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Sea slug sucks seaweed sap to grow food with sunlight

One of the things I love about marine biology is discovering how little I know.

An app, e-books and a guide explicate marvels of the sea

I have on my desk several new items of interest for marine animal fans. One is made of paper, and the others swim among the colorful reefs of my iPad.

Coalition of the concerned forms to save monk seals

I wasn't going to write about the recent Hawaiian monk seal killing, because it seemed futile.

Toy beaver must have had a plastic fantastic voyage

On an early morning beach walk last week, I found on the North Shore a faded pink toy washed ashore. The 4 1/2-inch-long plastic figure, pictured at right, had big rodent teeth hanging from a smiling mouth.

Take note of visiting kolea before they fly back home

While walking my dog last week, I saw a male kolea prance across our path. The bird was at the top of its game, so fat and fabulous in its spring breeding outfit that I had to stop and stare.

Papio, wana and sea snails deserve their proper names

In my recent column on jacks and goatfish hunting together, I wrote that papio is the name for young jacks under 12 inches long.

Fanciful nature of nature makes biology captivating

While snorkeling off the Kaneohe Bay sandbar, reader Shannon Garcia took several photos of a striking moray eel. When she got home and couldn't find the species in books or online, Shannon asked me via email whether she could send the picture for identification.

Friends are like 'mutualism' in goatfish and young jacks

I spent the recent long weekend with two new friends, a couple I liked but didn't know that well.

Tons of ichthyological fun found in 5-pound textbook

As I was examining the new book “Certainly More Than You Wanted to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast, a Postmodern Experience,” it fell open to a photo of a fish I don’t know and a passage that caught my eye: “Scandinavians report that oarfish flesh sucks big time and even dogs won’t eat it. However, I imagine dogs would roll in it, big time.”

Dolphins don luminescence to light a bow-riding night

Did you see a lot of bioluminescence?" a friend asked me last week after I returned home from my Mexico voyaging.