Mason Posner teaches anatomy and physiology, marine and vertebrate biology at Ashland University in Ohio. He does research on the evolution and function of the vertebrate eye lens and has interests in undergraduate research and teaching technology. He leads a Biology capstone course on science communication.

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Eat fish and acidify the oceans

When teaching marine biology I warn my students that if they are there to just learn about sharks and dolphins they will be sorely disappointed, because only microscopic plankton have the biomass to really affect the oceans. Being an ichthyologist this always hurt a bit.  A recent paper in Science has restored my faith that all [...]

Sea kittens . . . really?

Next time you’re reeling in that fish, picture Whiskers or Fluffy hooked through the mouth on the end of your line.  At least that is what PETA would like you to do.  In a new PR campaign the animal rights group is attempting to rebrand “fish” as “sea kitten”.  The rationale:

When your name can [...]

Creepy Friday videos

That is if you find spiders creepy.  And if you do, maybe your fears are well founded.

This shark video is only creepy if you were in the submarine, and the sharks actually posed a threat.  Which they probably didn’t.  But it is still worth checking out.

Fish eyes do the coolest things

Ed Yong over at Not Exactly Rocket Science beat me to the punch on this one.  You should check out his summary of a new paper by a group of excellent fish eye people on the spookfish, Dolichopteryx longipes.  Like many mesopelagic fishes that live in these low light conditions, the spookfish has tubular [...]

They don’t make shark cages like they used to

The classic white shark strike from below is chilling to watch.  What’s interesting is how the shark seems to accidentally crash into the cage, probably with its eyes rolled back after taking the bait.  At that point it’s just trying to get away, leaving the divers to safely get out of the water.  No [...]