Author: Maarten De Brauwer

Want to become a marine biologist?

/ Maarten De Brauwer / 2 Comments

Funny read about great and not-so-great reasons to become a marine biologist, text by Dr. Milton Love.  This is the link to the full text, but here’s a preview:

“Okay, here’s the bottom line. By federal law, marine biologists have to take a vow of poverty and chastity. Poverty, because you are not going to make squat-j-doodly in this job. And just how squat is the doodly we are talking about? Well, five years after finishing my PhD I was making slightly less than a beginning manager at McDonalds.

And chastity? Well, who’s going to date someone who persistently smells like a thawed haddock with an attitude? Not even a dolphin.

But there are two really, really good reasons to want to become a marine biologist.”

Enjoy the read 🙂

Holiday special – Feeding time!

/ Maarten De Brauwer / Leave a comment

Now the main holiday madness is over, we are all starting to take stock of the damage done by the excessive eating and drinking we’ve been doing. Or at least I am doing so… In this time of year, we can all relate to the feeling of being way too full after that unnecessary third helping of dessert. Compared to other animals we’ve got it easy, all we have to do is cook or order our food and start stuffing ourselves. It’s slightly different with the critters we find in the ocean.

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Lizardfish eating a dragonet

While there is a lot of active hunting happening in the ocean, many of the species I study are ambush predators. This means they are even lazier than we are when it comes to getting food. They spend nearly all of their time lying down on the ocean floor, waiting for dinner to swim by and then gulp it down. The plus side of this is they can’t get annoyed with themselves for not ordering the more delicious looking plate their neighbour is wolfing down. The downside is that they sometimes have to wait a long time until dinner swims by.

When you are an ambush predator, being camouflaged is particularly important. If you look like what you really are (a hungry fish), no tasty morsels will be tempted to swim anywhere near your mouth. Camouflage that helps animals hunt is called “aggressive camouflage” and sometimes “aggressive mimicry”. The difference between the two is that camouflage refers to animals pretending to be a plant or dead object like a stone. Mimicry refers to pretending that you (or a part of you) are a harmless or tasty living animal such as a herbivorous fish, worm, …

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Aggressive camouflage: Estuarine Stonefish (Synanceia horrida) looking like a rock covered in algae and sponges

Good examples of critters using aggressive camouflage are stonefishes and lizardfishes. They pretend to be rocks or blend in with the sand, waiting for a bite sized morsel to swim by. Aggressive mimicry is used by many species, but it is perfected by frogfishes. They use a modified fin ray as a fishing rod, the bait on top of it (or “esca” if you want to sound all sciencey) has evolved to resemble a small animal like a shrimp or worm. This bait is wiggled around until an unsuspecting fish gets too curious for its own good and ends up as prey. In one species, Antennarius hispidus the esca (=bait) has even been found to contain bioluminescent bacteria, great for luring in snacks at night. Frogfishes are not the only fish using a bait to attract meals, this technique is also used by some flounders and stargazers.

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The inside of the mouth of a giant frogfish (A. commersoni)

If you have ever had a fish tank and tried to catch your fish bare handed while cleaning it, you will know that no matter how nearby a fish is, it’s hard to catch one. So ambush predators have a number of adaptations to make this easier. Most of them have a huge mouth that sucks in a lot of water when they open it quickly. This suction feeding causes the fish to get sucked into the predators mouth together with the water. On top of that, the teeth of most of these predators are pointed inward, making it easier to hold slippery prey. Another funky adaptation are “pharyngeal teeth”, small teeth on the inside of the throat that hold the prey when the predator opens its mouth to get a better grip on it. You’ve read that correctly, as if frogfish weren’t weird enough already, they also have teeth in their throat.

While most of us only binge eat on special occasions and then feel guilty about it, frogfishes and other similar predators really don’t care. They eat whenever they can, as much as they can. When you think you’re exaggerating, remember this: the mouth of a frogfish can expand to 12 times its normal size when eating. The equivalent of this would be you fitting an entire chicken in your mouth when eating. Frogfishes can also eat prey that are up to 1,5 times bigger than themselves! For us, this would be roughly the equivalent of eating a whole pig for Christmas, which would make for some interesting scenes around the dinner table…

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A Scarlet Frogfish with prey in its stomach (source)

So next time you’re feeling stuffed at holiday eating fests dinners, remember it could be worse 😉

A different look at Bali

/ Maarten De Brauwer / 9 Comments

This year I have spent a good 3 months doing research in the waters around Bali. I worked and lived in Bali 6 years ago and it has been great to be back, even if a lot has changed since I left.

