Fun facts from Salt Lake City

I've just spent the last week at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah and learnt plenty new things! 

Here are some fun facts :)

1. The Oxygen minimum zone within the Arabian sea is not where you would expect it,

2. The Arabian sea itself has gone from being a diatom dominated system to one dominated by Noctiluca, 
3. Pygmy sperm whales INK (like squid!!), 

4. 90% of the sardine fishery within caribbean is from the Northern Coast of Venezuela (thanks to a great upwelling!),

5. Fish on a reef in Israel consume zooplankton at about 2 animals per second,

6. Fossils of beluga, narwhals and bowhead whales have been dug out of the North sea and in many cases where they recorded right whales being caught they were actually bowheads! (but ice sheets have receded since and these animals have tracked that ice),

7. Since 1997-2004 chlorophyll along the coast of Oman has been increasing due to reducing sea surface temperatures which are being linked to the shrinking snow caps at the Himalayas

8. Squid detect low frequency acceleration and not sound prssure

9. Prochlorococcus is the smallest known oxygenic phototroph and is responsible for 20% of global primary production

10. Halobates a small insects like a pond skipper lays its eggs in plastics floating in the ocean!

This is my last sleep before I head back to California for my TED fellowship and I am very excited!! Hope you enjoyed the exciting facts and that you can all excuse me for not being in touch over the last 11 days :)