scinerds: Microscopic Life Captured in a Plankton Net The photo above shows a sample of water teeming with microscopic life. The sample was collected in a plankton net suspended into an incoming tide for 20 minutes from a bridge over an inlet near Brunswick, Maine. It was later photographed in a lab at the Southern Maine Community College. Several diatoms (aquatic, photosynthetic plants) can be identified here. The round, cathedral window like structure is a stepanodiscus and the connected, rectangular tubes are tabellaria. Diatoms are at the bottom of the food chain, meaning that nearly all life depends upon these creatures. They produce as much as 50 percent of the Earth’s oxygen. — Paula Ursoy and John Stetson
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scinerds:

Microscopic Life Captured in a Plankton Net

The photo above shows a sample of water teeming with microscopic life.

The sample was collected in a plankton net suspended into an incoming tide for 20 minutes from a bridge over an inlet near Brunswick, Maine. It was later photographed in a lab at the Southern Maine Community College. Several diatoms (aquatic, photosynthetic plants) can be identified here.

The round, cathedral window like structure is a stepanodiscus and the connected, rectangular tubes are tabellaria. Diatoms are at the bottom of the food chain, meaning that nearly all life depends upon these creatures. They produce as much as 50 percent of the Earth’s oxygen. — Paula Ursoy and John Stetson

biomedicalephemera:

underthevastblueseas:

Modern fishing vessels catch staggering amounts of unwanted fish and other marine life. It’s estimated that anywhere from 8 to 25 percent of the total global catch is discarded, cast overboard either dead or dying. That’s up to 27 million tonnes of fish thrown out each year — the equivalent of 600 fully-laden Titanics. And the victims aren’t just fish. Every year, an estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die entangled in fishing nets, along with thousands of critically-endangered sea turtles.

All modern forms of commercial fishing produce bycatch, but shrimp trawling is by far the most destructive: it is responsible for a third of the world’s bycatch, while producing only 2% of all seafood.

Shrimp (and many deep-sea fish) are caught using a fishing method called bottom trawling, which usually involves dragging a net between two trawl doors weighing several tons each across the ocean bed. This has a destructive impact on seabed communities, particularly on fragile deep water coral – a vital part of the marine ecosystem that scientists are just beginning to understand. The effect of bottom trawling on the seafloor has been compared to forest clear-cutting, and the damage it causes can be seen from space. The UN Secretary General reported in 2006 that 95 percent of damage to seamount ecosystems worldwide is caused by deep sea bottom trawling.

source

Relevant to my post on “Chilean Sea Bass”.

(via ecoevolution)

Source: underthevastblueseas

sallysnowglobe: My little whale shark… x Sam - this is one of my original drawings from back in my first few weeks in Donsol.  It was my model Whale Shark (he he)…oh and I’m coming back out at the beginning of January…recently signed my work contract..just need to book a flight!!! :D xxx Taken with Instagram Beautiful  ! 
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sallysnowglobe:

My little whale shark… x

Sam - this is one of my original drawings from back in my first few weeks in Donsol.  It was my model Whale Shark (he he)…oh and I’m coming back out at the beginning of January…recently signed my work contract..just need to book a flight!!! :D xxx

Taken with Instagram

Beautiful  ! 

(via oceancallsme)

Source: sallysnowglobe

marine-science:

This video is about an island in the ocean at 2000 km from any other coast line. 
Nobody lives here, only birds.. and yet you will not believe your eyes!

This should be seen by the entire world. The consequences of our time. 

Marine Pollution is responsible for killing countless species both on land and in the ocean. Collectively we need and can do something about this. Join us in a collective effort help to species like these, as well as prevent a garbage filled future. For the oceans!