Depending on who you’d ask, Bali brings very different images to mind. For many Europeans it’s a far away tropical dream destination. For Australians it’s a surf or party destination and for many other people it is the ideal island to do yoga and revitalise (whatever that might mean). Travel agents and tour companies love to cash in on this image of an unspoiled paradise with the loveliest people you can find.

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Sunrise in Amed (north-east Bali)

Lately Bali has also being getting an increasingly negative connotation. To some people it is just a place where Australians or backpackers go to get drunk and make absolute fools of themselves. It’s a place where tourism is tipping the scales from a paradise island to a congested, resort filled, money driven place for people who don’t care about the local culture. In this version of Bali, there is no more romantic notion of an idyllic paradise, quite the opposite.

As always, there is some truth to both sides of the story. Tourism has increased massively, it’s estimated that nearly 4 million people will visit Bali in 2015 (compared to just over 2 million in 2009). Traffic has increased, new roads have been built, countless new resort sprung up and big buses now drive around hordes of tourists to uninspired commercialised tours. It used to be normal cars or motorbikes taking out a fraction of the people to admire Bali’s unique culture. I am not claiming there was no tourism here 6 years ago, but the intensity with which it has increased is staggering.

I must admit that I struggle with this increase in tourism, I loved living here years ago, loved the people, the diving, the culture, the food, the diving,… Some of that has changed or is gone, which is unfortunate. It is especially difficult as I do believe tourism can be a sustainable alternative to more exploitative use of the environment. The question is how to find the right balance. It is easy for us as visitors to regret the loss of small island charm and the increase of pollution that comes with mass tourism. But who could deny the right of local communities to hop on the tourism bandwagon and make a better living for themselves and their families?

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Rice fields in the centre of Bali

What I can say, is that there is still a lot of beauty out there. Head away from the busy south and explore the interior or head to the less explored northern coast. The northeast is stunningly beautiful, even if there might be more tourists around than there used to be. I still feel extremely lucky for being able to do research here and very frequently still just stop for a while to take in the beauty of it all, whether it’s on land or under water.

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Getting ready to explore a new site

While dive tourism in Bali has also increased a lot, there are still many untouched places left to explore. Sure, it’s great to dive with manta rays or marvel at Mola molas, and the USAT Liberty still is a great wreck dive, but there is so much more. I might be biased as my research looks at small critters in the sand, but I just can’t contain my excitement when I survey a new site and find it has lots amazing critters like seahorses, ghostpipefish and a range of cephalopods. Next time you dive Bali, try to find a way to explore those sites that are dived less and enjoy the feeling of being away from the crowds and the excitement of finding new critters. Oh, and be kind enough to let me know if you find an amazing new muck site!

 

 

 

Guest lecture at Hasanuddin University

/ Maarten De Brauwer / 3 Comments

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my research in Indonesia would not be possible without the help of local counterparts. I work with some excellent people at Universitas Hasanuddin in Makassar, Sulawesi.

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Last week I was invited to teach a lecture about the research I have been doing so far. The idea was to share ideas with local researchers and to suggest potential areas of research for students at the faculty of marine science and fisheries. I was honoured to get such an invitation. As a researcher you are often working on your little island (often literally in my case) and we sometimes forget that sharing knowledge should be the ultimate goal of doing your research.

FrameI feel this is even more important when working in countries like Indonesia. Places which are rich in biodiversity and natural resources, but often lack the infrastructure and resources to protect it in a way that benefits the local people. Over the last years I have met many very motivated and talented researchers, but all too often they do not have the resources to reach their full potential. Things that seem simple for those of us fortunate enough to be based in a first world country often are complicated for those who don’t. Whether it’s attending international conferences to stay up to date with what is new and network with other researchers, buying good quality equipment to do your research or writing scientific papers in a language that is very different to your own…

To me it seems logical to try and work with researchers and give something back for letting me do my work in their home country. Too often researchers or big international companies come in, do their thing (and in some cases make a huge profit out of it) without giving something back. “Bioprospecting“, the search for natural products or compounds to use and commercialise is becoming more common and is an important source of new medicines (among others). However, sometimes this turns into biopiracy, when compounds are taken without permission or without compensation. Which is why there is such a thing as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the newly ratified Nagoya Protocol. It is also one of the main reasons why the process of obtaining research permits in Indonesia is rather…complicated.

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So I talked about my research and why I think it is important and very exciting. I also talked about some of the new things I found out (hopefully more about that in the near future) and about some of the ideas I have for new areas of research. Hopefully this was the start of more future collaborations with researchers and students in Hasanuddin. The little critters I’m studying can definitely do with some more research attention!

I’d also like to use this blog to say a big thank you to the people at Unhas who invited me (ibu Rohani and pak Jamaluddin) and to the people who showed up for my little talk. It was a great experience for me and I hope it won’t be the last time I visit.