Let me introduce to you all...me!

I am new to this. I am going to be honest about that. 

Start at the beginning? 

I have a Master degree in Applied Aquatic Biology from the University of Portsmouth (UK). 

My passion for the sea and everything that lives in it, is old. As a child, I was all about dolphins. My first school project talk was about dolphins, my walls were covered with dolphins, I had a dolphin watch. I remember my dream job was to be a dolphin trainer. So not to the surprise of many, I chose to study biology and focus on everything marine. But to the surprise of many, I did not study dolphins, or any marine mammal for that matter. It's the fish that got my full attention. Small, big, dangerous, poisonous, weird looking, colourful, name it and I can pretty much guarantee you I like it!

For my final research project, I studied the behaviour of the blue cod (Parapercis colias) amongst each other. So, what happens when there is food present? Will they fight? Are the big ones in charge? Is size important at all? I spent hours (probably more close to days or weeks) watching under water videos of blue cod around a food source, looking for patterns in their behaviour. The crazy thing? I didn't even get bored...I think I surprised myself and my supervisor with that. Right now, we're still writing everything up to be published (still can't believe there will be a paper with my name on it! Big thing for scientists-to-be).

Why this blog? Because I think knowledge should be spread. And most scientific studies aren't that easy to understand. So with this blog, I want to try and make science a bit more fun for everyone. Sometimes I'll discuss interesting papers, explaining them in 'normal people' language, other times I'll just write a post about a species that caught my interest, or something marine related that was in the news, or whatever I can come up with.
I am not the best writer in the world, I know this. I've been told I write the same way as I tell a story, so if you like story-telling, you might enjoy my writing style! My goal isn't to become a writer, I write because I want people to get excited about fish, dolphins, whales, and everything else in the oceans. I want people to know more about these things.

I hope you will enjoy my blog!

The fish of my project: blue cod (photo is taken by my supervisor)