Friday Nov 04, 2022
029 – Deep se…river?! ecosystems with Melanie Stiassny
https://www.armatusoceanic.com/podcast/029-deep-rivers
Everyone has been very busy this month with Thom and the Professor officially describing a new species of blue snailfish, alongside their adventures in Singapore. We hear from one of our old students about the work he’s been doing in deep freshwater ecosystems, which got us thinking about these unique environments and the kind of species that live there. We decided to throw one more curveball away from the deep sea and speak with Dr Melanie Stiassny, an ichthyologist who’s focused her research on the deep-water fish of the Congo River.
We couldn’t go an episode without discussing the latest deep-sea related conspiracy theories. And of course, we hear from Don about how freshwater affects sub manoeuvres.
Check out our podcast merch! Which now includes Alan’s beloved apron and a much-anticipated new design...
Feel free to get in touch with us with questions or your own tales from the high seas on:
podcast@armatusoceanic.com
We’d love to actually play your voice so feel free to record a short audio note!
We are also on
Twitter: @DeepSeaPod, @ArmatusO
Facebook: DeepSeaPodcast, ArmatusOceanic
Instagram: @deepsea_podcast, @armatusoceanic
Keep up with the team on social media
Twitter:
Alan - @Hadalbloke
Thom - @ThomLinley
Georgia - @geeinthesea
Instagram:
Georgia - @geeinthesea
Read the show notes and find out more about us at:
Glossary
Acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) - a device that uses sound waves to measure the speed and direction of currents throughout the water column.
Delta - a landform shaped like a triangle, where the mouth of a river flows into an ocean.
Halocline - a vertical zone in the water column in which salinity changes rapidly with depth.
Giant Isopod - (Scientific genus: Bathynomus) carnivorous crustaceans which are abundant in the deep-sea.
Giger - H.R. Giger an award-winning Swiss artist who designed the creature from the 1979 sci-fi horror film ‘Alien’.
Rapids - sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Sargasso Sea - a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre.
Links
The art exhibition that Alan and Thom visited in Singapore
John Quentin’s new deep-sea sci-fi novel, The Verdansky Ultimatum
Alans paper on hadal connectivity
Dr Thom’s new paper on the blue hadal snailfish
Eel love, Macduff aquarium releasing their eels
Crocs on Helium story and video
Melanie’s work and recent research
Melanie’s recent paper on the discovery of a new species of air-breathing catfish
Melanie’s article on her work in the lower Congo
Melanie’s research on the deep river Congo
Fishes in the lower Congo River. An extreme case of species divergence and convergent evolution
Dying Fish Revealed Congo Is World's Deepest River
Videos:
https://vimeo.com/channels/nsf/24733777
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tObYa9KQb8w&feature=relmfu
Credits
Oceanchild - Spidergawd
Selti - Skatatacama
Theme – Hadal Zone Express by Märvel
Logo image
Image courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History/Melanie Stiassny
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