A New Home

Well my website at: www.ronshimek.com is up and running. I will be revising it, but it is open for business.

I am moving my blog to: http://blog.ronshimek.com/

See you there!

I will delete this blog in one week.

ARRGH!!

Well, my website is more-or-less set up at my new homepage. I still have to go through and correct some of the problems that happened during the save and replace process, though. The only major snafu turns out to be the complete loss of a large, very complicated, diagram I made from some of my research about scaphopods. And, as luck would have it, I can't find any copies of it on my computer or my backups, either. Sigh.

Anyway, once I get the site up more-or-less as it was, so that it is functional for those who want to use it, I will start to revise it. I have a number of ideas that should make it easier to navigate. Also, I have a lot more information to put on it. My site size is unlimited, so I hope to be adding a lot more to the site than I had before.

My thanks to those of you who have noticed the odd links to the old Ask Dr. Ron forum and RC; I have tried to delete all of those.

I will be starting a new blog at that site probably tomorrow, but it may be a bit later. When that occurs, I will close down this one.

Getting Near The End

Of our remodel, that is. This started, officially, on the 22 of September, and it was projected to last about 3 months. Sigh.... Maybe it will be done in a couple more weeks. As luck would have it, I guess, my office/lab will be the last part of the remodel to be completed. I will be really glad to have the reconstruction complete, though. Our old house (built about 100 years ago) was apparently constructed by folks who thought, "Hell, I can build a house, what's so hard about that?" So... no two walls are either parallel or meet at right angles. In effect, the whole place is an optical illusion, it appears to be a house, whilst in fact it is a series of bad ideas held together by plaster and lathe. Sigh. Well, at least the view out the front window is nice. Over the years we have spent more than the original purchase cost of the house remodeling it, and so now it is really pretty nice, if small.

But, some of the problems... For example, we had to have all the plumbing ripped out and replaced. The cowboys who built the place weren't really sure about the concept that water flows down hill. And, unfortunately, plumbing carries more than water away from the house... I think you might be able to put those sentences together to see some of the problems we faced. Suffice it to say, the plumbing was only one issue... Interestingly, enough, none of these problems had been fully corrected in the 85 years of the house's existence prior to our occupancy. In fact, the place was a perfect example of series of sequential jury rigs that were done "on the cheap" and "good enough for government use."

So - - Anyway, by now we have pretty much rebuilt a lot of the old house from the bottom up and inside out. Had we known what we were going to have to do when we started, it would have been cheaper and probably a lot more soothing on the psyche to simply move and buy a new house. Well, hindsight is always perfect.

Well, rather start a discussion here that would need to move to my new site in a day or so, I will close today's missive, and get back to fixing my new home page.

Cheers!!

Some Changes Ahead

Well, my website is back up at www.RonShimek.com. I am presently revising it, so it will be in varying degrees of disarray for a few days at least. If you want to link to it, it is probably best to link only to the index page and then navigate through it as the internal design of the site will change a lot.

I will also be moving my blog to that site, and will post here when that will occur. All of this will probably happen by next Monday.

Laminar Flow

In reply to the comment about laminar flow. I have no doubt that perfect laminar flow doesn't occur near most, perhaps all ocean bottoms, but it does get close, particularly when the flow is over a smooth sand bed. Given the immense depth of water over the over the bottom in some cases, the flow really is well modelled by bulk flow that closely approximates laminar flow. Turbulent flow or chaotic flow is certainly the flow regime over bottoms with signficiant relief, such as reef crests, but this dampens out at surprising short distances from the reef proper. In these areas the animals seem to respond as if the flow is truly laminar, hence my new tank and what will be my research.

The animals I specifically will be examining will be:
1) Some of the soft corals such as Dendronephthya that appear to need non-turbulent flow for inflation and feeding,
2) Some of the tree or tube sponges, and
3) The gorgonians.

It think this system has the potential to provide some very interesting data about some "reef" animals.

I am busy today with the revisions to my site, so not much time for writing here.

'Till tomorrow!

Cheers!!

