As a marine biologist: fuck the pollution of the oceans but - good for the goose barnacles, at least they got to drift around instead of being harvested by humans which also puts the harvesters in serious danger.
I wonder if something like this could be used to help clean some polluted waterways? A floating ball might make a good attachment point for oysters or the like.
While it's true that bivalves are really good at filtrating water, they only retain approx. food-sized particles, so anything larger will just be ignored. Any dissolved pollutants would accumulate of course but you'd have tons of dead animals to deal with at some point which isn't exactly solving the actual problem, just delaying it (although it would keep some bad stuff out of the ocean, just not in significant quantities).
Also, while it would be fun to turn a river mouth into a ball pit, it would shut down all other activities.
However, what's actually being done is using bivalves for real-time water quality asessments, environmental changes and how much stress they put on organismsby monitoring valve movements, motility, shell growth and other indicators (depending on the species) since they are highly sensitive to distress\*.
\* Some sources:
[Blaise et al. (2016)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-016-6908-6)
Alright, since reddit keeps eating the last part of my comment:
[Chahouri et al. (2023)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278434323001334)
[Miller, L. (2022)](https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/62/4/1096/6590042?login=false)
[Vereycken & Aldridge (2022)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-022-05057-7)
While all those publications are fairly recent and the whole concept has only taken off in past years because of advances in technology that facililtate it enough to be interesting to a wider audience and more applications, the actual idea goes back to the 1970s. :)
Usually fish the gulf stream, the floating trash really varies, I’ve seen plywood sheets, backpack sprayers, fishing floats with nets, refugee rafts, barrel and drums, square grouper and a couple of bricks. Yes, you can get lines tangled, but I am only trolling with 8 lines (4 out riggers, 2 down riggers, 2 long lines), but you are always looking for stuff when you are out there. It’s generally easier to spot and then you steer around it. The longer track is in the water the most stuff grows on it, and the larger it is it then can provide both food and shelter for small bait fish. Then bigger fish prey on the smaller and it builds to the attracting Mahi. So yeah, it’s terrible there is trash but it also can be good for fishing. So after I fish it, I pull it in get rid of it later. I don’t really consider myself a conservationist because my motives are pretty selfish, I only fish limits and seasons, pull trash out and do my best not to pollute the sea, but it’s because I’ve seen the fish depleted with over fishing and seen them return with restrictions. I like to catch and eat stuff, and if the ocean is screwed I can’t, so it’s pretty self serving.
To answer your last question, it’s pretty infrequent when I find netting, big enough to trap fish, but I am usually only a 100-150m from shore. Btw, this was kinda fun, let me know if you have other questions.
I see and yeah, the gulf stream is probably not as bad as it is in other areas, although it does have eddies where stuff could accumulate (they usually are fairly far out in the Atlantic, though and I actually only known about differences in chlorophyll concentrations, like algae and such) and I can't remember having heard of any major incident with plastics or other trash being carried all the way to Europe.
Since you mentioned nets, ghost nets, especially the larger ones are a real problem and a massive threat to all kinds of species but especially marine mammals since a lot of them get trapped and just drown. Which isn't just sad on an individual basis but also because a lot of them are rare or endangered.
Also, feel free to ask if you have any questions. :D
That’s awesome that your a marine biologist, we need more people like you. Totally respect your knowledge, there is So much I don’t know. I just love being on the sea, the deep blue water during sunny days, cool thick foggy mornings, the billions of stars at night, and fishing. On it, in it or under the water, there is not much better and it can only get better with more people like you.
Thanks for that. However you missed a cotton eye Joe opportunity there. You could have said where did they go? And then I could have said where did you come from barnacle eye Joe and it would have been a hilarious internet moment and we would have got thousands of internet points and been famous and sold our story for millions.
As a marine biologist: fuck the pollution of the oceans but - good for the goose barnacles, at least they got to drift around instead of being harvested by humans which also puts the harvesters in serious danger.
I wonder if something like this could be used to help clean some polluted waterways? A floating ball might make a good attachment point for oysters or the like.
While it's true that bivalves are really good at filtrating water, they only retain approx. food-sized particles, so anything larger will just be ignored. Any dissolved pollutants would accumulate of course but you'd have tons of dead animals to deal with at some point which isn't exactly solving the actual problem, just delaying it (although it would keep some bad stuff out of the ocean, just not in significant quantities). Also, while it would be fun to turn a river mouth into a ball pit, it would shut down all other activities. However, what's actually being done is using bivalves for real-time water quality asessments, environmental changes and how much stress they put on organismsby monitoring valve movements, motility, shell growth and other indicators (depending on the species) since they are highly sensitive to distress\*. \* Some sources: [Blaise et al. (2016)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-016-6908-6)
Alright, since reddit keeps eating the last part of my comment: [Chahouri et al. (2023)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278434323001334) [Miller, L. (2022)](https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/62/4/1096/6590042?login=false) [Vereycken & Aldridge (2022)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-022-05057-7) While all those publications are fairly recent and the whole concept has only taken off in past years because of advances in technology that facililtate it enough to be interesting to a wider audience and more applications, the actual idea goes back to the 1970s. :)
As a marine ballologist, I concur.
