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#beanstem — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #beanstem, aggregated by home.social.

  1. BeanStem @[email protected] ·

    I recently learned about GHOST SHARKS!

    A paper published this year (Finucci et al., 2024) announced the discovery of Harriotta avia, a new species of ghost shark native to New Zealand and Australia. I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Dominique Didier, who helped discover them! She was super helpful, a ton of fun, and clearly very passionate and excited about what she does. She helped teach me about ghost sharks in general and spoke with me about the process of finding, documenting, and announcing a new species.

    Check out the short here (transcript) and the full video here (transcript)!

    https://beanstem.org/blog-ghost-sharks/

    #beanstem #biology #ghostShark #halloween #marine #ocean #spooky

    #beanstem #biology #ghostshark #halloween #marine #ocean
  2. BeanStem @[email protected] ·

    Watch the short here: waiting for public URL

    Check out the full video

    Transcript

    • Telemachus: If so then, give me chimeras!
    • Okay, here ya go!
    • These are Chimaeras! They just… have an extra “a” in the name
    • Chimaeras are a class of fish that live deep under water. They’re related to rays and sharks, and they’re perfect to learn about for spoopy month because they’re also called SPOOKFISH and GHOST SHARKS!
    • Like rays, they have a long, whip-like tail. That snake-like tail might be why they’re called “chimeras” — like the snake tail on the greek chimera
    • Dr. Didier: “They’re weird looking, they have these strange snouts and sensory systems”
    • That’s Dr. Dominique Didier. She’s studied ghost sharks for just over 3 decades.
    • And she helped discover a new species of ghost shark THIS YEAR in New Zealand and Australia!
    • Dr. Didier: “We’re coming to the conclusion that what we thought was this one, global species, Harriotta raleighana, is probably not”
    • Hariotta avia, or the Australia narrow-nosed spookfish, used to be thought of as the same thing as Hariotta raleighana. Then this year, Dr. Didier and colleagues released a paper (Finucci et al., 2024) that discovered that some of the populations near Australia and New Zealand are their own, unique species!
    • H avia looks very similar to H. raleighana overall. But the skin color is distinct, as is some of the morphology — that is, the shape and structure of the body and its parts.
    • Genetic analysis also played a role in identifying the new species.
    • Dr. Didier: Now we have a lot more evidence, partly because we can do molecular studies to say, “this is probably something new”
    • This figure from the study maps some of the genetic mutations between individuals. You can clearly see that the Harriotta avia specimens are very different from the rest of the Harriotta specimens collected.
    • Given the morphological and genetic data, the team was able to confidently declare the new species.
    • Before I let Dr. Didier go, I had to ask one more question:
    • Me: So what’s your favorite thing about these weird little guys, about ghost sharks?
    • Dr. Didier: “Oh my gosh, there’s so much to love about them! I just think they’re, like, cool to look at! … They’re ancient, so looking at their anatomy can give us clues to the evolution of vertebrates… Even now, after working with them for these decades, there’s still, like, tons of stuff to be done! So that’s why I like them, I get excited about all this neat stuff”
    • Me: Anything else you want to share for the end of the video?
    • Dr. Didier: Coming up, on October 30th, is national ghost shark day! So break out your ghost shark juju and have a great day!
    • Thank you so much to Dr. Didier for helping out, check out the link in my bio for references, and follow for more cool science!

    B-roll/image credits

    References

    https://beanstem.org/short-ghost-sharks/

    #beanstem #biology #ghostShark #marine #ocean #science #shorts #spooky

    #beanstem #biology #ghostshark #marine #ocean #science
  3. BeanStem @[email protected] ·

    https://youtu.be/6f4mQb29C4A

    I just published a new video on Wetlands! It’s the first in a series called Ground Work, which is about how each biome contributes in its own way to the stability, biodiversity, and beauty of the planet.

    This is somewhere between a surface-level look and a deep dive on the differences between different wetlands and why wetlands as a whole are so important to us humans. From providing food, to filtering water, to buffering storm surge, to sequestering and storing carbon, these things are amazing!

    I’ve really grown to love the wetlands of Florida as I’ve learned more about them. They really are beautiful. The wildlife, the calm waters, the shade from the mangroves. It’s just so nice to be on the water out there, and I hope this video can share my passion for these ecosystems while also sharing some awesome facts!

    This was my first real project aside from the shorts, and it was really ambitious, I don’t think I realized how much it would be to make a 25-minute video with multiple locations. But with a ton of help from my amazing friends, many many hours of research, writing, shooting, and editing, and a last-minute push to just get it done, it’s finally out!

    https://beanstem.org/groundwork-wetlands/

    #beanstem #climate #climatechange #groundwork #science #video #wetlands

    #beanstem #climate #climatechange #groundwork #science #video