within the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, a 95,000 square-mile marine protected area created by US President George W. Bush on January 6, 2009. Although one of the most remote places on the planet, Maug is not immune from harmful human activity. Vast amounts of marine debris, mostly plastic and derelict fishing gear, litters the island's shores.

Learn more:
USFWS: Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program

A typical dive at Laulau Bay

2010-07-16T20:53:00.001-04:00

The Underwater World of Saipan
This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Laulau Bay is a popular diving and fishing spot on Saipan and contains some of the most diverse, yet threatened reefs in the Northern Mariana Islands. In recent years, upland burning for development, farming, and even hunting has loosened soil and caused a great deal of sedimentation and coral loss on the reef. Even so, it is still common to encounter green sea turtles, parrot fish, clown fish, and a bait ball of mackerel during dives.

Learn more:
CNMI Marine Monitoring Program

Turtle Hatchlings on Saipan

2010-07-16T20:47:00.002-04:00

The Saipan Blog This piece is located in the Micronesian Islands Hope Spot. Learn more about Hope Spots.

Several beaches on Saipan are documented green sea turtle nesting habitats. NOAA estimates that between 1000-2000 turtles live in the area. Although a protected species, green sea turtles face threats from coastal construction, lights on beaches, driving on the beach and from poachers. Turtles must also deal with loss of habitat from the degradation of seagrass beds and coral reefs.

Learn more:
USFWS Sea Turtle Fact Sheet
Poaching remains a threat to turtles

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2010-07-16T20:20:00.001-04:00

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2010-07-16T19:18:00.001-04:00

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2010-07-16T15:14:00.001-04:00

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