Wild and Crazy: A Worm Named Bob Marley and the Fish With a See-Through Head

November 8, 2010: In the oceans, Mother Nature continues to surprise and delight us with mesmerizing, jaw-dropping marine life that often wildly exceeds our imagination. Released at the completion of the decade-long Census of Marine Life, the? new book from National Geographic, Citizens of the Sea: Wondrous Creatures From the Census of Marine Life,? is not only rich with the captivating images you’d expect from the seasoned underwater photographers of National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life, but its delightful prose by author Dr. Nancy Knowlton — Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a scientific leader of the Census of Marine Life — brings these photographs to life in captivating vignettes that will playfully bend your brain with utterly amazing facts about these utterly amazing creatures, including the Bob Marley Worm and a fish with a head you (and it) can see right through. We visit with Dr. Knowlton at her office at Smithsonian and take a field trip to the Smithsonian’s latest and wildly popular exhibit, the “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.”

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This Week: Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Science at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

This Week's Guest: Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Science at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

We go behind the scenes with Dr. Nancy Knowlton to learn about her incredible new book, Citizens of the Sea: Wondrous Creatures From the Census of Marine Life.? Dr. Knowlton’s stories about the newest discoveries beneath the sea will delight, enlighten and inspire, while also painting a stark picture for the consequences should we not heed the call for badly-needed conservation. Get introduced to the Yeti crab, the Bob Marley worm, and the bizarre Barreleye, a fish with a transparent head among many others. And Nancy takes us on a field trip to Smithsonian’s latest exhibit, the “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.”

Nancy Knowlton is the Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a scientific leader of the Census of Marine Life. She founded the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego. Knowlton has devoted her life to studying, celebrating, and striving to protect the multitude of life-forms that call the sea home. She lives with her family in Washington, D.C.

Links

• Citizens of the Sea: Wondrous Creatures from the Census of Marine Life (Amazon.com)
• The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef (Smithsonian)
• The Ocean Portal (Smithsonian)

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Buy Citizens of the Sea, available at Amazon.com:

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