Back In Action

Well, it is Tuesday morning and I apologize for missing yesterday's update. I had to go in for an outpatient medical procedure early Monday, and the after effects left me druggy all the rest of the day. Didn't have time to post before I went in, and was sleeping off the IV anesthetic for the rest of the day. So... no blog update.

Cold Water Reefs Rule!

Virtually unknown a decade ago, these reefs are becoming progressively more well known. Unfortunately, they are in a precarious state. In a lot of areas, including the Alaskan ones, bottom fishing has trashed many parts of them. I think we are left with the awful situation of watching their destruction and demise without ever having had a chance to appreciate them. Aesthetically, this is one thing, I suppose; but scientifically it is a disaster.

I guess this sad state of affairs comes from the fact that these communities and organisms are "Out of sight, out of mind." Given that the cumulative "mind" of the general human populace is somewhat smaller than a gnat's ass, this out of sight rule works in most cases.

The general responses seems to be one of "Who cares about what is under the oceans?" This is probably because, "The oceans all look the same from the top, don't they?"

And to compound this attitude, these reefs are in cold waters in areas that are very difficult to study. One of the reasons I quit doing research in Alaska 25 years ago was that it simply was too expensive. Having had grant applications turned down simply becasue logistical costs were so high, was disconcerting. And a fact of life.

It takes a LOT of money to learn about deep water animals. A single standard, "simple" dive in a research sub can cost on the order of $50,000, and specialized dives are even more expensive. Coupled with the fact that these Alaskan reefs are in some of the most treacherous waters known, the research on them and the knowledge is going to be slow in coming.

As an example of the treacherous waters, I might discuss my personal version of the waves in the move "The Perfect Storm." Suffice it to say, been there, done that. Experiencing 70 foot high waves from a 100 foot long vessel is truly an experience that makes one a believer in the forces of nature. The aforementioned movie had absolutely no allure for me.

Even Worse Than The Environmental Problems Are The Human Ones...

As one more example, the large Primnoa pacificum, the gorgonian that may be the largest of Alaskan corals has been harvested by fishermen, primarily as "by catch," since before I was in Alaska in the late 1970s. At that time, it was worth about $150 per pound as a type of precious coral. One of my students when I was teaching at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, brought in a photo of one of the fishing boats owned by his family. The boat had lifted a large Primnoa up above the deck with its boom and winch. The gorgonian "tree" was easily 25 feet high.

At the time, scientists couldn't get any information from the fisherman. Greed rules the seas, and they were not about to tell anybody where they trawled the corals or allow us to even see the specimens close enough try to identify them. So... it was obvious that large gorgonians were being harvested, but we didn't know what they were or where they were from.

The situation is a bit better now; but only marginally. Nevertheless, with over 100 species of animals that can be called corals, and probably thousands of other species that are associated with them, the prognosis of learning much about these reefs before their destruction is pretty slim; even for those that are in so-called "refuges" or "reserves."

My Tanks.

I don't generally post images of my own systems for a couple of reasons:
first - such images are easily "faked," and
second - people put too much credence in what they think they are seeing.

Presently, I haven't got any tanks in operation. I broke down my system last summer prior to the start of our remodelling project as the room it was in was going to get severely rearranged. I had planned to set a system up when the remodel was completed. This was supposed to be in late November. The remodel STILL is not done, although we may be able, on a clear night, to see the flicker of the light at the end of the tunnel. My best guess is that I will start setting up my system somewhere about the Ides of March.

I will document that set up with periodic photos here, so those of you who are curious can see what I am doing.

In the interim, the image below is from my lagoon reef tank of a couple of years ago.



Laminar Flow Refernces:

Somebody asked me for some references on laminar flow in reefs. A few are listed below, happy reading. These will get you started, but the list is just a smattering of what is available.

Basics and Neat Information:

Vogel, S. 1994. Life in Moving Fluids. 2nd Ed. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ. xii+467pp

A Mix Of Old And New Refs:

Eckman, J. E. and A. R. M. Nowell. 1984. Boundary skin friction and sediment transport about an animal tube mimic. Sedimentology. 31:851-862.

Eckman, J. E., A. R. M. Nowell and P. A. Jumars. 1981. Sediment destabilization by animal tubes. Journal of Marine Research. 39:361-374.

