Emily Frost

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Underwater photo of Emily Frost snorkeling in St. John, U.S.V.I.

Emily Frost is an Ocean Portal producer. One of her favorite diving experiences ever was seeing green sea turtles munching away on sea grass in the water off of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Emily's interest in the ocean started much earlier, when she was doing science fair projects that studied the movement of zooplankton, tiny animals that are moved through the ocean by currents. She was able to study these movements of zooplankton again while sailing and researching on the Corwith Cramer, a 134 foot tall ship, through the Sea Education Association. Emily linked her degree in aquatic biology from the University of California Santa Barbara to marine policy when she received her Master's in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School.

Emily loves communicating information about the ocean and its connections to humans to the public. She worked on outreach and communications for the Lenfest Ocean Program and the Ocean Science Division of the Pew Environment Group where her main focus was sharing scientific information with policymakers. Emily has also worked on various outreach and policy projects at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, the National Aquarium and at the non-profit, Oceana.

Collaborator Contributions

A pearlfish, which lives in the orange sea cucumber's anus, emerges to feed.

Pearlfish from a Sea Cucumber

Pearlfish are slender, eel-shaped fish that often live inside various invertebrates including sea cucumbers. Because a sea cucumber breathes by taking in water through its anus, a pearlfish can wait for the cucumber to open for a breath and swim in.

This sea cucumber, collected at 830 feet, hosts a pearl fish, which lives in its anus!

Sea Cucumber in Curaçao

Sea cucumbers might have a cucumber shape, but are definitely animal, not vegetable… or fruit. They belong to the Phylum Echinodermata, which also includes sea urchins, sand dollars, sea stars and brittle stars.

A sea toad from the deep waters off of Curacao.

Sea Toad Specimen from Caribbean

A year in the waiting! During the summer of 2011, DROP researchers almost caught a sea toad off of Curaçao. However, when the sub crew tried to collect the sea toad with the sub's suction tube, the fish inflated itself with water becoming too large for the tube. The skilled crew maneuvered the robotic arm and sub to gently place the sea toad in an open collection crate attached to the submersible.

Tan Sea Urchin

This tan urchin, Conolampas sigsbei, is one of only two known deep-sea urchins that cover their tops with small rocks and shells. Many shallow species cover themselves for reasons that have been determined experimentally. However, none of these explanations make sense for urchins living in the deep sea. Deep-sea urchins are not dealing with UV light, they don't need camouflage in the dark, and as mud eaters they are not collecting algae to feed on. Dr.

Tusk Shell Hermit Crab

When this tusk shell was brought up it was a surprise when a hermit crab poked out. Notice the large, operculate-shaped claw that this hermit can use to tightly cover the shell opening when it retracts into the shell. Dr. Rafael Lemaitre, NMNH curator of decapod Crustacea, has identified this hermit crab as Pylopagurus discoidalis.