Encyclopedia10 min read
Atlantic Wolffish (Anarhichas lupus): The Shell-Crusher of Cold Reefs
Meet the Atlantic wolffish — a fanged, antifreeze-blooded reef fish that crushes sea urchins and has declined badly from trawl bycatch.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
#conservation
25 articles
Encyclopedia9 min read
Canary Rockfish: Comeback Story in Orange and Grey
The canary rockfish went from overfished to rebuilt in fifteen years — one of the US west coast's most instructive fisheries recovery stories.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia9 min read
Green Abalone: Life on the Kelp Forest Edge
Haliotis fulgens, the green abalone, is a kelp-trapping herbivore of Baja and southern California. Shell, life cycle, fishery history and recovery.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti): The Penguin of the Kelp Coast
The Humboldt penguin breeds in guano caves on the desert coast of Chile and Peru, and fishes in one of the richest — and most changeable — seas on Earth.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science9 min read
The Great Kelp Provinces: How Biogeography Divides the World's Kelp Coasts
Marine biogeography splits kelp coasts into distinct provinces, each with its own species and history. A tour of the regions — and the barriers that made them.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science9 min read
Genetic Rescue for Kelp: Moving Forest Genes to Save Them
Genetic rescue moves genes into a struggling kelp population to restore diversity and fitness. How it works, when it helps, and when it backfires.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Science8 min read
Marine Connectivity: How Reefs Are Linked by Currents
Reefs are joined by currents into a living network. How connectivity works, why stepping stones matter, and how it shapes marine reserves and kelp restoration.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Encyclopedia10 min read
Northern Abalone: Canada's Pinto, the Endangered Grazer
The pinto abalone is the small, iridescent grazer of the northeast Pacific — endangered since the 1990s and the focus of a careful hatchery recovery effort.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Pot-Bellied Seahorse: The Big-Bellied Drifter of the Great Southern Reef
Hippocampus abdominalis, the pot-bellied seahorse, is one of the world's largest seahorses — a slow, golden giant of Australian and New Zealand kelp gardens.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia9 min read
Shovelnose Guitarfish: Half Shark, Half Ray, Fully Kelp-Coast
Pseudobatos productus cruises the sandy flats between kelp forests from California to Baja. How to identify it, what it eats, and why its fate splits at the border.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas11 min read
The Snares and Antipodes: New Zealand's Subantarctic Kelp Wilderness
A coastal atlas guide to New Zealand's subantarctic islands — surf-gripped bull kelp, endemic penguins and parakeets, sea lion recovery, and the mouse eradication that worked.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Soupfin Shark (Galeorhinus galeus): The School Shark of Kelp Coastlines
The soupfin or school shark once blackened the water over kelp coasts — until a vitamin boom nearly erased it. Meet Galeorhinus galeus.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Science8 min read
Withering Syndrome: Anatomy of an Abalone Disease in a Warming Ocean
Withering syndrome has killed millions of abalone since the 1980s — a bacterial disease switched on by warm water. The science of the pathogen and outbreaks.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia9 min read
Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus): The Century-Old Resident of the Reef Edge
Yelloweye rockfish can live more than a century on a single reef. Identification, the barotrauma problem, and the rules helping this red giant recover.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Black Oystercatcher: The Rocky-Shore Sentinel
Black oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani: the rock-loving sentinel of the Pacific coast — habits, tiny population and what it reveals.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Careers10 min read
Building a Career in Conservation Photography
Conservation photography is a craft and a business. A working ocean photographer on skills, gear, income streams, ethics and how to actually get published.
Tom Okafor ·
Science8 min read
How Marine Invasions Spread: Ballast, Hulls and Floating Plastic
How marine invasive species spread: ballast water, hull fouling, aquaculture escapes and plastic rafting — the vectors, and why some coasts are vulnerable.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia7 min read
Marbled Murrelet: The Seabird That Nests in Trees
The marbled murrelet feeds in kelp-fringed seas and nests miles inland on old-growth limbs. The ecology of a seabird split between two vanishing worlds.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Careers9 min read
Marine Conservation Careers: The Honest Map of Routes In
Marine conservation careers span rangers, policy staff, restoration crews and data scientists. Here is an honest map of the routes in, the pay, and the skills that matter.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science8 min read
Spillover: Do Fish Really Walk Out of Marine Reserves?
Marine reserve spillover explained: how protected waters export adult fish and larvae to fishing grounds, what the evidence shows and when benefits appear.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Giant Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas): The Gentle Giant of the Kelp Forest
In one generation, gillnets erased the giant sea bass from its kelp forests. Four decades of protection are bringing it back — one cautious shadow at a time.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science7 min read
The Restoration Toolkit: What the Evidence Says About Rebuilding Kelp
Green gravel, seeded lines, urchin culling, spore bags, assisted migration — how the main kelp restoration methods compare on cost, scale and evidence of success.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science9 min read
The Ocean Soundscape: What Reefs Sound Like and Why It Guides Larvae Home
Reefs crackle, croak and rasp — and drifting larvae ride those sounds home. How the ocean soundscape works, and what human noise costs marine life.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia11 min read
The Decline and Slow Return of Pycnopodia: A Species Case Study
Sea star wasting disease erased billions of sunflower stars in a few years and reshaped whole kelp coasts. Here is what happened — and why hope is returning.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Explore8 min read
Joining a Reef or Beach Cleanup: How to Make the Data Count
How to join a reef or beach cleanup above or below the waterline — and how to record what you find so it becomes useful citizen-science data, not just a trash run.
Tom Okafor ·