Ertman, S. C. and P. A. Jumars. 1988. Effects of bivalve siphonal currents on the settlement of inert particles and larvae. Journal of Marine Research. 46:797-813.

Heidelberg, K. B., K. P. Sebens and J. E. Purcell. 1997. Effects of prey escape behavior and water flow on prey capture by the scleractinian coral, Meandrina meandrites. In: Lessions, H. A. and I. G. Macintyre. Eds. Proceedings of the eighth international coral reef symposium, Panama, June 24-29, 1996. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Balboa, Panama. pp. 1081-1086.

Heidelberg, K. B., K. P. Sebens and J. E. Purcell. 2004. Composition and sources of near reef zooplankton on a Jamaican forereef along with implications for coral feeding. Coral Reefs. 23:263-276.

Helmuth, B. and K. Sebens. 1993. The influence of colony morphology and orientation to flow on particle capture by the scleractinian coral Agaricia agaricites (Linnaeus). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 165:251-278.

Helmuth, B. S. T., K. P. Sebens and T. L. Daniel. 1997. Morphological variation in coral aggregations: Branch spacing and mass flux to coral tissues. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 209:233-259.

Johnson, A. S. and K. P. Sebens. 1993. Consequences of a flattened morphology: Effects of flow on feeding rates of the scleractinian coral Meandrina meandrites. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 99:99-114.

Jumars, P. A. and A. R. M. Nowell. 1984. Fluid and sediment dynamic effects on marine benthic community structure. American Zoologist. 24:45-55.

Mills, M. M. and K. P. Sebens. 1997. Particle ingestion efficiency of the coral Siderastrea siderea and Agaricia agaricites: effects of flow speed and sediment loads. In: Lessions, H. A. and I. G. Macintyre. Eds. Proceedings of the eighth international coral reef symposium, Panama, June 24-29, 1996. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Balboa, Panama. pp. 1059-1063.

Mills, M. M., F. Lipschultz and K. P. Sebens. 2004. Particulate matter ingestion and associated nitrogen uptake by four species of scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs. 23:311-323.

Nowell, A. R. M. and P. A. Jumars. 1984. Flow environments of aquatic benthos. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 15:303-328.

Nowell, A. R. M., P. A. Jumars and J. E. Eckman. 1981. Effects of biological activity on the entrainment of marine sediments. Marine Geology. 42:133-153.

Nowell, A. R. M., P. A. Jumars, R. F. L. Self and J. B. Southard. 1989. The effects of sediment transport and deposition on infauna: results obtained in a specially designed flume. In: Lopez, G., G. Taghon and J. S. Levinton. Eds. Lecture notes on coastal and estuarine studies. Springer Verlag. New York. pp. 247-268.

Patterson, M. R., K. P. Sebens and R. R. Olson. 1991. In situ measurements of flow effects on primary production and dark respiration in reef corals. Limnology and Oceanography. 36:936-948.

Sebens, K. P. 1997. Adaptive responses to water flow: morphology, energetics, and distributions of reef corals. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium. 2:1053-1058.

Sebens, K. P. and A. S. Johnson. 1991. Effects of water movement on prey capture and distribution of reef corals. Hydrobiologia. 226:91-102.

Sebens, K. P., J. Witting and B. Helmuth. 1997. Effects of water flow and branch spacing on particle capture by the reef coral Madracis mirabilis (Duchassaing and Michelotti). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 211:1-28.

Sebens, K. P., K. S. Vandersall, L. A. Savina and K. R. Graham. 1996. Zooplankton capture by two scleractinian corals, Madracis mirabilis and Montastrea cavernosa, in a field enclosure. Marine Biology (Berlin). 127:303-317.

Sebens, K. P., S. P. Grace, B. Helmuth, E. J. Maney Jr and J. S. Miles. 1998. Water flow and prey capture by three scleractinian corals, Madracis mirabilis, Montastrea cavernosa, and Porites porites, in a field enclosure. Marine Biology (Berlin). 131:347-360.

Shimeta, J. and P. A. Jumars. 1991. Physical mechanisms and rates of particle capture by suspension-feeders. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review. 29:191-257.

