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re: farallons chumming You know, I don't know if any current farallons outfits are chumming. Sorry if I was jumping the gun there and being all lecture-y. I didn't get a chance to check out the photos the other night, but they really are beautiful pictures. What beautiful animals...

I'd encourage any diver considering a commercial shark dive to think about it. Up in the Bay Area, the commercial operations are controversial. The fear is that sharks may come to associate the sound of a boat engine with food, which of course, has consequences for "regular" recreational boat...

Right... Yeah, I knew they were in the same family... but I don't think that was why the article mentioned the relationship. I think the point was that the Great White is the big scary shark everyone knows, hence put it in the article to draw reader interest. :)

On the other hand, not too many US papers would even cover "convergent evolution." :)

I was amused that they mentioned several times that the Mako is related to famous Great White. I guess I should I credit them for not saying "the Mako Shark is related to Jaws..."

Pterpods are shelled and unshelled: orders Thecosomata and Gymnosomata, respectively. the former is shelled (theca) and the later is the naked pteropod. Some of the thecasomes shells aren't very visible. The locomotion is what nails it, imho, as some kind of swimming gastropod. Jellies...

woof good question. And some good answers. According to a couple of different sources, (Pearse, Buchenbaum, 1987 and the website below) the Brachiopods are also distinct because of their lophophores -- winglike feeding appendanges that preceed the mouth. They are considered to be...

I can't really make out a lot of detail in your picture, but the description has me wondering if its a pteropod -- this is a pelagic sea slug that moves with the flapping motion you described. They're a type of gelatinous mollusc. they would fit the decription of rectangular with rounded...

still cool to see the pics. (I've never dove anywhere but the california coast, mostly north and never south of the channels) Thanks for posting them. I was going to guess crinoid on the first one, coral on the second (it looks calcareous) and anemone on the 3rd... but specific species are...

I don't wear makeup on a dive, but like others here, I moisturize like a fiend. I also use a spray in conditioner on my hair (Joico) before and after diving.

I don't know about seals in general, but northern elephant seals sleep in a shallow decent dive while out at sea. (when I speak of elephant seals, I'm referring to the northern elephant seal, not the southern...) Thanks for the reminder about myoglobin content in sperm whales, glbirch. I...

I'd never heard that all octos were venomous -- I thought it was only the blue ringed. That's pretty interesting. The blue ringed octo is *extremely* venomous but the venom, tetrodotoxin, is from a bacterial symbiont. You will find the same venom across across a number of species, both...

My favorite way to deal with congestion from allergies or a cold is saline nasal spray. Even better is using a Neti pot... which helps you basically pour mild saline into your sinus cavity. What comes out would astound you. But you will never feel so clear in your life.

I don't know a lot about marine mammals in general or Weddells in particular but what you say about muscle fiber type resonates. I remember something unusual about their myoglobin... With respect to elephant seals, they actually don't spend their diving time around fixed coastal sites...

I think the deepest divers are the elephant seals... 5000 ft. is not uncommon and I believe they've been tagged deeper than that.

At the risk of continuing off topic... >diatoms, cyanophytes, or martian microbes. Usually specific >algal groups have characteristic toxins... I wasn't aware Noctiluca >even secreted appreciable amounts of it, but being a dinophyte it >should carry some dinotoxins (that's what they...

Some mistatements in that article, but interesting stuff.... There's a plethora of toxins associated with algae and red tides... if it is an algal bloom it will take some time before they identify the culprit. Any information on the bloom itself? "Red tide," btw can be any number of...