Exploring deep reefs leads to award for academy scientist
The road that took Luiz Rocha to the depths of the oceans began in a third grade science class.
He had always been fascinated by fish, but an experiment involving aquatic creatures and their ability to survive in a changing environment was something that he could not resist. The teacher of the class noticed his intense interest.
“He said ‘you should be a biologist’ and I asked ‘What is that?’ “And he said that’s a person who studies fish for a living.’”
Rocha took his teacher’s advice and is today a noted ichthyologist and curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
His experience both as a biologist and master diver has been recognized by the Rolex watch company of Switzerland which awarded him a 2021 Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award is given to researchers who expand humanity’s knowledge of the planet and help protect the environment.
Rocha is co-director of Hope for Reefs, an academy-based program to examine the world’s mesophotic coral reefs at a depth of between 300 and 400 feet. With Steinhart Aquarium Director Bart Shepherd, he has explored deep underwater ecosystems in the Philippines and elsewhere, bringing back fish for display in a special aquarium exhibit.
The Rolex award also includes funding for three expeditions and Rocha just returned from exploring deep reefs in the Maldives islands. He was given the grant because the islands’ mesophotic coral world is mostly unexplored. Underwater photos are posted at Rocha’s Instagram account coralreeffish.
As a child in Brazil, Rocha spent hours staring at his grandfather’s fish tanks whenever he would visit. He was fascinated by the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau which included a lengthy film on the Amazon River. Most Brazilian ichthyologists study freshwater fishes due to the diversity of life in the nation’s rivers, but that was not for Rocha.
“With me, it was always a mix of fish and the ocean, and the ocean won,” he said.
“I like looking at them, (fish) looking at what they do and understanding their role in the ecosystem.”
The world of deep reefs is referred to as “The Twilight Zone” where the sunlit waters of the shallows begin to give way to the blackness of the deep ocean. It’s been little explored by divers because humans need extensive training and special equipment to survive at those depths. Submersibles are not ideal for close up examination or collection. The noise they generate makes the fish scatter and hard to catch.
With the surrounding pressure at more than 200 pounds per square inch, the Hope for Reefs divers must breathe a mixture of gases from their dive tanks and keep a close eye on computerized wrist-mounted monitors which measure depth and the status of their life support systems.
A five-hour dive will include no more than 15 minutes at maximum depth to allow for safe flow of gas into the divers’ blood streams. An agonizingly slow ascent to the surface is vital to avoid the gas creating deadly bubbles in the blood, known to divers as “The Bends”
“The deeper you go, the more gas goes in. It dangerous for us but we see it as acceptable risk because we take every precaution to avoid it.”
That includes extensive safety training and the presence of a dive safety officer who can abort a dive immediately if something goes wrong. That is a distinct advantage for Rocha who admits to being slightly overzealous at times when he sees a fish he has never encountered before.
“If I was left to my own devices with my adventurous spirit and being eager to collect fish, I would cut so many corners,” he said. “I know I can’t do it by myself and I know I must have the support of the dive office to control me and my urge to go deeper.”
Global warming and problems caused by overfishing have taken their toll on the deep reef environment and divers see discarded fishing lines and other trash when working at depth.
Contrary to popular belief, the deep reefs are not a refuge for marine creatures looking to avoid similar problems in the shallows, but a unique environment with their own adapted species.
Often protected marine reserves are found only in the shallows where recreational divers can enjoy the fish and coral, according to Rocha. One underwater park in the Philippines ends at 180 feet and so does the population of healthy marine creatures.
“We go into those areas and the shallow reefs are fine but the minute we leave the reserve, there are no fish because all the fishing happens in the deep reefs. We have to lobby the governments to increase the size of their reserves.”
Ironically some of the healthiest reefs are in areas where fishing boats and divers have been kept away for an extended period of time.
In 2006, Rocha dove through a pristine coral environment off Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific where scientists conducted nuclear bomb tests beginning in 1946. Islanders were evacuated and the area was declared off limits due to lingering radiation. But fish were abundant after 60 years of isolation, he said.
“I saw some of the healthiest reefs I have ever seen in my life. I’m not saying that is the best way to do it but there are ways to sustainably fish reefs.”
During his career, Rocha has authored more than 165 scientific papers and discovered at least 30 new species of fish.
His legacy also includes an astounding collection of more than 65,000 underwater photographs taken over the years. They include more colorful fish than you can imagine and evidence of environmental change at each of the dive sites.
“I use them for science just as much as for any artistic sake’’ he said, “But I have to admit they are only catalogued in my head.”
He had always been fascinated by fish, but an experiment involving aquatic creatures and their ability to survive in a changing environment was something that he could not resist. The teacher of the class noticed his intense interest.
“He said ‘you should be a biologist’ and I asked ‘What is that?’ “And he said that’s a person who studies fish for a living.’”
Rocha took his teacher’s advice and is today a noted ichthyologist and curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
His experience both as a biologist and master diver has been recognized by the Rolex watch company of Switzerland which awarded him a 2021 Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award is given to researchers who expand humanity’s knowledge of the planet and help protect the environment.
Rocha is co-director of Hope for Reefs, an academy-based program to examine the world’s mesophotic coral reefs at a depth of between 300 and 400 feet. With Steinhart Aquarium Director Bart Shepherd, he has explored deep underwater ecosystems in the Philippines and elsewhere, bringing back fish for display in a special aquarium exhibit.
The Rolex award also includes funding for three expeditions and Rocha just returned from exploring deep reefs in the Maldives islands. He was given the grant because the islands’ mesophotic coral world is mostly unexplored. Underwater photos are posted at Rocha’s Instagram account coralreeffish.
As a child in Brazil, Rocha spent hours staring at his grandfather’s fish tanks whenever he would visit. He was fascinated by the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau which included a lengthy film on the Amazon River. Most Brazilian ichthyologists study freshwater fishes due to the diversity of life in the nation’s rivers, but that was not for Rocha.
“With me, it was always a mix of fish and the ocean, and the ocean won,” he said.
“I like looking at them, (fish) looking at what they do and understanding their role in the ecosystem.”
The world of deep reefs is referred to as “The Twilight Zone” where the sunlit waters of the shallows begin to give way to the blackness of the deep ocean. It’s been little explored by divers because humans need extensive training and special equipment to survive at those depths. Submersibles are not ideal for close up examination or collection. The noise they generate makes the fish scatter and hard to catch.
