A reef destroying invasive species…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Nightmare starfish
…that isn’t man. Let me introduce you to a Crown of Thorns, A voracious and difficult to destroy starfish, owing to its spiny carapace and neurotoxin defense. Rumors also abound that slicing it up causes it to regenerate in Hydra fashion, but that’s not exactly true.
They are the subject of campaigns to control or eliminate them, as they’re destroying reefs in many parts of the world, as they eat live coral. Australia has been particularly hit, though I’ve seen plenty in the Andamans.
Theories as to why they’re spreading include human-caused reductions in their natural predators and algal blooms (caused by fertilizer runoff) providing alternative food sources to the fish that might otherwise eat starfish larva.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, crown of thorns, divemaster training, india, photography, scuba diving, starfish, wildlife
Toxic beauty…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Lionfish
Lionfish at Minerva’s Ledge.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, lionfish, minerva's ledge, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
What oceans look like when we don’t take all the fish…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Abundance for the time being...
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, jackson's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
Tucked away, waiting for dark
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Shy
What I presume is another type of feather star, hiding away until dark when it will unfold and feed.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, india, jackson's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
Back to the ocean
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Like a clenched fist
This is some sort of feather star, brought to us from Jackson’s Bar off near Havelock Island in the Andamans. I’ve been obsessing about diving lately as my next trip will be focused entirely on breathing compressed air and marine conservation research in a central American country this March.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, feather star, india, jackon's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
And we’re back…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
I’ve only been back stateside less than a week. I spent my winter break in India and specifically Delhi, visiting friends (and one incredibly important person), laying the ground work for research, meeting scholars and activists, reading development material — Seeing Like a State, The Bottom Billion and Development Redefined — and eating.
This included visits to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, the Energy and Resources Institute, Greenpeace India, JNU, WWF India, an organic farm and the Centre for Science and Environment.
It also meant many meals of gunpowder and paratha and curry and thugpa and paranthe and chana and bhel puri and, well, everything. I had the best Indian meals of my life in an out of the way faux village and probably consumed more Tibetan momos in the three weeks there than in my entire life previously. Sadly, almost none of this food was properly photographed. This seems like an incredible oversight now.
Unfortunately, the trip was too short. It always is. But I’ll be back in May.
Tags: cse, delhi, environment, food, greenpeace, india, jnu, nmml, research, shenanigans, wwf
Finals blogging hiatus and “I wish I were here…”
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
The view from Namchi
In between fevered bouts of studying for Environmental Economics and Environmental Science, I’ve been dreaming of the himalayas. Here’s an old favorite photo.
I’m officially powering down the blog for a while (possibly until after the new year, but I almost never succeed at leaving it alone). Happy holidays to all.
Tags: american university, economics, environment, grad school, himalaya, india, photography, science, united states
