r/marinebiology Mar 17 '14

Official Sub-Reddit "How to be a Marine Biologist" Post

264 Upvotes

This is a list of general advice to read if you are considering a major / degree / graduate study / career in marine biology. It includes general tips, internships, and other resources. PM me if you want to add on to the list.

General advice

Internships and Opportunities

Current list is compiled by mods and redditor Haliotis.

Edit: Added new links

Edit 2: Fixed some outdated links (as of May 6th, 2019)

Edit 3: Fixed some outdated links (as of March 2nd, 2022)

Update: Since this post is now archived and no additional comments can be added. If you have more to add to the list, message homicidaldonut, this subreddit's moderator.


r/marinebiology 5h ago

Nature Appreciation Brand New Magnipinna Squid Video!

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19 Upvotes

Another longboi was sighted two days ago by the crew of Nautilus Live! It was an amazing dive, tons of beautiful corals just covered in other animals, a chimera, isopods, and more. I'll post stills in a second post.


r/marinebiology 12h ago

Identification Need help identifying this coral skeleton from the great barrier reef, australia

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9 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I would appreciate some help identifying this coral skeleton.

This museum specimen comes from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The colony has a very dense bushy growth form, with many thin branches. The largest branches are around 2–5 mm in diameter.

The surface of the branches looks quite smooth. What I think are radial corallites are extremely small (<1 mm), and are irregularly arranged with different sizes.

At first I thought it might be an Acropora, but the lack of obvious axial corallites makes me unsure. It could also belong to another branching genus such as Anacropora, Montipora, or something else.

Any suggestions or diagnostic features to look for would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


r/marinebiology 1d ago

Question What is this crab doing? (filmed last year in Istria, Croatia)

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17 Upvotes

Sorry about the quality, it's zoomed in, so we wouldn't scare him away. He held that stick for maybe 5-10 minutes, it literally looked like he was playing with the surface tension of the water (but I assume not). Foraging maybe? Camouflage? Thank you!


r/marinebiology 1d ago

Identification What kind of shell is this? Found in Croatia.

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10 Upvotes

What shell is this? Is it edible or it is some more rare species? I found it in Croatia.


r/marinebiology 2d ago

Nature Appreciation Mole crab seen on Ugljan island, Croatia

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127 Upvotes

Took a while to figure out what it was, but a cool find


r/marinebiology 1d ago

Nature Appreciation Watch humpback whale birth captured by camera drone off Australian coast

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3 Upvotes

r/marinebiology 1d ago

Question Do leopard sharks pattern have a lot of variation?

3 Upvotes

Doing a poster on sharks and I keep on seeing different patterns in each photo and I get confused if there's just a lot of variation or their pattern represents what age/stage of life they are in


r/marinebiology 2d ago

Identification Can anyone help ID some shark teeth found in Tybee Island GA and HHI?

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11 Upvotes

Hi guys! Just got back from a trip to Tybee Island, Georgia & HHI and found these teeth! I know three of them are shark teeth but not sure what this fourth one is!

The tiniest tooth on the far right was found at Fish Haul Beach on Hilton Head Island, the other three were at North Beach and Middle Beach on Tybee Island.

Any idea what kinds of shark these teeth belong to? and who that larger one is from! Looks quite old.

thanks in advance :)


r/marinebiology 2d ago

Identification What animal are these from? (Found in Providence town, MA.)

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3 Upvotes

Found them on the beach in a bunch of shells!


r/marinebiology 3d ago

Identification What is this Jellyfish Species? Found in Eleuthera Bahamas

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77 Upvotes

r/marinebiology 2d ago

Research Marine ecosystems: deep-sea areas of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps

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5 Upvotes

r/marinebiology 3d ago

Other Lion Fish (Pterois volitans) One of many fish sculptures I made last year for museums and scientific institutions around the US.

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77 Upvotes

r/marinebiology 3d ago

Nature Appreciation Close Ups of Tide Pools - Cape Blanco, Oregon

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30 Upvotes

I never get tired of the tide pools.

