Steve O'Shea (born 14 December 1965 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand) is a

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies sp ...

and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

known for his research on

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family (biology), family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of deep-sea gigantism, abyssal gigantism: recent estimates ...

. O'Shea obtained his degrees from Auckland university. He undertook a Bachelor of Science between 1984 and 1988. He graduated with an M.Sc. in 1990. The title of his 1998 doctoral thesis was ''New Zealand Octopoda (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) : systematics''. He began work with the giant squid whilst working for the

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA ( mi, Taihoro Nukurangi), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental scienc ...

(NIWA) in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in 1996. He became the Director of the Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute at the

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...

in 2005, and was a

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

Quest Scholar. In 2009 he resigned from his Discovery Quest position to focus his research on coastal conservation, environmental matters and postgraduate supervision and teaching; despite this he has remained active in squid research, but is best known (in the popular press) for his involvement with large

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda ( Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, ...

taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

, particularly

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

and colossal squids, and their preservation. In 2011 he resigned from his position at the Auckland University of Technology. O'Shea has published extensively on cephalopods, fisheries, whale diet and shallow subtidal coastal ecology. He presently resides in Sydney.

Media appearances

O'Shea has appeared in over 13 documentaries on squid, whales and the oceans.

Eponymy

Six marine species have been named after O'Shea to honour his contribution to science: *'' Awhiowhio osheai'' (sponge) *'' Brucerolis osheai'' (isopod) *'' Calvetia osheai'' (bryozoan) *'' Gonodactylellus osheai'' (mantis shrimp) *''

Magnoteuthis osheai ''Magnoteuthis'' is a genus of whip-lash squid containing at least three species. Some teuthologists consider '' Idioteuthis'' or '' Mastigoteuthis'' synonymous with this taxon, but it is genetically and morphologically distinct. Species *Genu ...

'' (squid) *'' Vulcanolepas osheai'' (deep-sea barnacle)Buckeridge, J.S. 2000. ''Neolepas osheai'' sp. nov., a new deep‐sea vent barnacle (Cirripedia: Pedunculata) from the Brothers Caldera, south‐west Pacific Ocean, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 34:3, 409–418.

References

External links

Steve O'Shea web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshea, Steve 1965 births Living people New Zealand biologists Teuthologists University of Auckland alumni