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Behold! The Mighty Scimitar of Macrocystis

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(photo: S. Jeffries)

No, this isn’t a deadly weapon.  But it does have a blade, or actually, many of them!  This is the end of a giant kelp frond, better known as the “scimitar” blade due to its resemblance.  Here, new blades are formed.  As the blade grows, it slowly tears itself away from the scimitar and becomes an individual blade.  You can see several new blades forming in this scimitar blade, and the ones just to the left are the newest blades that have already separated.

Does the scimitar blade look familiar to you?  Well, if you’ve ever visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium then it should be!  The Monterey Bay Aquarium uses the scimitar blade as part of its logo, which you can see on their website.

What happens to whales after they die?

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researchers performing a necropsy on a blue whale on a beach
Researchers performing a necropsy on a blue whale on a beach (photo: C. Young)
Gillian Rhett

By Gillian Rhett, Invertebrate Zoology & Molecular Ecology Lab

If you saw Nate’s post last month, you may have wondered: where does a whale carcass go?  Sometimes it will wash up on a beach, which is lucky for us because that means we can collect all kinds of samples and information that help us learn more about how whales live and die.

But most whale carcasses don’t wash up on beaches.  Initially, the gases that are a byproduct of the decomposition process build up inside the carcass and it floats, providing food for surface-dwelling animals such as seabirds.  But when the remaining tissues and bones sink to the seafloor, that’s not the end of the story!

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That’s MISTER Steller Sea Lion to You, Buddy

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(photo: B. Hooton)

Meet Ralph.  He’s our resident stuffed Steller Sea Lion and general pinniped ambassador.  Facing off with this giant beast is just one of the many experiences that await tour visitors at Moss Landing Marine Labs.  Steller sea lions are largest of the eared seals (check out Ralph’s little ears), and while they typically live along the shores of Alaska and British Columbia, their range extends down to Año Nuevo in California.  Males can weigh as much as one ton!  But don’t worry, you can get a closeup look at Ralph without fear – it takes a lot to perturb him these days.

You Must be This Tall to Ride This Ride

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(photo: H. Hawk)

Recent MLML graduate and Drop-In contributor Amanda Kahn poses next to an instrument called a CTD on the deck of the Research Vessel Point Sur.  “CTD”  stands for Conductivity (or salinity), Temperature and Depth – all properties that the nifty gizmo can record as it’s lowered and raised through the water.  The black cylinders are called niskin bottles, and they can be opened and closed to collect a sample of seawater at specific depths.  Niskin bottles and other oceanographic equipment snag the spotlight in the mother of all marine science music parodies, “Cruise Cruise Baby” – check it out!