Corals, Cucumbers, and Jellies (Oh My) with Alan Verde PhD — WildFed Podcast #160

Who doesn’t love Marine Biology? Daniel recently had the opportunity to give a talk at the celebrated Maine Maritime Academy, addressing a class of marine biology and oceanography students. While he was there he met today’s guest, Dr. Alan Verde. Alan is a biologist and diver who specializes in corals, anemones, jellyfish, sea cucumbers and octopus.

Alan, along with the school where he teaches, is training the future generations of young people who will eventually contribute to the stewardship of our seas. It’s a big responsibility, given the precarious situation we now find ourselves in on planet earth.

Beyond the classroom curriculum, Alan leads multi-week dive trips with his student base to spend time with the organisms they’re studying in their natural habitats. It’s so important, because it’s all too easy to study a topic from afar, or from an ivory tower, not realizing you only know the thing superficially, rather than intimately. But Alan makes sure his students are getting below sea level to interact in ways that are more meaningful than just turning the page in a textbook or turning in a paper.

It’s why we promote participating in hunting, fishing, and foraging for food. We worry that without an intimate relationship, one that's up close and personal, we’ll just slowly forget the organisms we share this planet with. So whenever possible, whether it's through eating, like we promote so much here, or it's through biological work like Alan teaches, we need to get hands-on. Once you know a creature it's hard not to factor its needs into your decision matrix.

That’s the kind of experiential knowledge we’ll need the policymakers of the future to have.

Of course, the biology, physiology, and ecology of the particular organisms that Alan focuses on are fascinating all on their own, so there’s plenty to learn here today too. The underwater world is so physiologically alien to our own as to make it, effectively, another world. Yet we do share this planet with these creatures, as well as, ultimately, a common ancestor. So, foreign as they seem, they are our relations. And while it’s important to remember who we share the planet with, it’s also easy to forget if we have no contact with them. That’s why Alan and Daniel both, in their own ways, recommend you get out there. There’s still a whole world populated by incredible and unique organisms just waiting to be remembered and factored in by us. All we have to do is go meet them!

View full show notes, including links to resources from this episode here: https://www.wild-fed.com/podcast/160