The lovely midshipman (Porichthys notatus)
– R. Harbo

The secret of a great talk?
“Tell ’em what you’re gonna talk about, tell ’em, and then tell ’em what you told ’em”

Humour helps too!
The “back-story” behind those dry scientific names is quite fun…and we likely don’t know all of it…

I liked the history too…why is it called a “Steller’s Jay”?
– R. Harbo

…and why is it Arbutus menziesii?
– R. Harbo

Why “midshipman”?
Well, they do have markings that resemble the buttons found on a naval uniform…if you squint…
– R. Harbo

This is what you might find in you overturn a flat rock in the intertidal zone, in Ladysmith Harbor, between May and August
– R. Harbo

Here’s a male and female (top)
– R. Harbo

Are midshipmen edible? Yes.
– R. Harbo

Are they popular? In some circles, apparently so…
– R. Harbo

What field biologists do…
… this is beach-seining tidepools with eelgrass in Bowser
– R. Harbo

What field biologists do Part II…
… in technical terms, this is called “measuring stuff”
– R. Harbo

What field biologists do Part III…
… this is “safety matters”
– R. Harbo

Rick Harbo – “Tails of the midshipman”
by Andrew Bryant, 17 May 2018.

After 36 years with Fisheries and Oceans Canada…well the word “retired” doesn’t seem to describe Rick very well at all!

Author of numerous books including  Shells and Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest,  Whales to Whelks and Nudibranchs of the Pacific Northwest, Rick also served as a member of the abalone recovery team, sea otter recovery team and Mollusc subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).  He’s now a “citizen scientist” and volunteer Research Associate at the Royal B.C. Museum.

After a delightful introduction concerning early explorers, taxonomists and why you might not want to have a species named after you, Rick focussed upon those really cool fish that biologists know as Plainfin Midshipmen (Porichthys notatus).

A fish that sings?  Really?
A fish that sings so loud that it can scare people?

Yup.  You heard that right.