On collecting whale snot for research purposes
In case you’re a marine biologist, dear reader, I have to include this essential tip from Makezine.com: how to collect whale snot using a remote control helicopter.
Lately we’ve had lots of folks writing in seeking practical advice on collecting tissue samples for use in studying whaleborne disease. I had no idea there were so many amateur cetopathologists out there!
Anyway, as you folks know — all too well, I’m sure — it is extremely difficult to collect blood from a wild whale without injuring or killing it in the process. However, and as even a child can tell you, the next best thing to live whale blood is live whale snot. Turns out it spews from their blowholes when they exhale, so the process is really very simple:
- Find whale.
- Hold petri dish over blowhole to intercept spout.
- Return to lab, enjoy sample.
Step 2 is actually the hard part. And although your first instinct may be to just jump in your rowboat, paddle out to a whale pod, lean way out over the side with your sample container, and wait, that’s actually not as safe as it might sound. Each year, untold [continue]
Filed in sea creatures 2 Comments so far
2 Responses to “On collecting whale snot for research purposes”
cheryl on 16 Mar 2010 at 5:12 pm #
A question for anyone who can answer please. Is whale snot the same thing as ambergris?
Gabriolan on 16 Mar 2010 at 9:57 pm #
cheryl – I don’t think so. According to Wikipedia’s Ambergris page, ambergris is a (Emphasis mine.)