FSUCML in the News

Hope, then heartbreak, as first ‘spinning’ sawfish dies in Tampa Bay


“It’s distressing to see the animals dead and dying,” said Dean Grubbs, the associate director of research at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory. Grubbs is also a member of the sawfish recovery team and was on the boat last week when the crew caught the healthy sawfish.

Ph.D. student Annais Muschett-Bonilla awarded inaugural Guy Harvey Fellowship


In a dedicated effort to protect coastal and marine habitats and species, the Guy Harvey Foundation (GHF) has awarded a Florida State University student the inaugural Guy Harvey Fellowship. Annais Muschett-Bonilla, a doctoral student in the College of Arts and Sciences, received a $5,000 research stipend and certificate personally designed and signed by Guy Harvey, world-renowned marine wildlife artist, conservationist and GHF Founder/Chair Emeritus.

Number of dead, dying sawfish in Lower Keys continue to mount


"There are five species of sawfish in the world. That's it. And they're all listed as endangered or critically endangered,” said Dean Grubbs, a Florida State University fish ecologist and a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s sawfish recovery team. “So an occurrence like this, where all of a sudden quite a few large animals are dying inexplicably, is of great concern.”

Florida State University scientists describe and name new species of coral in French Polynesia


Scientists from the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University have described and named a new species of coral in the waters of French Polynesia. Postdoctoral researcher Erika Johnston and Scott Burgess, associate professor of Biological Science, described Pocillopora tuahiniensis by studying the coral’s genome and examining the symbiotic algae that live inside its cells. They also considered where these coral live and how they’re different from other specimens in the area. These things helped them conclude that this coral represents a previously undescribed species. Their research was published in

Watch the Hammerhead Shark get its Hammer


So in the new study, developmental biologists tagged along with scientists studying bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo), a small hammerhead species with a relatively giant noggin. As the team scooped the sharks from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and off the U.S. east coast, the biologists retrieved live embryos of all ages. The biologists preserved the embryos for further study using different staining and imaging techniques, piecing together the video above from different specimens.