Shyka, T. A. and K. P. Sebens. 2000. Community structure, water column nutrients and water flow in two Pelican Cays ponds, Belize. Atoll Research Bulletin. 466-480:107-121.

Taghon, G. L., R. F. L. Self and P. A. Jumars. 1978. Predicting particle selection by deposit feeders: A model and its implications. Limnology and Oceanography. 23:752-759.

Yager, P. L., A. R. M. Nowell and and P. A. Jumars. 1993. Enhanced deposition to pits: A local food source for benthos. Journal of Marine Research. 51:209-236.

'Nuff for now...

Cheers!!!

Dreary Sunday

Today has dawned grey and overcast... Can't even see across the valey to the mountains about 8 miles away. At least it is relatively warm, about 31 F, which is a lot warmer that it can be here at this time of year.

Coral Reefs

It is just beginning to dawn on researchers that the majority of corals aren't found in the shallow water tropical reefs, but in deep cold waters. In the U. S. of A., the largest reef is found along the southern edge of the Aleutian arc (So Chris' answer is right on the money!!!). It stretches for at least 1,400 miles and is found at depths of 300 to 3000 feet. Over 100 species of corals have been found there and more will be found - the habitat is so poorly known it could be described as being almost completely unknown.

Here are some links to get you started:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002177305_coral11m.html

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/abl/MarFish/coral.htm
The above link has some good maps of the extent of these reefs

http://www.nprb.org/education/inv-r0304.htm

http://www.alaskaoceans.net/facts/efh.htm

The Ocean Explorer Site has a lot of good materials including movies and lotsa images.

If you are interested in this material, here are some links to downloadable documents.

http://www.mcbi.org/Current_Magazine/What_are_DSC.pdf

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Publications/AFSC-TM/NOAA-TM-AFSC-146.pdf

The above document is a 67 page technical memorandum from NOAA: Wing, B. L. and D. R. Barnard, 2004. A Field Guide To Alaskan Corals . 67 pp. It lists pretty much those corals that are now known from Alaska and gives images of most.

The following are various downloadable documents that give some reasonably good data about these communities:

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/abl/MarFish/pdfs/Heifetz_coral_Symposium_paper_wp9_col.pdf

http://www.akcf.org/_attachments/pdf/events_amp_publications/acf_dispatch/acf_dispatch_sum03.pdf

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2419.2005.00371.x

Here are a smattering of scientific articles to get you started on learning about those corals:

Andrews, A. A., E. E. Cordes, M. M. Mahoney, K. Munk, K. H. Coale, G. M. Cailliet and J. Heifetz. 2002. Age,growth and radiometric age validation of a deep-sea, habitat-forming gorgonian (Primnoa resedaeformis)from the Gulf of Alaska. Hydrobiologia. 471:101-110.

Bonilla, H. R. and G. C. Pinon. 2002. Influence of temperature and nutrients on species richness of deep water corals from the western coast of the Americas. Hydrobiologia. 471:35-41.

Heifetz, J. 2002. Coral in Alaska: distribution, abundance and species associations. Hydrobiologia. 471:19-28.

Krieger, K. J. and B. J. Wing. 2002. Megafauna associates with deepwater corals (Primnoa spp.) in the Gulf of Alaska. Hydrobiologia. 471:83-90.

Mortensen, P. B. and L. Buhl-Mortensoen. 2005. Morphology and growth of the deep-water gorgonians Primnoa resedaeformis and Paragorgia arborea. Marine Biology (Berlin). 147:775-778.

Risk, M. J., J. M. Heikoop, M. G. Snow and R. Beukans. 2002. Lifespans and growth patterns of two deep-sea corals: Primnoa resedaeformis and Desmophyllum cristagalli. Hydrobiologia. 471:125-131.

Finally, here are some publications (note some of these are books) detailing deep water coral reefs throughout the world.

Freiwald, A., J.H. Fosså, A. Grehan, T. Koslow, and J.M. Roberts (2004). Cold-Water Coral Reefs. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK.

Freiwald, A. and J.M. Roberts, eds. (2005). Cold-Water Corals and Ecosystems, Springer Publishing House, Heidelberg, Germany.

