Wild Tobago

Anjani Ganase presents some marine creatures that have terrifying defence mechanisms. Fortunately, most of them are small and only make themselves visible when threatened. Look closely and maybe you’ll see which ones inspired monsters of fiction and film.   Slice and dice jaws What buries itself in the sand, lying completely still in order to grab and pull an unsuspecting prey away into the underworld of coral reefs? The Bobbit worm invokes depictions of the sand monsters of sci-fi movies, such as Dune and Tremors. In real life, this worm is only a few inches wide but can grow up to 10 feet in length. Its razor-sharp jaws can chop a small fish into pieces. It was named after Lorena Bobbit who severed her husband’s private part. If that wasn’t enough, the worm also injects venom into its prey. The name Bobbit worm is actually used to describe least 50 species of predatory worms with similar behaviour, since the specimen collected could not be identified to s...

In the last frontier on Earth, Dr Anjani Ganase discusses some anomalies and discoveries in a warming ocean. Storm-chasing petrels In tracking the Desertas petrels, scientists were amazed to find them following hurricanes for thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Desertas petrels nest on Bugio Island, Portugal off the west coast of Africa where hurricanes are born. Scientists found a strong correlation between the storm winds and the foraging behaviour of these birds. Petrels typically forage for fauna that occur hundreds of metres below the ocean surface. How do they do this? They wait for the creatures to surface at night and feed in the nutrient rich waters. However, researchers have found them foraging in areas where winds generated large wave action (up to 8m in height) resulting in the mixing of the water column and the upward movement of the deeper cooler and richer water from the deep to the surface. As a result, deeper dwelling organisms come u...

Dr Anjani Ganase presents the high points of the recent report released by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The report collects the observations and data of some 150 member states for the benefit of a world linked by one ocean. (First published in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, July 11, 2024)   The years 2021 to 2030 have been designated the Ocean Decade by the UN. The up-to-date report on the state of the oceans released this week in Paris by UNESCO provides alarming evidence of a growing ocean crisis. However, there is hope in action as technologies and international collaborations allow developing countries to move closer to sustainable management and conservation of their ocean resources.   Icebergs drift from Western Antarctica. Photo by Anjani Ganase A CLEAN OCEAN The report focused on worsening ocean pollution from two main sources:   nutrient and plastics.   Nutrient pollution - what runs off the land in...

Anjani Ganase reflects on the effects of devastating hurricanes on human communities and wonders if we can adapt before catastrophes force change   “I remember Flora. I was 12 years old. Schools were dismissed early. But my father still was not able to pick us up until the usual time. We went from Port of Spain through Maraval and into Santa Cruz on roads without traffic – everyone was home already.   The sky was gray and the streets slippery with driving rain. It was my earliest remembered experience of howling wind and bending trees. This impression of powerful nature has never left me; and Trinidad was on the periphery of Flora. I learned of the devastation to Tobago, the destruction of the cocoa plantations and the people who died only after I was old enough to find out.”    My mother’s memory of Flora is vivid and forceful.   I have lived in proximity to hurricanes all my life, though I have never felt the full force. I’ve only he...