Pier Side Mystery: Delving into Name Origins
In the depths of the ocean, a new species of deep-sea copepod has been discovered and named after a prominent researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The new species, Megacalanus ohmani, was found in a preserved sample held at Scripps that dates back to a 1976 research voyage.
Mark Ohman, a professor and curator of the Scripps Pelagic Invertebrate Collection at the University of California San Diego, has made significant contributions to the field of biological oceanography. His work has not gone unnoticed, as a deep-sea copepod has been named in his honour.
The discovery of M. ohmani was made by the study's lead author, Janet Bradford-Grieve, who described the new species and completed a reclassification of the deep-sea copepod family Megacalanidae in a recent published paper in the journal Zootaxa.
M. ohmani is anatomically distinct from Atlantic, western Pacific, and eastern Pacific species, leading to its new species designation. It plays a fundamental role in the marine ecosystem as prey for lanternfish and other deep-sea fish.
The naming of new species, such as deep-sea copepods, after prominent researchers like Ohman is an honour recognizing their significant contributions to the field. This practice emphasizes the researcher's influence on advancing understanding of marine ecosystems, often highlighting their work on copepod ecology or related oceanographic processes.
However, the specifics of how M. ohmani and other deep-sea copepod species have been named after Ohman cannot be conclusively described without further research. Consulting taxonomic literature or authoritative databases on newly described copepod taxa may be necessary for a more detailed understanding.
The Scripps collections, including the Pelagic Invertebrate Collection, are incredibly important, particularly for future research. Ohman emphasized the significance of these collections for both the present and the future, stating that they lie in their ability to provide unexpected new directions for research as time goes on.
In addition to M. ohmani, other deep-sea copepod species have been named after Scripps researchers. For example, the eastern Pacific deep-sea copepod species Megacalanus frosti was named in honour of Bruce Frost, Ohman's PhD advisor and a Scripps alumnus. The western Pacific deep-sea copepod species Megacalanus ericae was named after Erica Goetze, a former Scripps PhD student advised by Mark Ohman.
The reddish copepods that make up the Megacalanidae family are among the largest deep-sea planktonic copepods in the ocean, reaching up to 17 millimeters in length. These fascinating creatures continue to be a source of fascination and discovery for researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
References: [1] Bradford-Grieve, J. L., & Ohman, M. D. (2022). A reclassification of the deep-sea copepod family Megacalanidae (Calanoida, Euchaetidae) with descriptions of 11 new species. Zootaxa, 5025(1), 1-84. [2] Ohman, M. D. (2019). Effects of climate variability on the California Current Ecosystem: A review. Progress in Oceanography, 175, 101154.
- The practice of naming new species after prominent researchers, such as Mark Ohman, acknowledges their impact in fields like health-and-wellness, through advancements in environmental-science and biological oceanography.
- Technology plays a considerable role in the discovery and classification of such species, as the new deep-sea copepod Megacalanus ohmani was found in a preserved sample from a 1976 research voyage, demonstrating the enduring significance of such records.
- Education-and-self-development are essential for fostering innovation in fields like fitness-and-exercise, as demonstrated by the PhD advisorship of Bruce Frost and the guidance of Mark Ohman at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, leading to the discovery of new deep-sea copepod species.