Roberts, S. and M. Hirschfield (2004). “Deep-Sea Corals: Out of Sight but no Longer Out of Mind.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2(3): 123–130.

A Quote For You...

“What we have found is striking. We now know the majority of coral species (And they mean the majority of ALL CORALS) live in the colder, darker depths, some of these deepsea corals are similar to shallow water corals in appearance, and they are important to marine biological diversity and fisheries. Throughout the world’s oceans, a wave of ocean exploration is bringing back photographs and video of amazing coral gardens, extensive reefs, and Christmas tree corals. Although not strictly comparable, the deep-sea coral (Lophelia pertusa) reefs of the European continental margin, stretching from Norway around the British Isles and south to Spain and Portugal at roughly
4,500 km in length, extends over a much larger linear distance than the Great Barrier Reef of Australia (2,000 km long). Based on the work of our European colleagues, we also know that the Lophelia reefs in the dark, cold waters of the northeast Atlantic are home to over 1,300 species of fish and invertebrates, a number that will undoubtedly continue to grow with ongoing research (Freiwald and Roberts, 2005).

The largest coral in the waters of the U. S. A. Is....

Primnoa pacificum from the Aleutians. It is a gorgonian reaching heights well in excess of 7 m (23 feet).

More tomorrow....

I'm On...

Well, the forums are up and running on the Marine Depot site. We all hope that this will provide us a home that is more condusive to learning from one another than the the site we just left. I think that given the refreshing, and altogether pleasant, attitude of the MD folks, coupled with the realization that we all have to look out for ourselves, and for one another, this will indeed occur. I think that having our forums on a forthrightly commercial site such as Marine Depot will prevent the kind of moderator abuse that developed and really pervaded all of RC over the last couple of years.

Some Changes Here...

As some of you know, this blog is moderated. I see, and have to approve, all the comments before they are posted. And, with the two exceptions I mentioned in an earlier note, I have approved them all.

Well, I have decided to change that policy. Henceforth, I will not allow the publication by the trolls and scum that made gained rabble power on RC behind the shield of anonymity. Frankly, I have grown tired of the bull dribble espoused by some of the former and present posters on RC. These "people" - and I use that word with some uncertainty - feel free to malign and criticize while hiding behind a "nickname." Or, in the worst cases on RC, while exercising power over other posters in the private "moderators" forum. Things really got out of hand in the so-called moderator's forum there and, with idea that no one would know what was going on there, all sorts of BS ensued.

A couple of Latin phrases come to mind, first "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" - Who will guard the guardians?; or as it is more commonly translated, "Who watches the watchers?" It has been recognized since ancient times that decision making behind closed doors tends to become corrupt, and that those in positions of power need to have public and responsible oversight. For a couple of years there was reasonable oversight exercised in that forum, but that oversight gradually drifted away to nothingness and vanished altogether at the end of last summer. The problems occurred in direct proportion to the lack of control. The second phrase is, "Qui tacet consentit - Who keeps silent consents." I guess we all have our thresholds. I should have bailed out of RC when I first percieved that things were becoming unreasonable; about 18 months ago. I didn't and for that I must share some complicity in the subseqent events.

Now, given no BBS, such as RC, is a public entity, what goes on behind "closed doors" is to some extent allowable. Management decisions have to be made in private. However, using those private discussions and decisions as a rationale to publically malign and demean people is both disgusting and reprehensible. I can't speak for the other people who pulled out, but this kind of behavior is why I left RC. Anyway, the folks who have chosen the low road have plenty of other places to publish their trash, they will not be allowed in here.

Sorry For No Post Yesterday

I have been trying to post something everyday. Howsoever, things just got too hectic around here. My wife and I had to run some errands and do a lot of chores and I just didn't have time to add to the blog. My apologies.

More Changes, I Guess...

