Category Archives: research

Stomach Content Analysis: Halfway!

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Chuck

Today I finished the day by going over my 204th set of stomach contents.  Given a total sample size of 399 (I know, I know, I couldn’t just get an even 400), that puts me at officially a little over … Continue reading →

Posted in grad school, gut contents, milestone, research, spiny dogfish | 1 Comment

Feeding Habits Analysis: Revenge

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Chuck

Every so often someone thinks they’re clever and sends me this video.  I’ll not sully this blog by actually embedding it, but here’s the gist: a Pacific giant octopus eats a spiny dogfish.  Usually this is accompanied by something along … Continue reading →

Posted in cephalopods, grad school, gut contents, research, spiny dogfish | 5 Comments

AES Day 3.5

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Chuck

Day 3 of the AES conference was the big feeding symposium, and there was plenty to sink my teeth into (all puns always intended).  Today is mostly made up of the stress symposium, which is a little technical for my … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, gut contents, research, rhode island, sharks | 4 Comments

AES Day 2 – Day of the Dogfish

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Chuck

Today was the day when two of us from the Rulifson lab gave our presentations (Jen gave a talk, I stood by my poster and chatted with passers-by).  Perhaps by design it was also the day that the dogfish talks … Continue reading →

Posted in conference, research, rhode island, sharks, spiny dogfish | 2 Comments

AES Day 1

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Chuck

The first official day of talks wrapped up today, followed by a pretty sweet social at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.  I’ll run down some of the more interesting stuff I heard about today in relatively short form below.

Posted in conference, new england great whites, research, rhode island, sharks | Leave a comment

Feeding Habits Analysis: Detective Work Part 2

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Chuck

In my previous post on the detective work necessary for any good feeding habits analysis, I lamented the apparent lack of a “one-stop shop” for looking up fish scales (at least as far as I’ve been able to find).  In … Continue reading →

Posted in grad school, gut contents, research, spiny dogfish | Leave a 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

Feeding Habits Analysis: Pizza Toppings

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Chuck

In my last post about the things I’m finding in shark puke, I discussed the presence of menhaden in the diet of spiny dogfish.  These fat, oil-rich fish make quite a nutritious meal, and it usually only takes a handful … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, grad school, mystery fish, research, spiny dogfish | Leave a comment

Dogfish Diets and the Influence of Holden

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Chuck

I can never get enough of this picture.  Photo by Andy Murch. As always, I have spiny dogfish and what they’re eating on the brain, and the Menhaden of History post over at Southern Fried Science and Kevin Z’s challenge … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, fisheries, gut contents, research, spiny dogfish | Leave a comment

Feeding Habits Analysis: Tasty Menhaden Morsels

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Chuck

This week I finally got to start diving into my dogfish stomach contents, and the results so far have been nice and gory.  The post up at Southern Fried Science about the Menhaden of History really brought home the importance … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, grad school, gut contents, research, spiny dogfish | 6 Comments