With the surrounding pressure at more than 200 pounds per square inch, the Hope for Reefs divers must breathe a mixture of gases from their dive tanks and keep a close eye on computerized wrist-mounted monitors which measure depth and the status of their life support systems.
A five-hour dive will include no more than 15 minutes at maximum depth to allow for safe flow of gas into the divers’ blood streams. An agonizingly slow ascent to the surface is vital to avoid the gas creating deadly bubbles in the blood, known to divers as “The Bends”
“The deeper you go, the more gas goes in. It dangerous for us but we see it as acceptable risk because we take every precaution to avoid it.”
That includes extensive safety training and the presence of a dive safety officer who can abort a dive immediately if something goes wrong. That is a distinct advantage for Rocha who admits to being slightly overzealous at times when he sees a fish he has never encountered before.
“If I was left to my own devices with my adventurous spirit and being eager to collect fish, I would cut so many corners,” he said. “I know I can’t do it by myself and I know I must have the support of the dive office to control me and my urge to go deeper.”
Global warming and problems caused by overfishing have taken their toll on the deep reef environment and divers see discarded fishing lines and other trash when working at depth.
Contrary to popular belief, the deep reefs are not a refuge for marine creatures looking to avoid similar problems in the shallows, but a unique environment with their own adapted species.
Often protected marine reserves are found only in the shallows where recreational divers can enjoy the fish and coral, according to Rocha. One underwater park in the Philippines ends at 180 feet and so does the population of healthy marine creatures.
“We go into those areas and the shallow reefs are fine but the minute we leave the reserve, there are no fish because all the fishing happens in the deep reefs. We have to lobby the governments to increase the size of their reserves.”
Ironically some of the healthiest reefs are in areas where fishing boats and divers have been kept away for an extended period of time.
In 2006, Rocha dove through a pristine coral environment off Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific where scientists conducted nuclear bomb tests beginning in 1946. Islanders were evacuated and the area was declared off limits due to lingering radiation. But fish were abundant after 60 years of isolation, he said.
“I saw some of the healthiest reefs I have ever seen in my life. I’m not saying that is the best way to do it but there are ways to sustainably fish reefs.”
During his career, Rocha has authored more than 165 scientific papers and discovered at least 30 new species of fish.
His legacy also includes an astounding collection of more than 65,000 underwater photographs taken over the years. They include more colorful fish than you can imagine and evidence of environmental change at each of the dive sites.
“I use them for science just as much as for any artistic sake’’ he said, “But I have to admit they are only catalogued in my head.”
Scorpions don't bother this researcher
Lauren Esposito remembers the warm days of her youth spent at her grandparents’ home in the Bahamas. The combination of a tropical climate and a diversity of animals and insects was the perfect natural laboratory for a budding biologist to observe nature.
“I still do that. That’s my job now,” said Esposito. “I fell in love with it there and I have been able to find a career for myself where I kept doing that.”
Esposito is an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences studying an animal that gives most people the shivers--scorpions. She is featured in the academy’s current exhibit, “Venom: Fangs, Stingers and Spines. For more on the exhibit, visit Biosphere.
No, she isn’t afraid of scorpions and even keeps one as a pet in her office. Her interest in the claw-and-stinger-clad creatures began one summer when she did an internship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
As a biology major interested in evolution, Esposito discovered that scorpions were the perfect species to determine how life evolved and thrived on earth for millennia.
“These organisms have been around for 450 million years and they have succeeded,” she said. “If you want to look at what success looks like through changing climates, changing geologies and changing environmental pressures, just look to scorpions.”
Though they share some similarities with insects, scorpions belong to a group of animals known as arthropods and have an exoskeleton like spiders, ticks, centipedes and crustaceans (crabs and lobsters).
A prehistoric ancestor of scorpions lived in the oceans and eventually found their way to land. By adapting their venom to compete with other predators and adjusting to new food sources, they were able to claim their place in biological history.
The scorpion kingdom takes in more than 2,500 species of which only 25 carry venom that is deadly to humans. One particularly nasty type is the Arizona Bark Scorpion which can be fatal to children but not adults. California is a hot spot for scorpions with more than five different species in the Bay Area alone, Esposito said.
Unlike most arthropods, they bear their young live and can regulate the amount of venom they inject based on the size of the creature being stung.
But don’t worry. While they may look aggressive, scorpions only sting to defend themselves or paralyze prey, according to Esposito.
“They only sting as a last resort,” she said. “They assume they are about to die so they sting in defense.” But it helps to stay alert when travelling in the southwest where scorpions can hide in crevices or hikers boots overnight to stay warm.
Far from being an ostracized creature, scorpions are popular with pet owners and some species, like the giant Black Emperor Scorpion, are collected so much that they are considered threatened.
“People love scorpions, they keep them in captivity’’ Esposito said. “You can find them in just about any pet store in this country. They do make pretty good pets as long as you are committed to their care. They are easy to care for and easy to forget.”
Esposito’s laboratory mascot, “Tina” is a South African Scorpion that was born in captivity and bought from a breeder. Crickets are one of her favorite foods, according to Esposito.
Though she has collected scorpions in California, Esposito focuses her research on tropical islands in the Caribbean, western Africa and Southeast Asia. Discovering and cataloguing the various species is a life-long task she happily undertakes.
“It’s an exciting time to be a scorpion biologist because we are discovering new species each year,” she said.
“As we find new species we have a greater understanding of what they are doing, what role they play in the ecosystem and how they have been successful.”
“I still do that. That’s my job now,” said Esposito. “I fell in love with it there and I have been able to find a career for myself where I kept doing that.”
Esposito is an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences studying an animal that gives most people the shivers--scorpions. She is featured in the academy’s current exhibit, “Venom: Fangs, Stingers and Spines. For more on the exhibit, visit Biosphere.
No, she isn’t afraid of scorpions and even keeps one as a pet in her office. Her interest in the claw-and-stinger-clad creatures began one summer when she did an internship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
As a biology major interested in evolution, Esposito discovered that scorpions were the perfect species to determine how life evolved and thrived on earth for millennia.
“These organisms have been around for 450 million years and they have succeeded,” she said. “If you want to look at what success looks like through changing climates, changing geologies and changing environmental pressures, just look to scorpions.”