We learn as we I go, I guess. I started this blog with the intent of providing a place where I could discuss things with folks online. Sort of, a place to have some interesting, if slow, conversations. Primarily, I wanted it as a place to discuss stuff that wasn't applicable to my forum. The trials and tribulations of the last couple of weeks are over now, I hope and I would like to resurrect that as the primary reason for the blog. That having been said, and with the "unwashed and uncouth" banned, I will try to respond to any and all comments that are posted. Now, if there get to be a lot of them, some things may get inadvertently missed. If so, don't hesitate mention them again. If things get lively, I suppose it might come to the point that run out of time, but somehow, I don't think that will be a problem. Actually, without the drama of a "forum shift," I suspect that few people will bother to read what I write, or care to get comments. I may be wrong, but I guess we'll see.

I got something of kick out of a couple of the comments regarding who was publishing this blog, and the fact that you can never know who is doing this. Damn straight! You don't know, you just have to take my bloggish word for it. Kind of brings to mind the old story about the researcher who proved conclusively that William Shakespeare didn't write all of his plays. This researcher found that some of them were written by another author of the same name...

Large Reefs

I meant to say the United States Of America for the locality of the reef I asked about. I will let you cogitate over the question more fully for another day or so, and then I will post my answers with some references. Nobody has hit the answer yet.

Well, sleep calls.

More Later.

Cheers!!

We're Not There Yet

Wherever "there" is. I expected the MD forums to become active yesterday, but it didn't happen and I don't know why. And once they start I will, indeed, be an employee of MD. Whoopee! Jump up and down, clap hands with glee....

But, in response to one of the pismires, "Health benefits?" You gotta be kidding. I tell you at my age, I would sell my soul for a job with decent health benefits. I'd probably do it for a job with any health benefits. Bye the bye, I was just as much an employee of RC whilst I was there; didn't have any perks from that job either.

The Coral Question...

was answered as closely as you can get by Bob, aka "Snail Guy." Congrats!!! It is a NE Pacific hydrocoral, in a genus called either Stylaster or Allopora (the jury is out on what is the correct name). The species may or may not be californica, though. Until about 30 years ago, the animal in the image would have been called Allopora californica by most folks. However, in the early 1980s a few of us were trying to do some research on this animal and its symbiotes. We started to delve back into the literature, and lo and behold, we found there was a lot done on the group by some Russian taxonomists in the early to mid 20th century. None of that information had (or has for that matter) made it into the English language literature, and without access to the specimens that they examined it was impossible to determine to which species the coral in the photo is/was.

Now... Bob "cheated" a bit. And more power to him for it, it was "legitimate cheating;" the kind I encourage in my students - basically the message is to observe and use all the available clues!! He recognized the snail (I knew I should have cropped the photo!), and I am sure that steered him in the right direction. Howsoever, it wasn't impossible to get to the right answer by other means. The star-like shape of pits (not really corallites in this case) that the polyps extend from is really unlike the corallites of any true stony anthozoan (= scelractinian) coral. Additionally, in the image that was posted second, tentacles can be seen coming from the pits in the upper left part of the image. They look like thin hairs, and such tentacle structure is characteristic of hydrozoans, not anthozoans. Actually, in these animals, what appears to be a single polyp extending from each pit is something else altogether. The mouth and stalk (really not visible in the images) is one individual polyp. Each tentacle is a separate polyp that lacks a mouth and is specialized for food capture.

In any case, it is quite pretty, and relatively fast growing. There appears to be a multispecies array of such animals found along the Northern edge of the Pacific, ranging from about Korea in the west to California, in the east. They are common from the lower intertidal zone down to depths exceeding 150 feet. Literally, there are dozens of morphologies and colors, ranging from pale pinks to deep violets to hot pinks to whites. Some of them are encrusting forms, while others send up hand-like or finger like branches. Unlike the firecorals that they are related to, they don't have a sting that packs a punch to people. They are gorgeous in tanks and do pretty well in captivity. I have kept specimens in research tanks for several months without any apparent ill effects before I returned them to nature. Unfortunately, the ones I looked at thrived at tempertures below 48 degrees F, and when the water got warm, say about 55 or so, they died. They do need to be fed as they lack zooxanthellae, and they do best in dim light.

So... This leads me to ask the following two parter for a question for you.

Where is the longest reef in American waters found, and what is the largest coral, in terms of height, found in American waters?

We'll see if anybody has either the right data, or a very good guess.

'Til later...

Cheers!!!