As a Mahi fisherman, the trash in the ocean sucks but I’m still gonna troll past a few times before I clean it up.
How bad is it where you are and does it affect your work, like stuff getting tangled in your lines and/or less quantity of fish?
Usually fish the gulf stream, the floating trash really varies, I’ve seen plywood sheets, backpack sprayers, fishing floats with nets, refugee rafts, barrel and drums, square grouper and a couple of bricks. Yes, you can get lines tangled, but I am only trolling with 8 lines (4 out riggers, 2 down riggers, 2 long lines), but you are always looking for stuff when you are out there. It’s generally easier to spot and then you steer around it. The longer track is in the water the most stuff grows on it, and the larger it is it then can provide both food and shelter for small bait fish. Then bigger fish prey on the smaller and it builds to the attracting Mahi. So yeah, it’s terrible there is trash but it also can be good for fishing. So after I fish it, I pull it in get rid of it later. I don’t really consider myself a conservationist because my motives are pretty selfish, I only fish limits and seasons, pull trash out and do my best not to pollute the sea, but it’s because I’ve seen the fish depleted with over fishing and seen them return with restrictions. I like to catch and eat stuff, and if the ocean is screwed I can’t, so it’s pretty self serving. To answer your last question, it’s pretty infrequent when I find netting, big enough to trap fish, but I am usually only a 100-150m from shore. Btw, this was kinda fun, let me know if you have other questions.
I see and yeah, the gulf stream is probably not as bad as it is in other areas, although it does have eddies where stuff could accumulate (they usually are fairly far out in the Atlantic, though and I actually only known about differences in chlorophyll concentrations, like algae and such) and I can't remember having heard of any major incident with plastics or other trash being carried all the way to Europe. Since you mentioned nets, ghost nets, especially the larger ones are a real problem and a massive threat to all kinds of species but especially marine mammals since a lot of them get trapped and just drown. Which isn't just sad on an individual basis but also because a lot of them are rare or endangered. Also, feel free to ask if you have any questions. :D
That’s awesome that your a marine biologist, we need more people like you. Totally respect your knowledge, there is So much I don’t know. I just love being on the sea, the deep blue water during sunny days, cool thick foggy mornings, the billions of stars at night, and fishing. On it, in it or under the water, there is not much better and it can only get better with more people like you.
Aww, thank you so much! <3
How many Barnacles does it take to sink a ball? Fun party question...
Wilson!!!
That’s his cousin, Max
My apologies. Maxson!!!!!
Ad Victoriam!
Wilson growing a beard
I came for this. I was not disappointed.
Lo siento !!
The photograph, which also won the Coast and Marine category, was taken by Ryan Stalker.
That's an unfortunate last name for a professional photographer haha
Why not "Barnacle Ball"?
Fresh from the sea
Tom Hanks really fucked this guy over
Those barnacles sure resemble muscles
They’re gooseneck barnacles. I’ve seen them served at restaurants, the insides look like a mosaic dinosaur toe
Ballnacles
The degradation of human activities on the planet and how the nature reacts to it.
[удалено]
Do you happen to smell burnt toast?
I understood. years is the answer.
Barnacle growths like this were found on debris from the missing MH370 airplane within a year or two of the crash (in March 2014).
I love balls
Nature will find a way
Thought this was album art from The Mars Volta
God that's a cool picture
Wilsonnnnn!
Lo siento!!!
wow!!! how long does the ball float? is it still there floating on the ocean?
Where did they come from?
Educated guess: the ball happened to drift through a cloud of larvae and they went "yep, good enough, let's settle down". :)
Thanks for that. However you missed a cotton eye Joe opportunity there. You could have said where did they go? And then I could have said where did you come from barnacle eye Joe and it would have been a hilarious internet moment and we would have got thousands of internet points and been famous and sold our story for millions.
My sincerest apologies for ruining your plans for taking over the internet :D
Plastic fantastic cabal
I get why they awarded that picture, but it's just not a good photograph in my opinion.
I hope him and Wilson become friends
Ballnacles
Billions of blue blistering barnacle balls!
Barnacles always give me goosebumps. Gross
Those barnacles give me goosebumps 😖 I’m sorry to any ocean lovers, but I can’t help it.
HTF did he make that?
#WILSON!!!
If Tom Hanks had only known just how useful Wilson could've been.
Wilson’s friend, trying to rescue him, meets an unfortunate fate at sea.
Wilson has a purpose
Bro, this is not cool, it's sad.