Comments on: Meet the Species “On (and swimming around) the Reef”

By: Operation Noah’s Ark «

Operation Noah’s Ark « — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:38:40 +0000

[...] which bring oxygen to cordgrass roots. In that grass, juvenile mullet find shelter, as do blue crabs and juvenile pinfish. The Kemps-Ridley Sea Turtle eats those blue crabs, and those pinfish will [...]

By: Counting the Catch «

Counting the Catch « — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:58:58 +0000

[...] toothy snout. The largest fish we encountered were black drum, which we only captured at Cedar Key. Pinfish, hardhead catfish, and striped mullet were present at all of our sites, although in varying [...]

By: Eating contest: grasshoppers vs. snails «

Eating contest: grasshoppers vs. snails « — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:37:47 +0000

[...] critters. At low tide, insects and rodents move in, whereas at high tide, snails, fish, and crabs dominate. The 2 most common plant grazers at our sites illustrate this dichotomy [...]

By: You can’t enjoy watching the game if you don’t know who the players are. «

You can’t enjoy watching the game if you don’t know who the players are. « — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:57:20 +0000

[...] we caught a couple of interesting things (e.g., adult stone crabs, mullet, spot, as well as juvenile pinfish, pigfish and silver perch), I was surprised by the low [...]

By: What were we doing before Deepwater Horizon? «

What were we doing before Deepwater Horizon? « — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:22:43 +0000

[...] One of the marsh animals that we have been studying for the last year (in the absence of oil) is the marsh periwinkle, Littoraria irrorata. This snail is very abundant in many marshes and is particularly visible at high tide when it climbs the plant stems to get out of the water and away from its predators, primarily crown conchs and blue crabs. [...]

By: The unsung heroes of the muck «

The unsung heroes of the muck « — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:00:01 +0000

[...] thinking I need to try to get Disney to make a movie based in a salt marsh or oyster reef, where mud crabs and periwinkle snails sing and hide from predatory blue crabs (who, like those sharks in Finding [...]

By: Nuts and Bolts «

Nuts and Bolts « — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:09:11 +0000

[...] on the reef. Although I’m still pursuing those goals, my lab is currently busying itself on the reefs with some newly formed research goals. Anticipating the arrival of oil, we’ve scrambled a lot [...]

By: What we are doing on the reefs «

What we are doing on the reefs « — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:58:20 +0000

[...] that large predators such as fish and big crabs can protect oysters either by eating the smaller snails and crabs that consume the oysters or by scaring the snails and crabs enough to spoil their appetites for [...]