Ten foot venomous tentacles lurking in the ocean? It’s the box jellyfish! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Box jellyfish stings could easily be something from a horror movie. Especially terrifying? The monstrous C. fleckeri! Its venom causes pain, tissue damage, and even death! Swimmers,
Continue readingTag: marine biology
Bacterial Brownbaggers
Lunchtime! Whatcha got – tuna salad or PB&J? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Remember the good old days when mom packed your lunchbox for school? Wish someone would lovingly pack your lunches, every day, for the rest of your life? For a tiny sea
Continue readingUnder Pressure
Dum-dum dum da-da dum-dum…You think YOU’RE “under pressure?” This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The shrimp-like critter, Hirondellea gigas has us all beat! It lives under EXTREME pressure, ten thousand meters deep underwater. How extreme? Eight-hundred times that at sea level! Other crustaceans cannot survive
Continue readingShellfish Sherlock
Shellfish are tasty. But can they illuminate the past? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Professor Pupa Gilbert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studies pen shells. That’s a large, clam-like shellfish commonly found in Florida. Specifically, she studies their nacre, or mother-of-pearl. It’s that iridescent
Continue readingBite Me
To live or to die…? Depends on your. . . teeth? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. One hundred and eighty million years ago, gigantic marine reptiles ruled the seas. Then, water levels began rising… dramatically! Not all seafaring reptiles could adapt. So, who survived
Continue readingDeep Conversations
Who amongst you speaks Spanish, French…Dolphin? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science. Dolphins are thought to be the second smartest animal in the world. They form close relationships with family and friends and mourn their dead. But can they speak to one another? Dr. Ryabov
Continue readingChampion Swimmers
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the…ocean?!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science We know ocean temperatures change. But exactly how does that affect fish? Enter researchers at McMaster and St. Andrew’s Universities. Specifically, they investigated how early exposure to heat would
Continue readingMighty Methane Munchers
It’s jolly! Its green! But its …not a giant? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The ocean is teeming with diverse life, especially at hot vents on the ocean floor! For example, Archaea — single celled organisms, not to be confused with bacteria. Tiny, one-celled
Continue readingPuffa Fish
Now, for some breathtaking research on puffer fish! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Puffer fish famously inflate into spiky spheres that are difficult for predators to eat. To do so, they swallow huge amounts of water. Their super-stretchy stomachs expand like water balloons. It’s
Continue readingVeggie Shark
Have you ever met a shark who’s a….vegetarian? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Okay, so maybe not a STRICT vegetarian. But there IS a shark who eats more seagrass than fish! It’s the bonnethead shark—a small relative of hammerheads. Samantha Leigh and her colleagues
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