I wasn’t always the ‘The Blowfish, The World’s Only Heavy Metal Marine Biologist’. I started out at the age of eight or nine as a terrified boy called Tom, who had been tricked into watching a very famous shark film… Jaws. The impact that film had on my life was enormous! I was so afraid of a shark coming and getting me as I slept, that I started to read up on them ‘just in case’.
This urge, combined with my already ingrained love of animals, led me to start exploring all that was wet, wonderful and weird. By the time I was 12, I was deeply in love with sharks and all the ocean’s wonders. I knew then that I had to become a marine biologist and help protect the seas.
The oceans have seemingly always been under threat. While it has recently become popular and newsworthy, issues with overfishing, pollution, whaling and shark finning have been rife for years. So, during my university years I decided that the best way I could help fight this battle would be to get my voice out there and rally from the front. I left university and started on a quest to save the seas, and so ‘The Blowfish’ was born.
As you learn more about the seas, you quickly realise how minor terrestrial plants and animals are to this blue planet we call home. It is the oceans which regulate our climate, bringing us vital sun or rain, and provide us with the vast majority of our oxygen. If the oceans fail, then we all fail. Growing up, saving the rainforest was big news, but ocean conservation didn’t even make the papers and so the fight to bring crucial planet-saving issues to light has not been easy. This is why I work to educate and enthral when it comes to the seas. If people care about something, then they will act to save it, but it’s hard to care about something if you don’t know it exists.
That’s the point of Blowfish’s Oceanopedia. It’s not meant to be a textbook or a tome of depressing facts and hard-sell conservation. It’s a straight-talking, short-reading ‘pub guide’ to marine biology, aiming to educate, entertain and inspire. I mean, who couldn’t be enamoured with something like a hagfish?
The hagfish, or ‘slime eel’, is an ancient fish without ‘proper’ jaws. Its mouth resembles two cheese graters arranged on their sides. When the hagfish grabs its dinner, its teeth clamp together and hold fast – removing its ability to chew. So, using its incredibly flexible body, it ties itself into a knot and pushes against its victim’s flesh to rip a piece away. We used to believe these animals were only scavengers, until a deep sea ROV (remote-operated vehicle) spotted one hunting.