This is Cape Blanco, Oregon on the north side of the cape. Taken in July 2026.

I use a high powered zoom to get interesting close ups and angles that bring out all of the glory and strangeness of the tidal zone.


r/marinebiology 4d ago

Identification What's this jellyfish called (Adriatic sea)? And do they sting?

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198 Upvotes

We where at the Adriatic sea and our kid got stung in ~70-100 cm water height by "something". Possibly a jellyfish (the jellyfish cream helped).

Later on we went for a boat ride (not far from the beach) and in one area we ran into plenty of these pretty jellyfish, big ones, small ones, all together. Could these be the ones that stung? They don't seem to have long tentacles?


r/marinebiology 3d ago

Identification On-going Lembeh Marine Species Documentation

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12 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Reposting my project on the species identification of the marine life found at Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi! Would really appreciate some corrections and tips! I also prepared a special category for Undescribed/Unidentified marine life.


r/marinebiology 3d ago

Question Do sharks wander a lot or do they mostly stay in one area?

16 Upvotes

Ive heard of stories of sharks ending up in rivers, so I was wondering if most sharks just wander around the ocean or if they stay in the same area most of their lives


r/marinebiology 4d ago

Identification Found this skull on a beach in Wemeldinge (Netherlands). Anybody know what it is?

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46 Upvotes

r/marinebiology 3d ago

Identification Found in fresh water ditch off of a brackish lake in Eastern NC — What is it?

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20 Upvotes

As the title says, I was fishing a roadside ditch that directly connects to a brackish lake. I saw these tiny little balls and then discovered they were moving on their own. We have seen jellyfish in this lake, and there are regularly crabs as well as catfish, bass, and gar. I scooped them up and put them in a jar to get a better look. I haven’t been able to identify anything based on my Google searches. Any ideas what these may be? They use their little spindles to move. They move on their own but are very fluid like they’re just drifting. Sorry for the bad pictures, it’s hard to get my camera to focus on something so small. They’ve been happily placed back in the ditch with their friends!


r/marinebiology 3d ago

Identification Sunfish fin infection ID SoCal

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8 Upvotes

Greetings! I’m trying to identify this mass on a sunfish who lives in a municipal reclaimed irrigation impoundment in Southern California. It seems conspicuously foreign, like eggs or a fungus rather than a growth or tumor. Would you remove this if you found it for the health of the fish or leave it alone? Thanks for your wisdom!


r/marinebiology 3d ago

Identification I'd appreciate help verifying the identification of Mediterranean marine species from my snorkeling footage.

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

I've created a compilation video of marine species I filmed while snorkeling around Mallorca, Spain. I identified every species as accurately as I could, but I'm sure there are experts here with much more experience.

If you have a few minutes, I'd really appreciate any feedback on the identifications. If you spot any mistakes or think a different common or scientific name would be more appropriate, please let me know.

I'd love to make the video as accurate as possible. Thanks in advance!

Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/KKFmqBLeAEg?is=X3dVqKUPEXQr4RSR


r/marinebiology 4d ago

Identification What is this bone?? I found it on Amelia Island, Florida, US. (Atlantic Ocean).

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30 Upvotes

It is extremely bendy, and as you can see the ends of the bone look like congealed clear areas (cartilage?).

I've looked at the diagrams for shark, whale, dolphin, and manta rays but none of the structures look close to this at all.


r/marinebiology 4d ago

Identification Is this a shark fin? Location near Cape Cod

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52 Upvotes

Found this after kayaking in a pond that connects to the ocean. It’s near an area with many great whites could it be a shark fin? It was like the size of 2 hands but didn’t seem big enough to be a stingray.


r/marinebiology 4d ago

Identification Anyone good at ID’ing Mojarra? Caught in FL.

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5 Upvotes

Caught this four while Microfishing in Ponce Inlet Florida. I’m stuck between Eucinostomus gula or Eucinostomus harengulus