Bryan Kraushaar, age 9, of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,for his question:
WHAT DOES A MARINE BIOLOGIST DO?
Most experiments conducted by marine biologists are carried out at marine laboratories. Among the most famous and the oldest are the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy; the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Assn. of the United Kingdom in Plymouth, England, and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass.
Marine biology is the study of animals and plants that can be found in the sea. And a marine biologist is a scientists who specializes in working with marine life.
Marine biologists are constantly trying to find out everything they can regarding growth of animals and plants in all parts of the ocean. The information obtained from the marine biologist can help all human beings to better understand their own basic life processes.
Marine biologists involved in the study of the environment of marine life, as well as marine plants and animals, are often called biological oceanographers.
A great deal of man's knowledge of human reproduction and development has come about as a result of experiments with marine animals. Chemical substances that influence different animal embryos were first discovered in experiments with marine organisms. The sea urchin is one of the animals most often used by biologists in these experiments. It produces many large eggs that make experiments and observations easier.
Marine biologists have also been using organisms from the ocean to produce substances that are valuable to human beings. Scientists have found, for example, certain material in sponges, sea cucumbers, corals and seaweed that can be used in treating viral and bacterial infections and also cancer. Substances from some tropical sponges have been used to treat skin infections, food and blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Marine biologists in the lab have also found that poisons from certain types of shellfish are 200,000 times more powerful as anesthetics than drugs now being used for this purpose.
Marine biologists found that the octopus uses his saliva to paralyze crabs. They have discovered that this same material can be used as a powerful heart stimulant.
Biological oceanographers are currently studying marine life at great depths. Deep sea cameras are now used to map the sea floor and find certain organisms. Sound devices are also valuable tools for recording the vertical movements of fish.
Leading American centers for biological oceanographers are the Woods Hole Institution, Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., the Lamont Geological Observatory in New York City and the Institute of Marine Sciences in Miami, Fla.