I’m pleased to share our new paper in Scientific Data! We compiled the first open-access, image-based dataset capturing diverse interactions between killer whales and elasmobranchs 🦈🐋 (orca emoji coming soon…) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Emma Luck
@emmaluck22.bsky.social
Master of Marine Policy, BSc Marine Biology 🌊 📝 Working in marine policy and marine mammal science. I like whales 🐋 📍 Alaska
At the Neptune Islands, 12 years of observational + acoustic data show white sharks respond to killer whale presence with short-term avoidance, not long-term disappearance. Context matters. Killer whales aren’t always a driver of shark absence. 🔗 connectsci.au/wr/article/5...
Beautiful design by Tsmishian (Alaska Native) artist to support those in MN via the ACLU NARF fund www.customink.com/fundraising/...
Support Ptarmigan Squadron for ACLU and NARF
This rebel design, representing the Alaska state bird: the willow ptarmigan, along with the Big Dipper and the North Star, was created to stand in solidarity with the people of Minnesota and with ever...
customink.com
Preprint: our systematic review of hybrids between blue whales and fin whales. There are 46 possible cases, of which 17 have been genetically confirmed (15 from the North Atlantic!) doi.org/10.22541/au....
What do we know about hybrid blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whales? A comprehensive review across ocean basins
Hybrids between blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whales have been reported since commercial whaling in the late 1800s. Even while species descriptions were still at their infancy, wh...
doi.org
And some terrestrial Costa Rican wildlife! Seeing a resplendent quetzal was AMAZING—they live only in cloud forests in parts of southern Mexico and Central America and can be difficult to spot! Certainly the most exquisite bird I’ve ever seen. The sloths and toucans are incredible too! 🦥
Starting off 2026 with new cetaceans! I am in Costa Rica and saw my first false killer whales a few days ago off the coast of Uvita 🇨🇷
A killer whale undergoes many changes in its first year of life! They emerge after an 18-month gestation period, pencil-thin and completely toothless. Their tiny bodies are wrinkled from spending more than a year curled up in the uterus. Newborn calves are also distinct due to their peachy hue.
Booming sea otters and fading shellfish spark values clash in Alaska
Booming sea otters and fading shellfish spark values clash in Alaska
HOMER, Alaska — Roarke Brown, a charter boat captain since 1972 in this picturesque fishing village, remembers being able to tread out onto the Kachemak Bay mud flats at low tide to fill a 5-gallon…
news.mongabay.com
This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important
Leah McElrath@leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 10mo ago⚠️ Chinese researchers have invented bone glue that mimics how oysters stick to surfaces underwater. The adhesive can reportedly repair orthopedic fractures in 2-3 minutes, even in blood-rich environments, and is bioabsorbable. interestingengineering.com/science/chin...
Wild map: all the places in the world where killer whales take fish from fishing activities, often right off hooks on lines By @emmaluck22.bsky.social et al. www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Frontiers | A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies
Frontiers | A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are cosmopolitan, apex predators that sometimes interact with commercial fisheries. These fishery interactions can affect killer...
frontiersin.org
I am pleased to share our new review paper detailing killer whale interactions with commercial fisheries in Frontiers in Marine Science! www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Accepted! I can’t wait to share more soon! 🤩
Emma Luck@emmaluck22.bsky.social · last yr.My first, first-author paper is SUBMITTED! 🎉
Some exciting news to share—I recently started a new position as an Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow! For the next year, I’ll be working with the Alaska Mariculture Alliance on policy and other topics related to Alaska’s budding mariculture industry 🌊 🦪🌱 alaskaseagrant.org/2025/08/alas...
Alaska Sea Grant: Alaska Sea Grant State Fellows announced for 2025
A new class of 11 Alaska Sea Grant State Fellows is preparing to start work around the state, including at the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Ma…
alaskaseagrant.org
The culprit of the mass seastar deaths in the Pacific was not a virus as thought, but a Vibrio bacteria strain www.washington.edu/news/2025/08...
‘The discovery of the decade’: Researchers have found the culprit behind sea star wasting disease
An international research effort, including scientists from the University of Washington, has finally revealed the cause of sea star wasting disease: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.
washington.edu
Every now and then I catch my cat Sushi staring at photos of killer whales with remarkable intensity… They do say pets take after their owners!
Alaska's Rep. Nick Begich has proposed text that would drastically weaken the incredible Marine Mammal Protection Act. Cooper Freeman, the Center's Alaska director, explains why these changes would be terrible for Alaskans and the state's wildlife. 👇 www.adn.com/opinions/202...
Opinion: What does Rep. Nick Begich have against Alaska marine mammals?
Alaska’s congressman has proposed a truly heartless piece of legislation that would gut the remarkably successful Marine Mammal Protection Act.
adn.com
Last weekend was a delight—I observed my first bubble net feeding humpback whales and got to see the AD8s and AJs! (Resident pods of killer whales)
If anybody has recommendations for public policy/interdisciplinary PhD programs in Australia or New Zealand that accept international students, I am all ears 👀
A recent piece I made describing 4 different stocks/populations of resident killer whales found in the North Pacific Ocean! ⬇️
BREAKING: Scientists are staging a “science fair” in the lobby of a Congressional building to tell elected officials about the critical knowledge the US will lose because their research grants have been canceled.
Living in Alaska means having a constant panicky feeling in July because you can feel summer slipping away and you have not done nearly enough summer activities yet
New free book: "Marine mammal acoustics in a noisy ocean", looks like an incredible intro to how sound works in the ocean and an overview of some of the big outstanding questions and answers. By Erbe et al. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Marine Mammal Acoustics in a Noisy Ocean
This open-access book explores the potential impacts of noise on marine mammal species such as whales, dolphins, seals, seacows, and otters.
link.springer.com
The administration's FY26 budget request for NOAA includes terminating the entire Sea Grant program. The Sea Grant Association will be sending this letter highlighting impacts in IL + IN to congressional delegations - please consider adding your name in support docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Illinois-Indiana Letter to Congress in Support of Sea Grant
Dear Illinois and Indiana congressional delegations: We, the undersigned constituents from Illinois and Indiana, are writing to urge your support for federal funding for the Sea Grant Program in fi...
docs.google.com
Yesterday I had some great encounters with killer whales! We saw the AT1 transients (Bigg’s) in the morning, and then found the AK6 matriline (residents) later in the afternoon. My first time seeing two killer whale subspecies in the same day!
My trip to Japan was a dream—northeastern Hokkaido is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
Japan’s Shiretoko Peninsula is every bit as magical as I hoped it would be. Here are some resident killer whales we saw yesterday in Nemuro Strait!
Hello from Japan! 🇯🇵 Day 1 highlights included a visit to the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. They have a fully articulated western gray whale and a North Pacific right whale, as well as various other skeletons and specimens.
