Steve O'Shea (born 14 December 1965 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand) is a

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit 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 clas ...

and

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

known for his research on

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

. 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 (), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental sciences. It also maintai ...

(NIWA) in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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; ) 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 is New Zealand's third largest university i ...

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 that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

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 Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : 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 name and ...

, particularly

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

and

colossal squid The colossal squid (''Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni'') is a species of very large squid belonging to the family Cranchiidae, that of the cockatoo squids or glass squids. It is sometimes called the Antarctic cranch squid or giant squid (not to b ...

s, 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 Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Media appearances

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

Species named by Steve O'Shea

* '' Cirroctopus hochbergi'' O'Shea, 1999 * ''

Cirroteuthis kirrilyae ''Cirroteuthis muelleri'', also known as the big-finned jellyhead, was the first cirrate octopus species (and genus) to be scientifically described (in 1836). It is closely related to the genus ''Cirrothauma'' within the family Cirroteuthidae. T ...

'' Verhoeff & O'Shea, 2025 * '' Grimpoteuthis abyssicola'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Grimpoteuthis angularis'' Verhoeff & O'Shea, 2022 * '' Grimpoteuthis innominata'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Grimpoteuthis greeni'' Verhoeff & O'Shea, 2022 * '' Luteuthis dentatus'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Luteuthis shuishi'' O'Shea & Lu, 2002 * '' Muusoctopus tegginmathae'' (O'Shea, 1999) * '' Octopus kaharoa'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Opisthoteuthis chathamensis'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Opisthoteuthis mero'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Opisthoteuthis robsoni'' O'Shea, 1999 * '' Robsonella mernoo'' (O'Shea, 1999) * ''

Thaumeledone marshalli ''Thaumeledone'' is a genus of octopuses in the family Octopodidae found in deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Characteristics Members of this genus are found in deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere. They are small, squat-bodied, benthic ...

'' O'Shea, 1999 * ''

Thaumeledone zeiss ''Thaumeledone'' is a genus of octopuses in the family Octopodidae found in deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Characteristics Members of this genus are found in deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere. They are small, squat-bodied, benthic ...

'' O'Shea, 1999

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'' (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