Rich Ross

Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly

Secret Home Lab on Adam Savage’s Tested

October 27, 2020 No Comments

The Tested Crew came over to the SHL as part 3 in a 4 part series about building an octopus puzzle.

(Note: This is a video series we filmed in 2018, before the current pandemic lockdown.) While we wait for the California Academy of Science’s Giant Pacific Octopus to learn Adam’s puzzle, Kishore and Indre visit biologist and cephalopod expert Rich Ross’ home aquarium and lab where Rich breeds and raises octopuses and other amazing critters. It’s one of the most fascinating home laboratories we’ve visited!

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVoj6…
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIUIC…
Indre Viskontas: https://twitter.com/indrevis
Kishore Hari: https://twitter.com/sciencequiche

Science Friday: This Tiny Seahorse Has Mastered Its Domain

January 24, 2017 No Comments

To hide in the knobby sea fans they call home, Bargibant’s pygmy seahorses have evolved exquisite camouflage

by Julie Leibach, on

The Rich Ross centric part:

“When it comes time to mate, seahorses that engage in daily greetings generally extend that ritual into a more elaborate display that ultimately says, “I’m ready!” A few years ago, biologists at the Steinhart Aquarium, part of the California Academy of Sciences, raisedH. bargibanti in captivity for 126 days, and observed the species in mating mode. The interaction appears to go something like this: A male and female first trail each other around the sea fan, getting closer and closer until they’re facing one another. “By some signal, they decide, ‘this is when it’s gonna happen,’” says Richard Ross, a senior biologist at the aquarium. The pair then levitates from the safety of their fan, tails intertlaced, and the female deposits her eggs in about 30 seconds. They descend after that, but may repeat the process once or twice.”

The entire article:

Bargibant's pygmy seahorses are perfectly camouflaged to match the gorgonian sea fans they live on. Photograph by Richard Smith – OceanRealmImages.com
Bargibant’s pygmy seahorses are perfectly camouflaged to match the gorgonian sea fans they live on. Photograph by Richard Smith – OceanRealmImages.com

(more…)

Reef Threads 280 – Twilight Zone and the Big Tank

July 3, 2016 No Comments

reefthreads

We’re back for the 280th time. Our guests this week are Matt Wandell, Richard Ross and, for the first time, Nick Yim, from the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences. Lots of subjects this week, but the big one is the new twilight-zone display at the aquarium and what it’s like to dive deep for new species. If you enjoy the show, please tell others. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

 

Click below for a local copy of the file.

What Would Inky Think: Is It OK to Cage an Octopus?

April 18, 2016 No Comments

From Wired Magazine, Rich interviewed

  • SCIENCE
A common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
A common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.ALAMY
SO, YOU’VE GOT this pet octopus. Let me guess, she keeps trying to escape. Opening the lid to her tank, pushing the lid, creeping across the floor. You always manage to catch her before she squeezes herself down the bathtub drain. Sounds like you need a quick lesson in octopus husbandry.By the way, you are not alone. Several months ago, anoctopus named Inky escaped from the National Aquarium in New Zealand (he was eventually found at a nearby offshore reef and brought back). In that case, someone had accidentally left the tank’s lid ajar, so Inky made a break for it. But wait, if octopi—pardon, I mean octopuses—are smart enough to make like Andy Dufresne, should you be locking them up in the first place? (more…)
CEPHALOPOD BREEDING

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