Though they share some similarities with insects, scorpions belong to a group of animals known as arthropods and have an exoskeleton like spiders, ticks, centipedes and crustaceans (crabs and lobsters).
A prehistoric ancestor of scorpions lived in the oceans and eventually found their way to land. By adapting their venom to compete with other predators and adjusting to new food sources, they were able to claim their place in biological history.
The scorpion kingdom takes in more than 2,500 species of which only 25 carry venom that is deadly to humans. One particularly nasty type is the Arizona Bark Scorpion which can be fatal to children but not adults. California is a hot spot for scorpions with more than five different species in the Bay Area alone, Esposito said.
Unlike most arthropods, they bear their young live and can regulate the amount of venom they inject based on the size of the creature being stung.
But don’t worry. While they may look aggressive, scorpions only sting to defend themselves or paralyze prey, according to Esposito.
“They only sting as a last resort,” she said. “They assume they are about to die so they sting in defense.” But it helps to stay alert when travelling in the southwest where scorpions can hide in crevices or hikers boots overnight to stay warm.
Far from being an ostracized creature, scorpions are popular with pet owners and some species, like the giant Black Emperor Scorpion, are collected so much that they are considered threatened.
“People love scorpions, they keep them in captivity’’ Esposito said. “You can find them in just about any pet store in this country. They do make pretty good pets as long as you are committed to their care. They are easy to care for and easy to forget.”
Esposito’s laboratory mascot, “Tina” is a South African Scorpion that was born in captivity and bought from a breeder. Crickets are one of her favorite foods, according to Esposito.
Though she has collected scorpions in California, Esposito focuses her research on tropical islands in the Caribbean, western Africa and Southeast Asia. Discovering and cataloguing the various species is a life-long task she happily undertakes.
“It’s an exciting time to be a scorpion biologist because we are discovering new species each year,” she said.
“As we find new species we have a greater understanding of what they are doing, what role they play in the ecosystem and how they have been successful.”
Academy scientist in great demand during pandemic
It was a night to honor women in science and Dr. Shannon Bennett was to take part in a panel at the California Academy of Sciences.
But before the program could begin, Bennett gathered the crowd in the academy’s planetarium to address the subject on everyone’s mind-the Coronavirus (COVID 19).
Since the global emergency began, Bennett, a virologist and the academy’s Dean of Science, has become the most sought-after and frequently quoted researcher in the building. An interview in which members of the public pose virus related questions to Bennett is shown below and available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_w-yPTXX5M&t=2s
She studies the biology of viruses, especially those that can be transmitted between animals and humans. Before joining the academy, Bennett researched tropical diseases in Hawaii and did extensive work on mosquito-borne pathogens like Dengue fever in Puerto Rico.
The session with the Nightlife crowd was a good opportunity for Bennett to impart what she knows to audience members, minus the “chatter” that was predominating the media in the first days of the pandemic.
“For most people that’s all they ever hear,” she said. “It’s nice to show how you can dig into the data.”
Since then, the virus and its deadly threat to humans world-wide has dominated print media and the airwaves; reshaping the daily routines of those confined to their homes as a way to stop the pandemic’s spread.
All public life and entertainment has been halted to prevent larger numbers of people gathering, and the question now is when it will all come to an end.
Unlike in previous pandemics, information on the virus and activity aimed at eliminating it is available to researchers on the Internet, with no government interference, Bennett said.
“The data is being crowd sourced,” she said. “It’s amazing how much information is being democratized.”
Simply put, a virus is a microscopic entity that attaches inside an organism’s living cells and replicates. Viruses evolved along with mammals during prehistory and are found in every ecosystem throughout the world.
Just as astronomers imagine that all of the universe not taken up by planets and other heavenly bodies is made up of unseen “dark matter,” earth is comprised of viral dark matter, according to Bennett.
“Every organism that you can think of has viruses in its cells,” she said. “Viruses are an ancient form of life. They reproduce quickly and their diversity in nature is vast.” Not all viruses are harmful and many are used in modern drug therapies, she added.
Coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that include the common cold and the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 1 virus that formed the basis of a pandemic 18 years ago.
Humans infect each other through contaminated droplets that spray out when a sick person coughs without covering his or her mouth.
The droplets fall onto objects or fomites where the virus can stay active for a given period of time and infect anyone who touches it. Just how long the COVID-19 virus is active is still being researched.
But in a study by the National Institutes of Health, viral traces survived for three hours in aerosol form, four hours on copper, 24 hours on cardboard, and up to two to three days on plastic and steel.
Action by medical authorities has made SARS extinct in humans but viruses can remain in nature after their threat to humanity has been eliminated.
““We don’t get it (SARS) anymore but that does not mean that the ancestor is not out there, it just means that we extirpated it in humans.”
Commonly found in bats, Coronavirus is transmitted to humans in a variety of ways that could include bat bites, saliva on tree fruit or through another animal host like a civet or a pangolin.
The current pandemic began in China and authorities there closed down an illegal meat market that dealt in wild animals, after discovering that many of the early victims had visited the market.
Experts cannot say for certain that the market was the epicenter of the viral spread, because the Chinese government has not done the epidemiological research needed to pinpoint the cause.
“We know that they had live and butchered wildlife at the market but we don’t know for certain and we don’t know what wildlife could have caused it, (virus)” Bennett said.
Biologists throughout the nation are experimenting with several possible vaccines and even reformulating other substances to find a cure. But any treatment would not be available for 12 to 18 months due to the lengthy process used to test and certify drugs as safe and effective.
If a vaccine is not available, Coronavirus may be a recurring problem, according to Bennett.
“It could become like seasonal influenza. It could become part of our regular repertory of rapidly transmitted diseases unless they develop a vaccine to reduce the impact on humans.”
But before the program could begin, Bennett gathered the crowd in the academy’s planetarium to address the subject on everyone’s mind-the Coronavirus (COVID 19).
Since the global emergency began, Bennett, a virologist and the academy’s Dean of Science, has become the most sought-after and frequently quoted researcher in the building. An interview in which members of the public pose virus related questions to Bennett is shown below and available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_w-yPTXX5M&t=2s
She studies the biology of viruses, especially those that can be transmitted between animals and humans. Before joining the academy, Bennett researched tropical diseases in Hawaii and did extensive work on mosquito-borne pathogens like Dengue fever in Puerto Rico.
