Aquarium Audio

The Aquarium of the Pacific is pleased to announce Brent Maxwell Ward as its 10th Anniversary Scholar in May for his efforts in marine science and conservation. Ward has shown a strong interest in marine biology and conservation. He studied ocean life and the tides during the summer in a NAACP sailing program. There, he learned to work with shipmates of all backgrounds. He has also volunteered at beach clean-ups at Colorado Lagoon. His interest in water extends to his participation in water polo and on the swim team. Maxwell wishes to study biology in college, and become an anesthesiologist.

Sibling rivalry takes on a whole new meaning in the case of sand tiger shark reproduction. Discover how these embryonic sharks become experienced predators even before they are born.

Tiny drifters or determined swimmers? New research is discovering some startling information about how larval fish find and populate new reef ecosystems.

Sea otters, bald eagles, and orcas are all Alaskan marine predators. These three very different species are linked through a complex series of relationships that reach across ecosystems and species.

Jesse Ausubel is a Program Director for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Director of the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University in New York City. During the past decade he helped launch and lead three major international scientific programs in biodiversity science: the Census of Marine Life, the Barcode of Life Initiative, and the Encyclopedia of Life. Ausubel was a main organizer of the first UN World Climate Conference (Geneva, 1979), which substantially elevated global warming on scientific and political agendas.

Parasites may be harmful to living organisms. A relationship called the cleaning symbiosis describes how some animals, the cleaners, remove parasites from other animals, the clients. Because of the close interaction between cleaner and client, a question arises: instead of picking off parasites, do cleaners ever bite their clients instead?

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States exploded nearly two dozen nuclear bombs at Bikini Atoll. How has this affected the life of the coral reef over the last half-century?

Daniel Botkin is a scientist who studies life from a planetary perspective. He writes about nature, and is one of the world’s leading researchers who has helped solve major environmental issues. Dr. Botkin is a research professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara and president of The Center for the Study of the Environment. For 39 years, as a Ph. D. ecologist, Botkin has tried to understand life on the Earth. He has studied moose in the far north, elephants in Africa, bowhead whales in the northern ocean, and forests in North and Central America. Botkin has worked as a professional journalist and has degrees in physics, biology, and literature.

Some species of crabs utilize novel forms of camouflage, covering their shells with other living organisms to fool their predators.

Richard Ellis is one of America's leading marine conservationists, and is generally recognized as the foremost painter of marine natural history subjects in the world. His paintings of whales and sharks have appeared in Audubon, National Wildlife, Australian Geographic, the Encyclopedia Britannica,Sports Afield, and Reader's Digest among many others. In addition to painting, Mr. Ellis is the author of more than eighty magazine articles. In 2008, he published Tuna: A Love Story, and in 2009, On Thin Ice: The Polar Bear and Global Warming. His books have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Korean. He is currently serving as co-curator of Mythic Creatures for the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

For more than three decades, Peter Howorth has been involved in numerous nonprofit environmental organizations. He was president of the Santa Barbara Underseas Foundation, an organization devoted to education, conservation, and research involving the sea. He was a founding director and president of the Friends of Channel Islands National Park. Howorth has also been involved in numerous research projects with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He has the distinction of being their first staff associate. Since 1975, Howorth has been a member of the Shark Research Committee, which studies shark attacks on humans worldwide. Howorth's work with marine mammals earned him both state and federal Senatorial Commendations. His work has been featured in numerous television documentaries, ranging from Cousteau's "Rediscovery of the World" to Tom Brokaw's Nightly News.

The Common Goldeneye spends part of its year on freshwater lakes, and part on the coastal ocean. Like other sea ducks, they have an adaptation that allows them to drink saltwater safely.

The Gulf of California is home to a diverse assemblage of wildlife. This diversity is a reflection of the Gulf's distinctive geography. Impacts to wildlife from a variety of sources threaten many of the rare and endangered species that make the Gulf their home.

Surgeonfish are colorful members of coral reef communities throughout the tropical Pacific Ocean, popular with divers and aquarists. Their brilliant colors are a warning to potential predators of their sharp defenses.

As kids head back to classes this September, they aren't the only ones in school. Most species of fish form large aggregations called "schools" as well. The reasons why range from safety in numbers to finding food more easily to saving energy while swimming.