Diving Into the Carnival of the Blue

Exciting news for the Ocean Portal blog! We’re happy as clams to be making our inaugural appearance in the Carnival of the Blue, a rotating monthly compilation of the "best of" ocean blogging. This month, Michael Bok, a graduate student studying the visual system of mantis shrimp, is hosting the 39th edition of the carnival on his blog, Arthropoda.

We’re delighted to be in the company of so many accomplished marine wordsmiths and scientists, and we hope you’ll check out some of the other fine offerings from the carnival. Take an awe-inspiring swim with a giant whale shark. Explore the science behind the headlines about a mass jellyfish sting event on a New Hampshire beach. Or, join Ocean Portal intern and fellow blogger Angelo Villagomez for a tour of the Real Pod 5—an impressive storage facility at the Smithsonian’s Museum Support Center that is chock full of crabs, worms, and all sorts of other marine critters.

In September, look for the carnival on Angelo’s home turf, The Saipan Blog, where we’ll be treated to a view from “The Top of the Food Chain” with a slate of themed posts about ocean predators.