Melissa Hobson
Marine science and conservation writer
Melissa Hobson, doing business as The Ocean Writer Ltd., is a marine science and conservation writer based in Hastings. She has written about the ocean for outlets including BBC Wildlife, BBC Countryfile, National Geographic, New Scientist and the Guardian. Visit Melissa’s website at melissahobson.co.uk or follow her on LinkedIn.
Recent articles by Melissa Hobson
It's as long as a stretched limo and swings its lethal chainsaw snout from side to side to slice its prey in half
Largetooth sawfish are one of the most unusual-looking creatures in the sea but their iconic snout also puts them at risk from humans
He thought he was just filming a strange sea creature – BUT then it did something completely unexpected…
Photographer Ian Haggerty stumbled across the bizarre-looking sea cucumber while exploring a reef.
Its name comes from the 'grunting' noise – like hungry pigs slurping their slop – made by the giant churning gyre that's claimed a dozen sailors' lives…
The Old Sow is the largest tidal whirlpool in the western hemisphere
Inside the incredible underwater cities, filled with apartment blocks, that stretch along a massive 150km of coastline
These snails stay in one spot for life and build tiny apartments that support lots of other sea creatures
"It oozes gross, sticky mucus that paralyses prey before sucking it back in…" A bizarre predator that's as long as a sperm whale, but as thin as tagliatelle
Bootlace worms are around as wide as a piece of tagliatelle but are said to grow longer than a blue whale
Deep-sea scientists filmed something hugely astonishing and very rarely seen gliding over the seafloor in Chile
Extraordinary footage of a mother squid carrying her eggs
“To rip off the tail only took a minute…" Insane, gobsmacking drone footage captures gigantic shark eating another shark in Florida
A photographer was astounded when her drone captured the moment a huge hammerhead pounced on a reef shark.
When marine scientists found a plastic bottle floating in the ocean, they were shocked to see this large creature living inside, unable to escape…
Marine scientists were shocked to find a large live crab stuck inside a small plastic bottle. This is how it got there
Researchers tag 42 sleeping giants in Arctic Circle – and make breathtaking discovery
Scientists wanted to find out why sperm whales sometimes release bubbles while they snooze – this is what they found.
Scientists tied plastic bottles to fishing nets – and couldn't believe what happened next…
Hundreds of dolphins die in fishing nets every year. How adding this one thing to nets s could help save them
They sound like spaceships! Polar researchers capture otherworldly footage of seal mum and pup beneath the ice
Researchers in Antarctica have shared a charming video of a Weddell seal teaching her new pup to swim under the ice.
This deep-sea creature looks like a crocodile, is named after a whale and appears bright scarlet
This deep-sea creature has several different forms, each one so different from the next that scientists thought they were three separate families
Arctic bobtail squid seen alive in natural habitat for first time ever
Arctic bobtail squid had never been observed in there natural environment before – and scientists even saw egg masses around the mature female.
"I didn’t know what I was looking at": drone films one of the strangest and rarest animals on the planet
The bizarre-looking wedgefish was one of several animals spotted swimming in a group through Shark Bay, says Wildlife videographer Jake Mason.
"This is very rare.” Marine scientists amazed to see enormous sea creature do this in broad daylight – it's usually only witnessed at night
Drone captures Greenland ice tearing open to reveal colossal animal beneath
The gigantic marine creature can be seen breaking through the ice to take several breaths of air before returning to the deep.
There's a curious creature on the Massachusetts coast that's taught itself to poop on demand. This is why
A new study reveals that hermit crabs have a clever way of preventing themselves from outgrowing their shell too quickly – and it’s not by limiting what they eat.
It was presumed dead for 60 years. Then scientists sent an underwater drone into the deep and saw this
After identifying a deep-sea coral garden off West Africa in the 1960s, researchers thought it was dead so didn’t explore it – until now.
"Their stonking size led to rumours that they can snap shut in an instant, trapping poor divers who snuck their arm inside to steal a pearl…"
These colossal clams were rumoured to kill humans but the opposite is true – climate change, pollution and overharvesting are pushing them to the brink
It’s 4,500 years old, 180km across and cloned itself from a single seedling – meet the largest, most humongous plant on the planet
discover the seagrass meadow that had been hiding a secret for thousands of years.
Scientists looked at Antarctica from the air. What they saw has them worried
Using satellite and drone images to analyse Adélie penguin guano, researchers discovered that the seabirds eat more fish when there is more sea ice and more krill when there was less ice. Here's why that's concerning
This weird fish has a hedge-trimmer for a face. Scientists have just discovered something shocking about it
Scientists assessed how vulnerable sharks and rays around the world are to climate threats and the largetooth sawfish came out top
There's something strange that's twice the size of Vatican City – and like nothing else on Earth – living in a Scottish loch
Serpulid worms are found all around the world but reefs are rare. The largest of them all is in the shallow waters of a Scottish Loch
This adorable animal has a bizarre body part – and a hidden camera just caught it showing it off
Striped possums have a shockingly long tongue to help them scoop insects out of their hiding places.
