Category Archives: methods

101 Uses for Shark Puke

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Chuck

Earlier today WhySharksMatter and I had a little light-hearted smack talk about new-school (stable isotopes) vs. old-school (gastric lavage or straight-up dissection) methods of measuring the diet of sharks.  These are the things you could be privy to if you … Continue reading →

Posted in cephalopods, ecology, gut contents, methods, research blogging, sharks, spiny dogfish | 5 Comments

Playing With Sharks in Charleston

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Chuck

As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve spent the weekend in Charleston hanging out with David “WhySharksMatter” Shiffman and taking part in the coastal shark survey run out of the Charleston SCDNR lab.  Since most of my work has been … Continue reading →

Posted in cownose rays, fishing, gill nets, methods, research, sharks, tagging | 5 Comments

How to Not Catch Dogfish

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Chuck

Even the biggest fan of spiny dogfish can’t deny that these little sharks sure are great at choking up entire nets.  This is especially problematic for commercial fishermen who are trying to catch anything other than dogfish, and particularly for … Continue reading →

Posted in fisheries management, fishing, methods, research blogging, spiny dogfish | 2 Comments

Carcharhinus linkamanus

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Chuck

In my blogging absence, a lot of interesting stuff has happened and been written about.  And let’s face it, at this point I’ve pretty much accepted link posts as part of my usual output. Two more blogs for the SFS … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, conservation, dorkiness, methods | 1 Comment

Feeding Habits Analysis: Detective Work

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Chuck

As anyone who’s ever done a diet study will tell you, you end up getting a lot of unverifiable gunk in your study animal’s stomach contents.  Sometimes enough of the consistency remains that you can tell generally what this chunk … Continue reading →

Posted in gut contents, methods, research, spiny dogfish | 2 Comments

Spring Break: Continental Shelf – Pictures from Day 10

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Chuck

As promised yesterday, here are pictures from yesterday’s sampling fest.  Behold the glory of gastric lavage. Thanks to Geoff for helping with the photography while I was busy inducing vomiting.   First you’ve got to get the tube in.  It … Continue reading →

Posted in cruise, grad school, methods, research, spiny dogfish | 1 Comment

The Trouble with Models

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Chuck

Today I’m going to talk about something that has proven to be both a blessing and a curse to fisheries management.  I’m going to talk about modeling.    Tasteful humor.  From Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately we’re not talking about the merits … Continue reading →

Posted in fisheries management, methods, science, ugh... math | Leave a comment