The session with the Nightlife crowd was a good opportunity for Bennett to impart what she knows to audience members, minus the “chatter” that was predominating the media in the first days of the pandemic.
“For most people that’s all they ever hear,” she said. “It’s nice to show how you can dig into the data.”
Since then, the virus and its deadly threat to humans world-wide has dominated print media and the airwaves; reshaping the daily routines of those confined to their homes as a way to stop the pandemic’s spread.
All public life and entertainment has been halted to prevent larger numbers of people gathering, and the question now is when it will all come to an end.
Unlike in previous pandemics, information on the virus and activity aimed at eliminating it is available to researchers on the Internet, with no government interference, Bennett said.
“The data is being crowd sourced,” she said. “It’s amazing how much information is being democratized.”
Simply put, a virus is a microscopic entity that attaches inside an organism’s living cells and replicates. Viruses evolved along with mammals during prehistory and are found in every ecosystem throughout the world.
Just as astronomers imagine that all of the universe not taken up by planets and other heavenly bodies is made up of unseen “dark matter,” earth is comprised of viral dark matter, according to Bennett.
“Every organism that you can think of has viruses in its cells,” she said. “Viruses are an ancient form of life. They reproduce quickly and their diversity in nature is vast.” Not all viruses are harmful and many are used in modern drug therapies, she added.
Coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that include the common cold and the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 1 virus that formed the basis of a pandemic 18 years ago.
Humans infect each other through contaminated droplets that spray out when a sick person coughs without covering his or her mouth.
The droplets fall onto objects or fomites where the virus can stay active for a given period of time and infect anyone who touches it. Just how long the COVID-19 virus is active is still being researched.
But in a study by the National Institutes of Health, viral traces survived for three hours in aerosol form, four hours on copper, 24 hours on cardboard, and up to two to three days on plastic and steel.
Action by medical authorities has made SARS extinct in humans but viruses can remain in nature after their threat to humanity has been eliminated.
““We don’t get it (SARS) anymore but that does not mean that the ancestor is not out there, it just means that we extirpated it in humans.”
Commonly found in bats, Coronavirus is transmitted to humans in a variety of ways that could include bat bites, saliva on tree fruit or through another animal host like a civet or a pangolin.
The current pandemic began in China and authorities there closed down an illegal meat market that dealt in wild animals, after discovering that many of the early victims had visited the market.
Experts cannot say for certain that the market was the epicenter of the viral spread, because the Chinese government has not done the epidemiological research needed to pinpoint the cause.
“We know that they had live and butchered wildlife at the market but we don’t know for certain and we don’t know what wildlife could have caused it, (virus)” Bennett said.
Biologists throughout the nation are experimenting with several possible vaccines and even reformulating other substances to find a cure. But any treatment would not be available for 12 to 18 months due to the lengthy process used to test and certify drugs as safe and effective.
If a vaccine is not available, Coronavirus may be a recurring problem, according to Bennett.
“It could become like seasonal influenza. It could become part of our regular repertory of rapidly transmitted diseases unless they develop a vaccine to reduce the impact on humans.”
Scientist studies poisonous birds
February 22, 2014
Dave Boitano/photo
As head of the departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Jack Dumbacher is involved in many scientific projects.
But his research into one type of animal never ceases to amaze an audience: poisonous birds.
“No matter where I give a seminar, people are always fascinated by poisonous birds,” he said.
His connection to the birds, known as Pitohuis, happened quite by chance.
While collecting Birds of Paradise in New Guinea in 1989, Dumbacher and other researchers had to release other birds which had become inadvertently tangled in their nets.
Dumbacher suffered a number of bird scratches during the releases which burned like crazy.
Not wanting to lose time, Dumbacher licked his wounds only to feel his mouth tingle and become numb. He checked with another researcher and found that he had the same symptoms.
Dumbacher surmised that the birds were poisonous and his scientific quest was on.
He asked the local guides who accompanied him on the expedition if that species was toxic.
“They said ‘you should be careful with those birds, they are rubbish birds, you can’t even eat those birds’”
With help from other scientists, who analyzed the toxins found in the birds wings, Dumbacher proved that Pitohuis were poisonous and published his findings in the scientific journal, Nature.
Over the next 25 years, Dumbacher would continue his research into the birds and their chemical properties; work that continues to this day.
Pitohuis are colorful tropical birds about the size of an oriole. One species is orange and black and is related to Old World Orioles, but not the Baltimore Oriole found in the United States.
Their poison is a form of defense against predators and their bright coloring warns a would-be diner that this potential meal may be his last.
It’s a potent neurotoxin of the kind found in poison dart frogs. The bird obtains the toxin by eating a certain kind of beetle. The chemical may be useful in helping waterproof a Pitohui’s wings with the chemical defense being a side effect, Dumbacher said.
Despite his dedication to ornithology, Dumbacher did not grow up in a household of scientists.
He became interested in science while visiting Baja California as a student of biologist Gary Polis of Vanderbilt University. The following year he returned with Polis and worked as a kind of teaching assistant training students in outdoor wilderness skills like rock climbing.
Watching the professors stay on and do research after the course gave Dumbacher the idea that he may have found a job he liked.
“I thought, I love camping, I love animals and I love going to exotic places. Maybe this is a career that could work for me,” he said.
When he is not doing research on birds, Dumbacher teaches a master birder course to members of the public along with instructors from the Audubon Society.
It’s designed for experienced birdwatchers or “birders” who want to delve deeper into the subject.
The intense course of study includes a series of lectures, field trips, mandatory volunteer time, lab work and a research paper covering a topic not discussed in class.
Programs that introduce people to wildlife are important because they encourage the protection of birds and other species, Dumbacher said.
“To the extent that we want to save nature and preserve nature..People are only going to do it if they love nature and they will love nature if they have some contact with nature,” he said.
But his research into one type of animal never ceases to amaze an audience: poisonous birds.
“No matter where I give a seminar, people are always fascinated by poisonous birds,” he said.
His connection to the birds, known as Pitohuis, happened quite by chance.
While collecting Birds of Paradise in New Guinea in 1989, Dumbacher and other researchers had to release other birds which had become inadvertently tangled in their nets.
Dumbacher suffered a number of bird scratches during the releases which burned like crazy.
