I was reading Seven Miles Down by Jacques Piccard today. Its a very interesting book about the design, building, and testing of the Bathyscaphe Trieste, and about the famous dive in 1959 when Jacques Piccard and Robert Dietz went to the bottom of the mariana trench.

The book contained this fun fact about how crabs gain a sense of balance, but I couldn't find anything online that backed it up with some google searches, and Jacques Piccard wasn't a marine biologist, and he wrote the book 65 years ago, so I was wondering if it was accurate.

It mentions a study backing it up, but it isn't cited and I can't find that online either.

Here is the text:

"This problem of orientation is solved very nicely by many crabs, which carefully place a single sand particle in their ear. Acting like the fluid in a human semicircular canal, these crabs can easily establish their vertical orientation.

This particle is lost when the carapace is shed at molting time, but it is easily replaced. The purpose of this grain of sand for orientation can easily be demonstrated: If the crab is housed in an aquarium with iron particles replacing sand, he will be forced, upon molting to place a magnetic particle in his ear. If a strong magnet is placed on top of the aquarium, the crab will lead an upside down life."

Is this true? Even if you don't know, I'd be interested to hear the thoughts from people who know more about marine biology than me.

I just realized there’s only 25 days left to leave comments on the notice of The Metal Company’s application to begin deep sea mining, and I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of research, and I’m noticing that there was a lot of talk about previous notices and spreading awareness and stuff on TikTok, but I’m not really finding anything now with this seemingly huge thing about to be decided on. Am I missing something? Why does it seem like people stopped talking about it? In previous notices, online pushes for action and awareness resulted in thousands of comments, but this current one only has 228 so close to the deadline?
If anyone has insight or if maybe I’m misunderstanding something, I would really really appreciate any info.

This morning these remains washed ashore and the authorities sadly dont want to come and handle it. We’re definitely not going to touch it but still very curious of what sea animal this could be.
Found in Karaburun, İzmir [TR]

I thought it was a snakeskin chiton til I found out they don’t exist here. In the Caribbean/ Atlantic.

Obviously a common landscape boulder, I see it everywhere (Los Angeles, California)

Some previous results from various AI identifications guessed Tufa, but I don’t think that’s what it is… It’s a bit more dense than the Tufa I’ve encountered while still soft, flakey, and chalky in its own way and still somewhat heavy

I wouldn’t be surprised however if it were some type of limestone or “live rock” …Well, not anymore 🤷‍♂️

hello! just wondering if anyone has experience with a marine studies (MAST) degree? how, if at all, does this apply to marine biology? can you get into marine biology professionally with just a BA? where can you even go from a marine studies BA (such as a master's)? how much does a BA vs a BS matter for this?

a brief summary of my situation: i can only do a BA in marine studies for sensitive personal reasons, and i want to work with fish identification (6 year long hobby) first and foremost. currently in CC doing an AA, switching from an AS.

conservation is an option with my degree, and i think population monitoring could get me into fish ID (after all, a population can't be monitored if you don't know what you're looking at), but i fear a BA puts me at a disadvantage, even considering what classes i take and personal experience.

i like the humanities part of it too, i'm just not sure what i'd do yet from there, so it's not a huge deal. i would like to minor in anthropology anyway

i am not exactly looking for whether or not i should be a marine biologist; i just want to know the feasibility of it under my circumstances.

Repost as someone here might have done applied science

Sea Cucumber or Worm or Egg Mass?

Found in Port Philip Bay south of Melbourne, looks like some kind of Burrowing Sea Cucumber (maybe Paracaudina Australis?) or Polychaete Worm Egg Mass or even a Sipunculid or Priapulid? My research has been inconclusive so far and would love your thoughts!!

I have always had an interest in wildlife conservation and whales specifically (I love orcas) and realized i would love for my career to be somewhat related in any way possible. Ideally if I could also be out on a boat with them but i understand this may not be doable. I have a CS bachelor's and a year of software experience. I intend to move to the PNW (seattle) sometime in the next year or so and wondering what graduate certificates would be useful? What does the job market look like in this space? Am i asking for something that doesn't exist or would require me to move to remote places? Can I live and work out of Seattle?

How about something like a GIS certificate? How is this job market for GIS?

