Author: Miguel Serrato
Date:
February 28, 2023
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no, it’s Octo-Girl! Dr. Chelsea Bennice, or “Octo-Girl”, is the new Postdoctoral researcher helping to guide our Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Marine SEA Scholars, and we are so grateful to have her join our team! She has been studying and photographing octopuses for over 10 years, and with over 1000 hours of underwater research, she has been dubbed “Octo-Girl” by the local diving community.
Her expertise and passion for scientific outreach and communication aligns perfectly with our missions to both engage in research and educate the public about our findings. Dr. Bennice’s goal, simply, is to improve environmental literacy and ocean stewardship in our community. Not everyone chooses to become a marine biologist; yet, we know that most in our community are curious and care about local marine ecosystems. The FAU Marine Lab is always looking for better and more engaging ways to communicate science, and as a new addition, Bennice brings an enthusiasm for technology, interactive approaches, and virtual resources to reach a broader audience. She is new to sea turtles but will be learning more about them as the 2023 season gets underway.
Bennice has many responsibilities in her new role in the FAU Marine Lab, including overseeing public education/outreach projects and mentoring students. Additionally, she is a lead scientific diver and member of FAU’s Diving and Boating Board. She also serves as the lead scientific advisor for the nonprofit, OctoNation®, whose mission to inspire ocean exploration and conservation by understanding octopuses.
Dr. Bennice’s expertise is in the biology of octopuses. (The plural of octopus is not octopi!) She studies several “octo-topics” including the octopus skin microbiome conducted in collaboration with microbiologists from Nova Southeastern University. She also studies octopus behavior at the Blue Heron Bridge located within the Lake Worth Lagoon, a site that Dr. Bennice considers home. She is never bored with what she finds. On one of her most memorable dives, she picked up shells outside an octopus’s den to study its feeding habits, only to have the octopus reach out and pull the shells back! Then, to her surprise, it pounced on her camera to check out its home invader!
Dr. Bennice is involved with a diversity of projects. To stay effective, she strives to be mindful and take time to herself. In her free time, she still likes to get outside, get in a good workout, SCUBA dive at Blue Heron Bridge (yes, that is play too!), and practice underwater photography.
