They come in all shapes and sizes, but aquatic macroinvertebrates represent an important component of the food webs in streams. Whether its damselfly nymphs, crayfish or web-spinning caddisflies, these spineless organisms are a fascinating group of animals that are easy to overlook in favor of larger, more traditionally charismatic animals like fish, salamanders and aquatic mammals.

In this episode, we plunge into the oft-overlooked world of "water bugs," from where they live and why they matter to some of our favorites to meet while working in the streams of Southern Appalachia.

Learn more about Freshwaters Illustrated's film Hidden Rivers at https://www.freshwatersillustrated.org/hidden-rivers https://www.freshwatersillustrated.org/hidden-rivers

Episode Cast

• ​Casey Phillips, host and terrestrial vertebrate
• ​Rose Segbers, senior entomologist
• ​Cody Beavers, aquarist II
• ​Helaina Gomez, watershed conservation coordinator

Plastic pollution is a beachside menace on shorelines all over our planet. With a literal garbage truck worth of this manufactured waste entering the ocean every minute, this can seem like problem with no end much less a solution.

Fifteen years ago, Oregon-based artistic collective, Washed Ashore, found a more productive way to reuse plastic trash recovered from its coastline. By feeding this erstwhile waste into the hands of talented artists, Washed Ashore gives it new life as the skin, scale, fur and feathers of animals at scales that mirror plastic's impact on aquatic ecosystems the world over.

In this episode, we chat with Brad Parks, Washed Ashore's conservation and education director, about how these amazing sculptures are created, how he hopes they're received by the public and what animals he's still waiting to see rendered as plasticized art.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host and reluctantly frequent user of plastic products
• Brad Parks, conservation/education director of Washed Ashore

Like anything humans try to do beneath the surface, underwater filmmaking poses a slew of challenges beyond those of terrestrial videography. Few people understand that as well as Tim Geers, who has decades of experience filming aquatic productions bound for the largest of screens and the smallest.

In addition to more than 20 years contributing to the Emmy Award-nominated web series, Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Geers also served as second unit director on the giant-screen film, Call of the Dolphins 3D.

In this episode, Geers joins host Casey Phillips in the studio dive cage to discuss why dolphin behavior endears them to humans, his philosophy about teaching the next generation of filmmakers and how his life goals align with those of a famous figure in the sci-fi epic Blade Runner.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host and fan of Jonathan Bird's Blue World
• Tim Geers, underwater cinematographer

Considering it's one of the building blocks of life, it's ironic how dangerous water can be to the ill-equipped. And when it comes to deep water, humans are about as under-prepared for survival as it's possible to be.

Fortunately, despite our pitiful lung capacity and lack of fins, we're blessed with a heap of curiosity and ingenuity, which has given rise over the millennia to a variety of methods to explore beneath the surface. Absent a submarine in your backyard, the most accessible means of spending time underwater is the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (aka SCUBA).

Here at the Aquarium, we dive all the time, whether it's to clean or enact repairs to our massive exhibits, to feed the animals or just to engage with the public. On this episode of the podcast, two of our senior dive specialist join one of our newest certified staff divers to explain what it's like experiencing the Aquarium from the other side of the acrylic and why it's worth all the work to earn your fins.

Episode cast

Want to dive with us?

Learn more about how to become a volunteer diver and apply at: ⁠https://tnaqua.org/volunteer/scuba-diver/

Resources

The world's smallest sturgeon species, the Syr Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon, is found in muddy rivers flowing through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia. It tops out at a diminutive 9 inches long.

But the thing is, it hasn't been seen in more than 60 years.

In this episode of the podcast, two of our scientists, Dr. Bernie Kuhajda and Dr. Dave Neely, and graduate student Christian Swartzbaugh discuss a recent trip they made to Uzbekistan as part of the Search for Lost Species. Their quest? To ascertain whether the Syr Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon is still around or if it has gone extinct.

From clandestine show-and-tells of preserved specimens in back alleys to adhesive catfish to self-destructing dirty diapers, this one's got it all.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, senior communications specialist, host and sturgeon stan
• Dr. Bernie Kuhajda, aquatic conservation biologist
• Dr. Dave Neely, adjunct scientist
• Christian Swartzbaugh, graduate student, University of Georgia

In the early 2000s, the Tennessee Aquarium was closing out its first decade on the river with plans underway for a major expansion: the Ocean Journey building. At the same time, two other nearby institutions were in the midst of their own major expansions. The three joined forces, under the leadership of former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (then mayor of Chattanooga) to embark on a combined campaign for funding.

The plan worked, and these expansions were important facets of an even larger plan to transform Chattanooga's riverfront experience: the 21st Century Waterfront Plan.

Twenty years later, Sen. Corker popped by the Studio Dive Cage to talk about the origins of the Plan, the perpetual optimism with which it was realized and the continuing impact it's having on the Aquarium's hometown so many years later.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host, senior communications specialist, resident of Chattanooga
• Bob Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga and two-term U.S. Senator
• Todd Womack, Corker's former senatorial chief of staff, current president/CEO of Bridge Public Affairs

After eight years under the leadership of former president & CEO, Keith Sanford, the Tennessee Aquarium has welcomed a new chief executive: Andy Wood. With more than 14 years of leadership experience at the Florida Aquarium and Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, Wood is bringing a wealth of knowledge of the zoo and aquarium world to bear in his new role.

In this episode, we get to know a lot more about him, from the animal that best reflects his personality and how he thinks the aquarium benefits the community (and vice versa) to why working in a land-locked state reminds him how interconnected all water -- and life -- on earth really is.

Episode cast

• Casey Phillips, senior communications specialist and host
• Andy Wood, president & CEO

From much-maligned pigeons and purportedly "wise" owls to noble raptors and cereal hawking toucans, birds are one of the world's most diverse, widespread class of animals.

To many of us, birds are so much a part of our lives that we often fail to notice or appreciate them. Such is definitely not the case for the special guest of this episode, the Aquarium's curator of forests, Kevin Calhoon.

In this episode, we chat about all things birding, from how to do it and what equipment to invest in to Kevin's far-flung adventures in search of rogue swans and other rare or out-of-place avians.

Additional resources:

The Christmas Bird Count 101 and winter birds in Chattanooga: https://youtu.be/Xqk8gCmpqbc?si=jZVzxV_7lnZ8YmKf

Kevin Talks About The Joy of Birding:

https://youtu.be/aReP4q4uYE0?si=MbwNHWSClqo3wLmI

Episode cast

Casey Phillips, senior communications specialist, host and bird appreciator Kevin Calhoon, curator of forests