Not wanting to lose time, Dumbacher licked his wounds only to feel his mouth tingle and become numb. He checked with another researcher and found that he had the same symptoms.
Dumbacher surmised that the birds were poisonous and his scientific quest was on.
He asked the local guides who accompanied him on the expedition if that species was toxic.
“They said ‘you should be careful with those birds, they are rubbish birds, you can’t even eat those birds’”
With help from other scientists, who analyzed the toxins found in the birds wings, Dumbacher proved that Pitohuis were poisonous and published his findings in the scientific journal, Nature.
Over the next 25 years, Dumbacher would continue his research into the birds and their chemical properties; work that continues to this day.
Pitohuis are colorful tropical birds about the size of an oriole. One species is orange and black and is related to Old World Orioles, but not the Baltimore Oriole found in the United States.
Their poison is a form of defense against predators and their bright coloring warns a would-be diner that this potential meal may be his last.
It’s a potent neurotoxin of the kind found in poison dart frogs. The bird obtains the toxin by eating a certain kind of beetle. The chemical may be useful in helping waterproof a Pitohui’s wings with the chemical defense being a side effect, Dumbacher said.
Despite his dedication to ornithology, Dumbacher did not grow up in a household of scientists.
He became interested in science while visiting Baja California as a student of biologist Gary Polis of Vanderbilt University. The following year he returned with Polis and worked as a kind of teaching assistant training students in outdoor wilderness skills like rock climbing.
Watching the professors stay on and do research after the course gave Dumbacher the idea that he may have found a job he liked.
“I thought, I love camping, I love animals and I love going to exotic places. Maybe this is a career that could work for me,” he said.
When he is not doing research on birds, Dumbacher teaches a master birder course to members of the public along with instructors from the Audubon Society.
It’s designed for experienced birdwatchers or “birders” who want to delve deeper into the subject.
The intense course of study includes a series of lectures, field trips, mandatory volunteer time, lab work and a research paper covering a topic not discussed in class.
Programs that introduce people to wildlife are important because they encourage the protection of birds and other species, Dumbacher said.
“To the extent that we want to save nature and preserve nature..People are only going to do it if they love nature and they will love nature if they have some contact with nature,” he said.
Steinhart director explores deep sea reefs
January 29, 2015
Dave Boitano photo
Four hundred feet below the surface of the ocean there exists an aquatic world scientists call the “Twilight Zone”.
It’s a shadowy environment marking the boundary between sunlit shallow reefs and the dark abyss of the deep ocean.
Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have been exploring this unusual environment, collecting data, photo images and sea life. The results have been impressive and it’s a certainty much of what they have collected has been unknown to science.
In 2014 academy teams accompanied other scientists on an expedition to the Cape Verde Passage in the Philippines which contains the most diversity of sea life among reefs in the “Coral Triangle” formed by the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea.
Financed by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the field study involved researchers from several disciplines including Terry Gosliner, the academy’s curator of Invertebrate Zoology who studies nudibranchs, the colorful sea slugs.
Other researchers including Ichthyologist Luiz Rocha and Bart Shepherd, director of Steinhart Aquarium, formed a dive team that worked in the zone observing, counting and collecting fish.
The divers returned to the area this month for a second series of dives.
Pressure within the zone is 10 times greater than at the surface. Divers wear specially adapted suits not unlike a space suit and breathe a mixture of gases containing helium to counter the effects of the deep undersea environment.
The zone represents the maximum depth humans can reach with scuba gear. To descend any deeper, researchers must use a submersible built to withstand even greater pressures.
Before they could dive, Shepherd, Rocha and other divers went through hours of training off Hawaii to be certified. It was tough work but worth it, Shepherd said.
“There’s not a lot of people in the world who have done that or can do that,” he said.
“One of the unique strengths of the academy is that it can field a team like this to do assessments on deep coral reefs.”
Once at depth, divers have only 20 minutes or so to gather specimens and other data before beginning the extremely slow ascent to the surface. The process can take up to five hours as their bodies decompress avoiding a fatal expansion bubbles in their blood streams.
The last 90 minutes is spent in relatively shallow water so the dive team must find ways to pass the time.
“That’s the hardest part for me,” Shepherd he said.
”In the initial part you are gearing up, are focused on the safety and are excited about the dive. Once you reach 200 feet, you are so in the moment you have jobs to do. But on the way back up you think ‘its 99 minutes...really’”!
While in the deep, divers stay within sight of one another and check computerized dive monitors that measure depth and tell them when they need to begin their ascent.
Collecting fish for analysis and display was another challenge given that a fish’s swim bladder could burst if brought to the surface without compensating for pressure changes.
Researchers solved the problem by inventing a cylinder- sized portable decompression chamber that maintains deep sea pressure while fish are being slowly decompressed at the surface over a period of days. Some of the fish are now on display at the aquarium.
Because new diving technology was needed to bring humans to 400 feet, the dive teams were likely the first to visit some of the areas they studied.
“One of the things that’s exciting about it is that it’s so unexplored that every dive is ripe for discovery,” he said.
Data gathered on the dives will give researchers a better idea of the deep reef ecosystem and its connection with shallower reefs, Shepherd said.
As aquarium director, Shepard is more than just a diver. His job is to develop exhibits that will educate the public and hopefully build support for reef sustainability.
“For me it’s me more about the public outreach. How do we get this message to people, “he said.
“People tend to protect shallow water reefs and it’s because if you ask someone to describe a coral reef they have a picture in their head of what a coral reef looks like.”
“If you ask someone what is the twilight zone or a mesophotic reef they can’t say that. Nobody has a picture of what is there at the bottom. “
Dave Boitano photo
Four hundred feet below the surface of the ocean there exists an aquatic world scientists call the “Twilight Zone”.
It’s a shadowy environment marking the boundary between sunlit shallow reefs and the dark abyss of the deep ocean.
Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have been exploring this unusual environment, collecting data, photo images and sea life. The results have been impressive and it’s a certainty much of what they have collected has been unknown to science.
In 2014 academy teams accompanied other scientists on an expedition to the Cape Verde Passage in the Philippines which contains the most diversity of sea life among reefs in the “Coral Triangle” formed by the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea.
Financed by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the field study involved researchers from several disciplines including Terry Gosliner, the academy’s curator of Invertebrate Zoology who studies nudibranchs, the colorful sea slugs.
