Author Dianne Hales

Marine science

A Seal Mom’s Lullaby

May 1, 2026 | , , , , , , ,

Their sleek, torpedo-shaped bodies dive deep and glide gracefully through the sea. On land they “galumph,” rolling back on their hind flippers then belly-flopping forward. Although harbor seals  and other pinnipeds (fin-footed animals, including sea lions and walruses) may seem more at home in water, their distant ancestors once walked the earth.

Like us, harbor seals are warm-blooded, air-breathing mammals with hearts and lungs. The first time I observed a breeding colony, I realized that I have something else in common with females of the species:  We are Moms, fiercely devoted to and protective of our children.

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Bringing an  Endangered Sea Snail Back from the Brink

Mar 20, 2026 | , , , , , , ,

On a sunny January afternoon in Bodega Bay, some 70 miles north of San Francisco,  the White Abalone Culture Lab is humming with activity.

It’s spawning day. Alyssa Frederick, the lab’s program director, invites me into an industrial room full of troughs and tubs of bubbling seawater. The abalone program is tucked away in the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, a research facility devoted to studying ocean and coastal health. The goal is to bring the endangered sea snails, known for their iridescent shells and delicate meat, back from the brink.

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What’s A Sand Dollar Worth?

Mar 6, 2026 | , , , , , , , ,

On a blustery March morning, I crouch at the Pacific’s edge to inspect a delicate white disc tossed onto the beach by the surging tide. Suddenly a passer-by shouts:

“They call them ‘dollars,’ but they aren’t worth anything!”

The naturalist in me bristles. I want to run after the stranger and make him look—really look—at the remarkable creature in my hand. Even in death, the intricate skeleton of a Pacific sand dollar (Dendraster excentricus) retains its elegance and beauty.

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Star Power

Feb 20, 2026 | , , , , , , , ,

In the galaxy of shimmering sea stars, none shone brighter than the spectacular sunflower star. Bigger, bolder and hungrier than any of its kin, Pycnopodia helianthoides could unfurl as many as two dozen arms, rocket across the ocean floor and devour a purple sea urchin in moments. As an apex predator—dubbed the “Death Star” by awed divers—it feared none and was feared by all.

Then, almost overnight, it vanished.

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The Amazing Journey of Modern Whales

Feb 6, 2026 | , , , , , , , , ,

“Do you think whales ever walked the earth?”I thought the captain of a whale watch boat in Monterey Bay was asking a trick question.  But it’s no riddle—it’s a scientifically documented, evolutionary fact.

The largest creatures on the planet, whales are classified, along with dolphins and porpoises, as cetaceans, from an ancient Greek word for sea monster.  However, they descended from rather humble four-legged mammals that hunted and fished along the riverbanks of what is now Pakistan and India.

In one of evolution’s most dramatic U-turns, these land dwellers returned to the ocean from which their ancestors had emerged. In a geological blink—roughly 10 million years—they reshaped their bodies for an aquatic life. Fur thinned. Limbs flattened. Tails strengthened.  Nostrils began their slow migration to the top of the head. Hooves gave way to flukes

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Snow in the Sea

Jan 9, 2026 | , , , , , , , ,

It’s snow time in  the Northern Hemisphere, the season of winter wonderlands and skiers’ delight. But most landlubbers don’t realize—as I didn’t until recently—that it’s always snowing in the sea.

This underwater snowfall, known as marine snow, drifts through every ocean on the planet. The term was coined in the early 1950s by Japanese researchers who described “snowflakes” swirling in waters stirred by their submersible. Invisible from shore and rarely noticed even by sailors, the silent drizzle helps keep the oceans productive and the planet healthy.

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 The Secret Life of Mudflats

Oct 31, 2025 | , , , , , , , , , ,

Mud sucks—literally. On land, it squishes underfoot and slimes your shoes. In seaside shallows, it clutches your feet and tugs with the ferocity of an angry alligator.

I know. Wading back to shore after fieldwork with Bodega Marine Lab scientists in Tomales Bay, I lost my balance and plunged into what felt like slow-hardening concrete. Every time I tried to pry my foot loose, I lurched back into the sludge. A graduate student reached out to help—only to skid into the ooze next to me.

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What Caused the Sea Star Apocalypse?

Sep 5, 2025 | , , , , , , , , , ,

The carnage began in 2013. The victims were the multi-armed, jewel-bright sea stars that glisten along the West Coast of North America. They suffered a gruesome decline: oozing lesions, arms twisting into odd shapes and sometimes breaking away, bodies dissolving into a mucus-like white goo.

As vast colonies vanished, ocean floors resembled macabre battlegrounds, strewn with detached limbs and pulpy flesh. Not even those in captivity were safe. Sea stars died in public aquariums, visitors’ centers, university laboratories. By 2017, Sea Star Wasting Syndrome had spread from Alaska to Mexico, with the toll soaring from millions to billions.

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Saving White Abalone–Again

Aug 8, 2025 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

The first time I held a white abalone, its muscular foot pressed into my palm, its shell lifted, and two googly black eyes and flexible tentacles emerged. But even more remarkable than the endearing appearance of this iconic sea snail is its survival.

In the 1960s and ’70s,  white abalone—prized for their tender meat and iridescent mother-of-pearl shells—were overfished almost to extinction. Today, there are more  in captivity than in their home waters off the coast of Baja. But a sudden cutoff of federal funding to the keystone breeding program has put this mollusk  at risk—again.

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