'Tis the Season - by Jeff Grevert
By: Jeff Grevert - Dr. Phillips High School - Orlando, FL
Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus)
When I joined the Scuttlebutt email list several years ago, one of the first posts that I read was from a member asking if anyone remembered the list of Halloween organisms that was compiled a year prior: a list of marine organisms with spooky sounding common names or names that one can’t help but associate with Halloween such as a wolffish (Anarhichas lupus), or a bat ray (Myliobatis californica) or maybe even a Dracula fish (Danionella dracula). If I recall, a new list had to be made with new submissions. I was able to get a copy of it from another teacher and was just really intrigued with the idea and hated the idea of it being lost. As a kid, I always enjoyed the holidays in school and the seasonal themed activities that they would bring. This seemed like a fun way to do something seasonal in science at any grade level. So, I decided to become the unofficial curator of these holiday lists. To date, members of the Scuttlebutt Community have made one for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day.
Bat Ray (Myliobatis californica)
Every year I send them out for people to use in their programs and I always ask for submissions of new taxa and new ideas of the activities that are being done with them. When a new species is submitted, the sender gets a reply thank you and the organism is added to the master list that is always growing. New educators join NMEA and Scuttlebutt every year, so I am always getting new ideas. So many good ones have been sent to me over the years from educators across the country. Web-based scavenger hunts, bulletin board decorations of pictures, species profile reports, class presentations and so on. Our holidays stretch throughout the school year so it becomes something that the students look forward to. They are amazed that the organisms have such bizarre names, such as a bloody-belly comb jelly (Lampocteis cruentiventer) or a Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus), or even a Chocolate tonguefish (Symphurus callopterus). Some have even asked if I make them up. They have proven to be effective at increasing biodiversity in the curriculum and really just for enabling students to have fun with the topic while learning how diverse our oceans really are.
| Halloween Marine and Aquatic Creatures | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bat fish | Bat ray | Black Ghost Knifefish | Blobfish |
| Black Sea Devil | Bloody Belly Comb Jelly | Blood Fin Tetra | Blood worms |
| Bone worms | Cnidarian medusa stage | Coffin fish | Cutthroat eels |
| Devil Rays | Dogface Witch eel | Dracula fish | Fangtooth Fish |
| Frankenfish | Ghost shrimp | Ghost Shark | Ghost anemone |
| Ghost crab | Ghost Moray | Ghost Octopus | Goblin Shark |
Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)
So, with plenty of holidays left in the year, be on the lookout for the next email and be thinking of a cool organism that you would like to see featured.
Happy Holidays…all of them!
~Jeff Grevert
About the Author
Jeff Grevert has been teaching Marine Science in Florida on and off since 2003. He has a BS in Biology from The University of Central Florida and is currently working towards a MS in Biology at Mississippi State University.
BONUS: Here are some Halloween Ocean Links from the Bridge! If you haven’t joined the Scuttlebutt email list yet, head over to the Bridge and subscribe in the footer!
ScubaDiving.com: Ocean-Themed Costumes
Smithsonian Ocean Portal: Creepy Ocean Critters Surface for Halloween
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: Halloween Videos
Live Science: Scary Deep Sea Creatures Gallery
Oceana.org: Five Eerie Ocean Animals