Other researchers including Ichthyologist Luiz Rocha and Bart Shepherd, director of Steinhart Aquarium, formed a dive team that worked in the zone observing, counting and collecting fish.
The divers returned to the area this month for a second series of dives.
Pressure within the zone is 10 times greater than at the surface. Divers wear specially adapted suits not unlike a space suit and breathe a mixture of gases containing helium to counter the effects of the deep undersea environment.
The zone represents the maximum depth humans can reach with scuba gear. To descend any deeper, researchers must use a submersible built to withstand even greater pressures.
Before they could dive, Shepherd, Rocha and other divers went through hours of training off Hawaii to be certified. It was tough work but worth it, Shepherd said.
“There’s not a lot of people in the world who have done that or can do that,” he said.
“One of the unique strengths of the academy is that it can field a team like this to do assessments on deep coral reefs.”
Once at depth, divers have only 20 minutes or so to gather specimens and other data before beginning the extremely slow ascent to the surface. The process can take up to five hours as their bodies decompress avoiding a fatal expansion bubbles in their blood streams.
The last 90 minutes is spent in relatively shallow water so the dive team must find ways to pass the time.
“That’s the hardest part for me,” Shepherd he said.
”In the initial part you are gearing up, are focused on the safety and are excited about the dive. Once you reach 200 feet, you are so in the moment you have jobs to do. But on the way back up you think ‘its 99 minutes...really’”!
While in the deep, divers stay within sight of one another and check computerized dive monitors that measure depth and tell them when they need to begin their ascent.
Collecting fish for analysis and display was another challenge given that a fish’s swim bladder could burst if brought to the surface without compensating for pressure changes.
Researchers solved the problem by inventing a cylinder- sized portable decompression chamber that maintains deep sea pressure while fish are being slowly decompressed at the surface over a period of days. Some of the fish are now on display at the aquarium.
Because new diving technology was needed to bring humans to 400 feet, the dive teams were likely the first to visit some of the areas they studied.
“One of the things that’s exciting about it is that it’s so unexplored that every dive is ripe for discovery,” he said.
Data gathered on the dives will give researchers a better idea of the deep reef ecosystem and its connection with shallower reefs, Shepherd said.
As aquarium director, Shepard is more than just a diver. His job is to develop exhibits that will educate the public and hopefully build support for reef sustainability.
“For me it’s me more about the public outreach. How do we get this message to people, “he said.
“People tend to protect shallow water reefs and it’s because if you ask someone to describe a coral reef they have a picture in their head of what a coral reef looks like.”
“If you ask someone what is the twilight zone or a mesophotic reef they can’t say that. Nobody has a picture of what is there at the bottom. “
Academy scientist studies colorful sea slugs
Dave Boitano photo
Terry Gosliner, a scientist and curator at the California Academy of Sciences, will be spending the next seven weeks exploring the tropical waters of the Philippines.
He will be one of a score of researchers sampling and studying the diversity of marine life found in one of the richest marine environments in the world.
Though it involves a 12 hour work day multiple daily scuba dives and lots of lab time, Gosliner wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s exhausting but it is so exhilarating,” he said. “You can’t wait to get started the next day because you are going to see something that you have never seen before.”
“It’s never disappointed me. It’s like being a kid in nature’s candy store.”
Gosliner and other scientists will arrive in The Philippines on Monday April 21 and be working off the Southern end of Luzon Island two hours south of Manila.
The area is home to almost 15,000 species of marine animals making it a veritable Garden of Eden for aquatic researchers. There are more than 900 species of nudibranchs, a colorful reef invertebrate that Gosliner studies.
The expedition, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, will attempt to determine how such a wide variety of marine life arrived in the local waters, why the ecosystem has not succumbed to global warming and if it can be a kind of reservoir to repopulate portions of the ocean that have been damaged.
“We are tremendously excited about getting back to this areas because it is an area we have studied repeatedly and we still keep finding new things there,” he said.
Growing up in the Bay Area, Gosliner was a self-described “biology nerd” who developed his love of science with the help of a middle school teacher.
He made frequent trips to the academy during school vacations. Researchers there encouraged his love of research and he published his first paper on a nudibranch species when he was 17..
Nudibranchs are considered an “indicator species”--an animal whose numbers measure the health of an over ecosystem—because they prey on a variety of other animals
Though they are not endangered, their numbers have declined in recent years Gosliner said.
Though colorful, nudribrancs are voracious predators, eating sponges and sea anemones.
“We are glad they are not the size of great White Sharks because they have really intimidating teeth,” he joked.
A typical day during the expedition begins at 8 a.m. with Gosliner and other making two scuba dives before lunch. The specimens are then photographed and studied before the group makes a third dives and possibly a night dive to search for creatures that come out after dark.
Dinner is usually served abound 9 p.m. and the researchers turn in and prepare to do it all again the next day.
This expedition will have around 40 participants, though a similar academy in 2011 had 94 members, Gosliner said.
When they are not in the field, some of the scientists will visit local communities to talk about the kinds of aquatic creatures found in the area and sustainable practices that could protect local ecosystems for years to come.
“We are definitely a team of explorers and the academy’s mission is to explore, explain and sustain life on the planet,” he said, “but is begins with exploration,” he said.
Terry Gosliner, a scientist and curator at the California Academy of Sciences, will be spending the next seven weeks exploring the tropical waters of the Philippines.
He will be one of a score of researchers sampling and studying the diversity of marine life found in one of the richest marine environments in the world.
Though it involves a 12 hour work day multiple daily scuba dives and lots of lab time, Gosliner wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s exhausting but it is so exhilarating,” he said. “You can’t wait to get started the next day because you are going to see something that you have never seen before.”
“It’s never disappointed me. It’s like being a kid in nature’s candy store.”
Gosliner and other scientists will arrive in The Philippines on Monday April 21 and be working off the Southern end of Luzon Island two hours south of Manila.
The area is home to almost 15,000 species of marine animals making it a veritable Garden of Eden for aquatic researchers. There are more than 900 species of nudibranchs, a colorful reef invertebrate that Gosliner studies.
The expedition, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, will attempt to determine how such a wide variety of marine life arrived in the local waters, why the ecosystem has not succumbed to global warming and if it can be a kind of reservoir to repopulate portions of the ocean that have been damaged.
