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530: A Living Highlighter

Jul 25, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 15 segments

Marine biologist Dr. Steven Haddock joins the show to share the alien, glowing, and transparent wonders of the deep ocean. We discuss his beautiful new book, *The Radiant Sea*, and explore the complex…

Marine biologist Dr. Steven Haddock joins the show to share the alien, glowing, and transparent wonders of the deep ocean. We discuss his beautiful new book, *The Radiant Sea*, and explore the complex engineering and high-sensitivity optics required to capture living deep-sea creatures. Steve walks us through the evolutionary logic of biological light, how vantablack organisms trap photons in the dark, the horizontal sun-compass navigation of jellyfish blooms, and what it's like to play games underwater with giant Pacific octopuses and jumbo squids. Dr. Steven Haddock is a Senior Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and an adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz. ### **Some related MBARI Videos** - Bioluminescence in the deep sea: How and why do animals create their own light? Steven Haddock explains the diverse and striking functions of light emission in the ocean's twilight zone. (So many pretty pictures!) - Mysteries of the Deep with Dr. Steve Haddock — Bioluminescence! Long-form lecture on the physics and evolutionary biology of bioluminescence. - Live Blackwater Diving Q&A with MBARI and Aquarium Scientists! | Into The Deep Q&A with scientists about diving in the middle of the ocean at night. - Rarely Encountered Seven-Arm Octopus in Monterey Bay: Footage captured by Steve Haddock and MBARI's Biooptics team shows an octopus with a jelly snack. ### **Discussion Resources & Links** **Steve's Books:** - The Radiant Sea: Color and Light in the Underwater World by Steven Haddock and Sönke Johnsen - Practical Computing for Biologists by Steven Haddock and Casey Dunn **Scientific & Marine Mentions:** - Steven Haddock's Wikipedia Page - Steven's MBARI home page. His lab is the Biodiversity and Biooptics Lab - Electric Disco Clams Exist—Watch Them Light Up This Coral Reef | National Geographic ### Why is she like this? - Disco Snails (Official Video) - Music ### More neat creature videos - Jelly-like Siphonophores Astound with Breathtaking Beauty: A close-up collection of the incredibly complex, colonial siphonophores that Steve mentioned, showing off their bizarre structures and flowing shapes in the pitch black. - How the Disco Clam Uses Light to Fight Super-Strong Predators: See the "electric" flashing effects inside the disco clam's mantle up close, alongside an explanation of how their silica spheres scatter ambient light to startle predators. - Absurd Creatures: Comb Jellies Are Ready to Rave – A fun, fast-paced video exploring the "Skittles" rainbow iridescence caused by the moving rows of cilia on ctenophores under white submersible lights. Transcript

Marine biologist Dr. Steven Haddock joins the show to share the alien, glowing, and transparent wonders of the deep ocean. We discuss his beautiful new book, *The Radiant Sea*, and explore the complex…

Inside ‘The Radiant Sea’5:35 – 9:27

Elecia WhiteHost

5:35

Okay, let's talk about your book because I have been very excited about it.

Elecia WhiteHost

5:42

And because this is audio only, I'm going to need to describe all the photos in the book.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:47

Okay.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:49

A word is worth a thousand pictures.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:53

I mean, I guess, are you going to ask another question or do you want me to answer that one now? describe all the photos in the book.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:00

I mean, one thing about the photos in the book is that they're no CGI.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:05

They're all living animals, so they're in good shape.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:09

And that alone, I think, makes them unique in the domain of books about the deep sea.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:17

Because if you've ever seen a live deep sea organism, you immediately recognize that most of the pictures in the books are dead specimens.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:26

Their eyes have turned milky white.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:29

Their jaw is torn halfway off.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:30

Their skin is peeled away.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:34

They look basically like roadkill animals.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:38

And I always think of it like if you had a book about like the wildlife of Africa and it was a zebra that had been hit by a Land Rover and, you know, like tire tracks across its back.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:50

Um, that's what a lot of the depictions of deep sea animals are like.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:54

And so this book is a, is kind of an antidote to that, um,

Elecia WhiteHost

7:00

I mean, because jellyfish are kind of hard to get to the surface intact.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:04

Absolutely, yeah.

Elecia WhiteHost

7:06

They don't really come up in the nets so well.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:10

That's all very true.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:12

And so most of the people that I know, practically all the people I know who study jellyfish are also photographers because you don't have the luxury of just like throwing it in a jar and I'll look at it later when I get back to the museum.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:27

They're basically live animals.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:29

If you get them up with a submarine, which is what we do, or for the scuba diving, they're alive for a short window of time, unfortunately.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:37

And so you document them and what they look like and what their internal structures are by taking photographs of them.

Elecia WhiteHost

7:46

And your book has many jellyfish photographs, but it's also got larval eels and... octopus and all kinds of, yeah, the

Inside ‘The Radiant Sea’5:35 – 9:27

Elecia WhiteHost

5:35

Okay, let's talk about your book because I have been very excited about it.

Elecia WhiteHost

5:42

And because this is audio only, I'm going to need to describe all the photos in the book.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:47

Okay.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:49

A word is worth a thousand pictures.

Steve HaddockGuest

5:53

I mean, I guess, are you going to ask another question or do you want me to answer that one now? describe all the photos in the book.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:00

I mean, one thing about the photos in the book is that they're no CGI.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:05

They're all living animals, so they're in good shape.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:09

And that alone, I think, makes them unique in the domain of books about the deep sea.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:17

Because if you've ever seen a live deep sea organism, you immediately recognize that most of the pictures in the books are dead specimens.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:26

Their eyes have turned milky white.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:29

Their jaw is torn halfway off.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:30

Their skin is peeled away.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:34

They look basically like roadkill animals.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:38

And I always think of it like if you had a book about like the wildlife of Africa and it was a zebra that had been hit by a Land Rover and, you know, like tire tracks across its back.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:50

Um, that's what a lot of the depictions of deep sea animals are like.

Steve HaddockGuest

6:54

And so this book is a, is kind of an antidote to that, um,

Elecia WhiteHost

7:00

I mean, because jellyfish are kind of hard to get to the surface intact.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:04

Absolutely, yeah.

Elecia WhiteHost

7:06

They don't really come up in the nets so well.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:10

That's all very true.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:12

And so most of the people that I know, practically all the people I know who study jellyfish are also photographers because you don't have the luxury of just like throwing it in a jar and I'll look at it later when I get back to the museum.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:27

They're basically live animals.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:29

If you get them up with a submarine, which is what we do, or for the scuba diving, they're alive for a short window of time, unfortunately.

Steve HaddockGuest

7:37

And so you document them and what they look like and what their internal structures are by taking photographs of them.

Elecia WhiteHost

7:46

And your book has many jellyfish photographs, but it's also got larval eels and... octopus and all kinds of, yeah, the