A Sea of Glass: Searching for the Blaschkas' Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk

Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka were a remarkable father-and-son team of naturalist glassblowers working in 19th-century Germany. They created hundreds of glass marine invertebrates commissioned by universities in Europe and the United States for use as teaching collections. Working from illustrations in books as well as live specimens housed in their own aquaria, they received regular shipments of living sea animals from Trieste, Italy; Kiel, Germany; and Weymouth, England. Harvell (biology, Cornell) embarked on diving expeditions to survey the oceans off Friday Harbor, WA; Liguria, Italy; and other sites to compare the numbers and diversity of living populations with those of 160 years ago. Readers are introduced to the anatomy, physiology, and ecological relationships of such animals as anemones, corals, jellyfish, octopuses, tubeworms, and sea slugs. Unfortunately, Harvell discovered, the increasing acidity of the oceans owing to high levels of carbon dioxide, overfishing and pollution has greatly reduced the numbers and types of animals living today. The author makes an eloquent plea for marine biodiversity conservation.