“We are tremendously excited about getting back to this areas because it is an area we have studied repeatedly and we still keep finding new things there,” he said.
Growing up in the Bay Area, Gosliner was a self-described “biology nerd” who developed his love of science with the help of a middle school teacher.
He made frequent trips to the academy during school vacations. Researchers there encouraged his love of research and he published his first paper on a nudibranch species when he was 17..
Nudibranchs are considered an “indicator species”--an animal whose numbers measure the health of an over ecosystem—because they prey on a variety of other animals
Though they are not endangered, their numbers have declined in recent years Gosliner said.
Though colorful, nudribrancs are voracious predators, eating sponges and sea anemones.
“We are glad they are not the size of great White Sharks because they have really intimidating teeth,” he joked.
A typical day during the expedition begins at 8 a.m. with Gosliner and other making two scuba dives before lunch. The specimens are then photographed and studied before the group makes a third dives and possibly a night dive to search for creatures that come out after dark.
Dinner is usually served abound 9 p.m. and the researchers turn in and prepare to do it all again the next day.
This expedition will have around 40 participants, though a similar academy in 2011 had 94 members, Gosliner said.
When they are not in the field, some of the scientists will visit local communities to talk about the kinds of aquatic creatures found in the area and sustainable practices that could protect local ecosystems for years to come.
“We are definitely a team of explorers and the academy’s mission is to explore, explain and sustain life on the planet,” he said, “but is begins with exploration,” he said.
Academy biologist is fishes best friend
June 17, 2013
Dave Boitano photo
Few biologists would put a live octopus on their heads, but Richard Ross isn't just any biologist.
Working with a group of fishermen who were worried that the Octopus would bite, Ross decided to ally their fears with a demonstration.
"I dropped the octopus on my head to show that they didn't bite and luckily it didn't bite me," he said.
Ross, who serves on the staff of the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, is involved with another eight legged
creature now but he doesn't wear it on his head.
The creature is only one of a host of marine creatures Ross cares for and studies in Steinhart's 212,000 gallon Philippine Coral Reef Tank one of the deepest exhibits of live corals in the world.
His job can be really busy at times but is one of the most important in the running of the aquarium. Ross checks the elaborate water system that sustains the exhibit tanks, makes certain that the fish are fed and properly cared for and helps plan work on the coral reef habitat
He sometimes can be seen scuba diving in the exhibit moving rocks around, checking the corals and observing the colorful fish.
Among the octopuses of the world, the Pacific Striped has two unusual characteristics.
During mating these animals join beak to beak, unlike their counterparts who don't stay near each other during spawning.
Females don't die after laying a clutch of eggs, unlike other species and can go on to reproduce again, Ross said.
These animals living in the tank now were collected off the coast of Central America and live in depths of around 100 to 200 feet
A related species, the Lesser Pacific Striped Octopus is found in tidal flats and is no bigger than a thumbnail, Ross said.
It's unknown why these creatures species mate the way they do, Ross said.
"The why is the hard part, "he said. "There is some kind of negotiation going on. While are they mating face to face the male has to be big enough to overpower her, but if he is too small, she won't mate with him," he said
Working at Steinhart is a dream come true for Ross who holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from UC Davis and has worked as a
juggler at Fisherman's Wharf during his career.
Growing up in Chicago, Ross's family had a large fish tank in the basement and he fell back into the hobby after the family returned to the states from some years living overseas.
At one point, he had as many as 20 tanks in his bedroom and his parents were not angry when one of his tanks sprung a leak one day.
"A lot of water was on the floor and it was raining on the lower floor," he said.
In later years, Ross juggled for while and became a stay at home dad when his daughter was born.
But his love for the aquatic world did not wane. Ross was became a co founder of a local reef club, took part in coral propagating
projects, wrote articles and lectured to other clubs throughout the country.
He became involved with the academy through a friend while the institution was being housed temporarily south of Howard Street during its reconstruction.
Ross volunteered, working on the smaller reef tank and was chosen to move with the Steinhart team when the academy reopened in its present building in 2008. His knowledge of how to grow corals no doubt helped.
"That was great," he said. "What hobbyist would not want to work at a local aquarium," he said.
"I've never had a real job except for stints in fish stores," he added, "It's always been a performing life. Fortunately it all came together in such a way that they wanted me to get the job."
Ross breeds fish and cephalopods in his Alameda home. Along with a display tank, he also works in what he calls his "secret home lab,"
The foundation under the home is a maze of water circulation equipment Fortunately, Ross' family is tolerant of his passion for marine life, even if it means sharing the house with them.
"My wife likes the mad scientist part of it and is willing to help so she's very supportive and so is my daughter," he said.
Dave Boitano photo
Few biologists would put a live octopus on their heads, but Richard Ross isn't just any biologist.
Working with a group of fishermen who were worried that the Octopus would bite, Ross decided to ally their fears with a demonstration.
"I dropped the octopus on my head to show that they didn't bite and luckily it didn't bite me," he said.
Ross, who serves on the staff of the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, is involved with another eight legged
creature now but he doesn't wear it on his head.
The creature is only one of a host of marine creatures Ross cares for and studies in Steinhart's 212,000 gallon Philippine Coral Reef Tank one of the deepest exhibits of live corals in the world.
His job can be really busy at times but is one of the most important in the running of the aquarium. Ross checks the elaborate water system that sustains the exhibit tanks, makes certain that the fish are fed and properly cared for and helps plan work on the coral reef habitat
He sometimes can be seen scuba diving in the exhibit moving rocks around, checking the corals and observing the colorful fish.
Among the octopuses of the world, the Pacific Striped has two unusual characteristics.
During mating these animals join beak to beak, unlike their counterparts who don't stay near each other during spawning.
Females don't die after laying a clutch of eggs, unlike other species and can go on to reproduce again, Ross said.
These animals living in the tank now were collected off the coast of Central America and live in depths of around 100 to 200 feet
A related species, the Lesser Pacific Striped Octopus is found in tidal flats and is no bigger than a thumbnail, Ross said.
It's unknown why these creatures species mate the way they do, Ross said.
"The why is the hard part, "he said. "There is some kind of negotiation going on. While are they mating face to face the male has to be big enough to overpower her, but if he is too small, she won't mate with him," he said
Working at Steinhart is a dream come true for Ross who holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from UC Davis and has worked as a
juggler at Fisherman's Wharf during his career.
