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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 14, 2005 Under The Sea Members of the Oscar Elton Sette towboard team film the bottom of a coral reef, analyzing the ecosystem and its fish. Courtesy photo | Joe Laughlin Ashland grad has one heck of a fish tale By Alan Panebaker Tidings Correspondent Catching up with marine biologist and 1998 Ashland High graduate Joe Laughlin isn’t easy. Sunday afternoon he was on his way to Guam in three hours for another coral reef study for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The male pseudojuloides laughlini (at top) is a completely new species of pseudojuloides wrasse, while the smaller female appears similar to a fish that has been described in the past. Courtesy photo | Joe Laughlin These trips are what he does, according to his mother Allison, and apparently he is terrible about returning e-mails when he’s at sea. One thing Laughlin is not terrible at, however, is identifying fish. He just discovered a new subspecies of fish near the Marianas Island of Maug — north of Guam. And Pseudojuloides laughlini doesn’t seem to mind taking its scientific name from a 25-year-old Oregonian. “Basically what we do is show up at an isolated island,” Laughlin said. “Then we only have a couple of days to see what’s going on in the coral reef.” Laughlin, who graduated from the University of Hawaii-Hilo with a bachelor’s degree in biology, is now a coral reef systems specialist with NOAA. He spends the majority of his time on a 230-foot research boat called the Oscar Elton Sette studying footage and snapshots of coral reefs, trying to identify fish and assess the health of the ecosystem. Laughlin and his partner gather this information as they are dragged behind the research boat on contraptions that are essentially underwater kites, Laughlin said. “We’re basically towing like a lure,” Laughlin said. As Laughlin floats along 10 to 130 feet below the ocean surface, he films — with an underwater video camera — all of the marine activity taking place in the coral reef below. Meanwhile, his co-worker on the “kite” next door takes snapshots with a still camera of the same thing. Later, they go back and analyze what kind of fish are swimming in the reef and how the ecosystem is surviving. Thus, Pseudojuloides laughlini was discovered. This new fish is one of some 300 species of wrasse found worldwide on coral reefs. Most wrasse have brilliant colors and feed on invertebrates. Some even munch on parasites of larger fish according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. When not filming fish, Laughlin and the other marine biologists also measure things such as wave height and water temperature as factors in the health of the fragile coral reef ecosystem, he said. “It’s like this massive snapshot of every marine process going on in these places,” Laughlin said. Most of the places Laughlin investigates are the U.S.-possessed islands in the Pacific Ocean. Along with research gathered through towing behind the Oscar Elton Sette, Laughlin and his crew launch smaller vessels and do standard “drop dives” with a rope attached to the boat to asses the reef and its fish. “I guess the best part of my job is being able to go to places people never go,” Laughlin said. “Like all of these unknown islands.” Laughlin said he first got into diving here in Ashland during his junior year of high school. According to family and friends, fish and water have always been natural points of interest for the Ashland local. “He’s a dynamite fish identifier,” Joe’s mother Allison said. Tom Giacomimi, Joe’s friend of more than a decade and a carpenter in Ashland, said, “I swear the guy’s a fish. When we were younger, every lake, every river, he was swimming in it the whole time.” While Giacomimi said Laughlin was always naturally good at school and outgoing, his best description of Joe was, “He was the type of guy who would do a backflip off a 70-foot cliff and stick it.” For now, Laughlin is back on the Oscar Elton Sette on his way to the Wake Atoll — an inactive underwater volcano in the South Pacific — to study the reef surrounding the Lithia Park-sized atoll. One can bet he is enjoying every minute of it. “My specialty has always been fish,” Laughlin said. “Just for fun.” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams