On Cousteau

I received a series of Jacques Cousteau DVDs for Christmas this year which was an excellent present for a budding marine & freshwater biologist ;)

If you did not already know, Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, scientist, filmmaker and researcher who along with Emile Gagnan developed the aqualung (or SCUBA system as it is known today) in the early 1940s. He was also a pioneering marine biologist and traveled the oceans during with his son and crew on the adapted marine biology station ship, Calypso, for the series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau between 1966 and '76. He developed mini submersible exploration vehicles which were launched from Calypso and enabled him to film amazing scenes of life underwater and bring attention to the negative human impact on the oceans.

He also predicted the existence and use of echolocation in porpoises as he observed them finding the optimal course through the Straits of Gibraltar without following a boat. He certainly was a busy monsieur!

Of course marine biology was a bit different back then, and some of the 'techniques' used to study the animal life would definitely be frowned upon today! Here are a couple of examples:

• Trapping tropical fish under plastic domes while their natural predators try to get at them and eat them.
• Prodding a pufferfish until it inflates itself.
• Drilling a hole at the rear of a turtle's carapace (which does not cause the animal any pain) and tying a hydrogen balloon to it to track them.
• Attaching a plastic ball float to a fin whale to track it, combined with divers hanging on to its tail and fin for a bit of a ride before they let it go about its business.
• Securing a tag to a juvenile sperm whale with string around its body.

Monsieur Cousteau riding a turtle, as you do.

Despite the perhaps slightly dubious methods, there are many fantastic insights into the deep sea including a couple of species and behaviours that I hadn't seen on other natural history documentaries (even recent ones) before.

An additional bonus for me was that the series is narrated by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame, which, for those that are too young, is referenced in Futurama's The Scary Door! The series is seriously worth a watch :)

Next up on Mosspig - the first CRIMP survey of 2015!