Growing up in Chicago, Ross's family had a large fish tank in the basement and he fell back into the hobby after the family returned to the states from some years living overseas.
At one point, he had as many as 20 tanks in his bedroom and his parents were not angry when one of his tanks sprung a leak one day.
"A lot of water was on the floor and it was raining on the lower floor," he said.
In later years, Ross juggled for while and became a stay at home dad when his daughter was born.
But his love for the aquatic world did not wane. Ross was became a co founder of a local reef club, took part in coral propagating
projects, wrote articles and lectured to other clubs throughout the country.
He became involved with the academy through a friend while the institution was being housed temporarily south of Howard Street during its reconstruction.
Ross volunteered, working on the smaller reef tank and was chosen to move with the Steinhart team when the academy reopened in its present building in 2008. His knowledge of how to grow corals no doubt helped.
"That was great," he said. "What hobbyist would not want to work at a local aquarium," he said.
"I've never had a real job except for stints in fish stores," he added, "It's always been a performing life. Fortunately it all came together in such a way that they wanted me to get the job."
Ross breeds fish and cephalopods in his Alameda home. Along with a display tank, he also works in what he calls his "secret home lab,"
The foundation under the home is a maze of water circulation equipment Fortunately, Ross' family is tolerant of his passion for marine life, even if it means sharing the house with them.
"My wife likes the mad scientist part of it and is willing to help so she's very supportive and so is my daughter," he said.
Scientist studies diverse shark world
When we think about sharks, the fierce Great White Shark or Tiger shark comes to mind. Their huge teeth and aggressive nature are known to divers, surfers and anyone else who has seen the movie “Jaws” or read about shark attacks.
But the shark world is much more diverse. More than 500 separate species roam the oceans, many unknown to science or seldom studied. These “lost sharks” are what fascinate Dave Ebert and he spends his waking hours looking for them.
Photo courtesy Dave Ebert
Ebert operates the Pacific Shark Research Center, part of the Moss Landing Research Laboratory in Moss Landing, CA. With the aid of 18 graduate students, Ebert conducts studies on all aspects of shark biology.
Not that studying rare sharks is an easy task. Ebert and his students recently wrestled with a rare Megamouth Shark off the coast of Taiwan trying to attach an expensive probe to the animal to track its movements. The fight was captured on video and can be seen on the “Sharkweek” website.
Megamouths, as the name would suggest, have enormous mouths which they use to trap small krill while swimming through a plume of the tiny creatures. This style of feeding is similar that of Whale Sharks and some species of whales. The krill are attracted to the shark by luminescent tissue within the mouth that acts like a lure, Ebert said.
Evolution has benefited the animal which fits in with the undersea environment at 300 to 600 feet below the surface. “It’s amazing how specialized these things really are,” he said. “They are perfectly adapted to this one kind of prey item.”
The species had never been seen until a U.S. Navy team caught one during the 1970’s and a scientific research team tagged a megamouth they hooked off Dana Point in Southern California in 1990.
The waters off Taiwan are a feeding ground for the species and fisherman angling for sunfish often find megamouths ensnared in their nets, Ebert said. The sharks arrive in late spring when the water conditions are right and the krill are abundant. Ebert and his team are also investigating the presence of megamouths in Southern California waters.
Looking for new species often involves a trip to the local fish market where Ebert gets valuable information from commercial fishermen. “If you talk to the guy there it’s amazing what you will find out,” he said.
Unlike larger research institutions, the research center survives on modest scientific grants to keep operating. Despite the lack of major funds, Ebert’s researchers have discovered 15 new shark species including some types of ghost sharks. Working at the center is a labor of love, despite the scientific community’s obsession with bigger fish, he admits.
“Everybody gets wrapped up in white sharks because they look impressive,” he said. adding “But I’m the guy that finds the species of sharks that nobody looks at.”
When we think about sharks, the fierce Great White Shark or Tiger shark comes to mind. Their huge teeth and aggressive nature are known to divers, surfers and anyone else who has seen the movie “Jaws” or read about shark attacks.
But the shark world is much more diverse. More than 500 separate species roam the oceans, many unknown to science or seldom studied. These “lost sharks” are what fascinate Dave Ebert and he spends his waking hours looking for them.
Photo courtesy Dave Ebert
Ebert operates the Pacific Shark Research Center, part of the Moss Landing Research Laboratory in Moss Landing, CA. With the aid of 18 graduate students, Ebert conducts studies on all aspects of shark biology.
Not that studying rare sharks is an easy task. Ebert and his students recently wrestled with a rare Megamouth Shark off the coast of Taiwan trying to attach an expensive probe to the animal to track its movements. The fight was captured on video and can be seen on the “Sharkweek” website.
Megamouths, as the name would suggest, have enormous mouths which they use to trap small krill while swimming through a plume of the tiny creatures. This style of feeding is similar that of Whale Sharks and some species of whales. The krill are attracted to the shark by luminescent tissue within the mouth that acts like a lure, Ebert said.
Evolution has benefited the animal which fits in with the undersea environment at 300 to 600 feet below the surface. “It’s amazing how specialized these things really are,” he said. “They are perfectly adapted to this one kind of prey item.”
The species had never been seen until a U.S. Navy team caught one during the 1970’s and a scientific research team tagged a megamouth they hooked off Dana Point in Southern California in 1990.
The waters off Taiwan are a feeding ground for the species and fisherman angling for sunfish often find megamouths ensnared in their nets, Ebert said. The sharks arrive in late spring when the water conditions are right and the krill are abundant. Ebert and his team are also investigating the presence of megamouths in Southern California waters.
Looking for new species often involves a trip to the local fish market where Ebert gets valuable information from commercial fishermen. “If you talk to the guy there it’s amazing what you will find out,” he said.
Unlike larger research institutions, the research center survives on modest scientific grants to keep operating. Despite the lack of major funds, Ebert’s researchers have discovered 15 new shark species including some types of ghost sharks. Working at the center is a labor of love, despite the scientific community’s obsession with bigger fish, he admits.
“Everybody gets wrapped up in white sharks because they look impressive,” he said. adding “But I’m the guy that finds the species of sharks that nobody looks at.”