Gulf Stream Orphan Project's Journal

2024 is shaping up to be a booming season for GSO's, pushing the GSO Project reports over 2,500! Even with the species being tracked that we know are not necessarily Gulf-Stream dispersed including Needlefishes and Striped Burrfish, this year appears to be quite robust. Several species appear to have significant increases in reports, potentially beyond an underlying increase in reporting effort and iNaturalist activity. One species that seems to stand out for a reporting spike and anecdotally amongst those in the field is the Short Bigeye, P. alta, a species that already has more than 60 sightings in 2024 we many weeks of warmer water temperatures remaining.

The GSO Project is heartbroken by the passing of Dave Remsen, Director of Marine Research Services at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Early in the formation of this citizen science project, Dave was an amazing mentor, guide, and contributor to not only sightings of unique marine life but to the design and purpose of the project. He will be greatly missed.

More info about his life and an opportunity to donate to a college fund for his children below:
https://www.mbl.edu/news/obituaries/david-remsen

Hello GSO Project observers! Looking forward to another season of GSO sightings this summer and I hope everyone has been able to weather the pandemic safely and had a chance to get outside and find peace in nature.

A few weeks ago I was able to defend my Master's thesis through UMass Boston's School for the Environment which focused on the GSO phenomenon. I will be posting a link to the public presentation soon and welcome anyone to watch.

Part of the thesis focused on a biodiversity survey of Pleasant Bay, Orleans MA in collaboration with the Center for Coastal Studies. We were on the hunt for GSOs in the community and comparing GSO incidence with local species richness at each survey site. Stay tuned for an update on the publication of this effort and I again want to thank everyone for their support and participation in GSO project!

Best,
Mike

Hello everyone! Excited to see what 2020 brings for the GSO project! We've had many sightings reported already via our website and iNaturalist. Please do not hesitate to reach-out, share stories, and contribute to our efforts.

The suspense is killing me! We've reached our 99th GSO sighting since launching the project on iNaturalist in 2016. Who will get us that 100th sighting?? The GSO season is upon us with reports already coming in from the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coastline! Can't wait to see what the Gulf Stream sends us this year!

-Mike

Here we are again! Gulf Stream Orphan season - 2017 this time! Be sure to get out with your snorkels, seines, dive gear etc and start searching the east coast of the U.S. for any unusual tropical residents. Check out www.GSOproject.org for more information!

This year through a generous grant from the Friends of Pleasant Bay, we will be focusing our energy on a field survey of Pleasant Bay through trawling, seining, and passive collectors to understand the environmental conditions under which GSOs thrive and the role they play in the coastal ecosystem on the Northwest Atlantic.

-Mike O'Neill
GSOproject Founder