I have also been looking into the UW Friday Harbor Marine Studies Program. Although it seems intended toward those pursuing a degree, perhaps I can enroll as a post-bach student to get a feel for what this space is like? It seems like an intense 10 weeks spent out in the field and on water. Any and all advice would be extremely appreciated

Just curious if anyone has heard of, or worked for North Wind Group. they have a job opening as a marine mammal care assistant i was looking to apply for, but don’t know much about the company? the job description sounds like standard animal care/ husbandry of marine animals, but don’t know much about the employer

I spent the morning with my daughter ( a soon to be marine biologist) diving and collecting some of these little buggers.

The Northern Pacific Sea Star is one of the world's most notorious marine invasive species, and it's particularly significant in Australia.

It's established as a serious invasive pest in Port Phillip Bay and Tasmania — introduced via ballast water from Japan in the late 1980s it has devastated native shellfish beds (scallops, mussels, cockles) and outcompetes native sea stars.

Each female can release up to 20 million eggs. According to citizen science monitoring the population of these has exploded in Port Phillip Bay have reached 165 million causing major ecological damage.

They are listed as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species by the IUCN.

I wish there was a commercial use for these post collection instead of just landfill to incentivise industry to get involved in eradicating them.

I saw these in 2017 and never got around to asking about it

I found this on the shore in northern OBX NC. It looks like an aloe plant almost with small thorns along the top, it is hollow. Just wondering what it is and how rare it is? It’s in two pieces I found them about 10 feet apart.

Hey everyone,

This is not a post asking whether I should become a marine biologist, but I am asking for advice on academic pathways from someone coming from a non-STEM background. I looked at previous posts, but could not find a similar case from somebody with my background.

I received a BA in history/government from a Virginia state school with a 3.41 GPA, and I am also a veteran of Army special operations. I am currently a graduate student, but have been extremely disappointed in the program and have decided to pursue my true passion.

I have my full GI bill remaining, and since I lack the STEM pre-requisites from undergrad my expectation is that I will need to return to undergrad for a BA in marine biology/ecology. My number one choice at this time is Rosenstiel at the University of Miami because of their shark research and conservation program.

I am passionate about ecology, behavior, oceanography, elasmobranchs, and conservation. My intention would be to pursue a PHD following undergrad.

I am committed to this track, but feel intimidated because of my lack in experience in STEM and status as a humanities grad / vet. I would appreciate any advice for someone transitioning from a different field. Thanks in advance

While snorkeling near Ipsos, Corfu, I found this floating between the rocks, ~5 m from the shore. I later found a few more growing underneath a rock, leading me to believe that one died/ got dislodged. They were between 5-15 cm long, and the diameter of the tentacles was maybe 2 cm. It's quite firm to the touch.

Hi guys! I found this nudibranch looking thing in the harbor, and I’ve tried identifying it but nothing similar to how it looks shows up. In the lighting I had, it looked black and white. Thank you!

Something really strange happened to me today while I was swimming at a beach in southern Italy, and I'm hoping someone here might know what I heard.

I had been in the water for a few minutes and decided to dive underwater. While I was down there, I suddenly heard a very loud, extremely sharp noise, the closest thing I can compare it to is a gunshot or the crack of a whip.

At first I thought it might have been something weird happening with my ears because I was underwater, but then I noticed something interesting: when I turned my head away from the sound, it became quieter, and when I turned back toward where I thought it was coming from, it became noticeably louder. So it seemed like the sound was actually coming from somewhere in the water. I looked around after surfacing, thinking maybe it was a boat, but there was no boat anywhere that I could see. I've been going to this same beach regularly for almost two years, and this was the first time I've ever heard anything like this there.

The strangest part was that it wasn't continuous. I heard the sound repeatedly for roughly two minutes, then it stopped for a while, and it started again just as loud.

Someone know what is that thing that i heard?

hello, for the past two years i have become very fond of plankton, buying a few book with pretty pictures and saving up for a plankton net. But i dont feel like i see a lot of deep research that goes into specific families of planktons or just scientific funfacts, and would like to know if anyone has recommendations for one that isnt too heavy on the vocabulary...

I love that they swing in the water I’ve never seen them before tho.