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Bobbie Cost | Marine Biologist

@bobbie.cost

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Marine Science • Conservation • Everyday Life
Creator of Unwritten Seas
↓ Stories Waiting to Surface

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The ocean is full of stories we haven’t finished telling.

For a while, I’ve struggled to figure out exactly what I wanted a space like this to be. I knew I wanted somewhere to share the science I’m learning, the conservation issues I care about, the animals that have fascinated me for years, and the moments I’ve been fortunate enough to experience and photograph myself. I just hadn’t found a way to bring all of those pieces together in a way that felt right.

Unwritten Seas finally feels like that place.

A place for stories about the species we’re still learning to understand, changing ecosystems, conservation efforts, and our complicated relationship with the wild.

Through marine science, conservation, and photography, I’ll explore the lives beneath the surface and the challenges shaping their future.

Some stories will come from research. Others from conservation, photography, and experiences in the field.
And some are still waiting to surface.

Check out the link in my bio 🖤

#UnwrittenSeas #MarineScience #Conservation #ScienceCommunication #Photography by @bobbie.cost

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15 days ago

October on Lake Erie 🖤
#Ohio #LakeErie #NaturePhotography by @bobbie.cost

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7 hours ago

For generations, sharks have been given fairly simple roles.

The monster beneath the surface.
The mindless predator.
More recently, the victim in need of saving.

But none of those stories can describe more than 500 species.

Sharks differ in how they hunt, learn, socialize, reproduce, move through the ocean, and respond to human pressures. And while shark finning remains a serious conservation issue, the larger story extends far beyond fins—to fishing pressure, bycatch, international trade, and the biology that makes some populations far more vulnerable than others.

Understanding sharks doesn’t mean pretending they’re harmless. And protecting them doesn’t require turning them into something they’re not.

Maybe sharks don’t need another simple story.

They need us to let them remain complicated. 🦈

📖 The Shark We Think We Know: Fear, Fins, and the Conservation Story We’re Missing

Read the full article at UnwrittenSeas.com 🔗 link in bio.

#Sharks #SharkConservation #Fin #Jaws #UnwrittenSeas by @bobbie.cost

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6 days ago

Most people know Keiko as the orca from Free Willy.

For me, his story has always been a little more personal.

Like many Millennials, Free Willy was my first real introduction to orcas. I remember watching that small tank, the connection between Jesse and Willy, and that final jump to freedom.

Somewhere in that story, a childhood dream started. I wanted to become a marine biologist.

Years later, I find myself coming back to Keiko but this time with a very different understanding of his story.

The movie ended with a jump to freedom.

Keiko’s story didn’t.

After years in captivity, Keiko underwent rehabilitation in Oregon and Iceland, learned to catch live fish, explored the North Atlantic, and encountered wild orcas.

Then, in 2002, he traveled roughly 1,000 miles to Norway without his caretakers accompanying or feeding him.

But Keiko never fully integrated into a wild pod. He was free to leave, yet continued returning to people.

His story became something far more complicated than simply a “success” or “failure.”

And maybe that’s part of why writing this one meant so much to me. The whale who helped inspire my dream of becoming a marine biologist also left behind some of the most difficult questions about captivity, rehabilitation, and what freedom actually means.

🐋 Keiko didn’t give us easy answers.
He gave us better questions.

📖 Read the full story at UnwrittenSeas.com — link in bio.

#Keiko #FreeWilly #Orca #KillerWhale #MarineBiologist UnwrittenSeas by @bobbie.cost

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11 days ago

Last night Brian and I saw RUSH at Rocket Arena! The show was amazing! They sounded great and Anika totally killed it on the drums. If they have a stop near you, I highly recommend you go! You won’t regret it!

#RUSH #CLE #SlappaDaBass by @bobbie.cost

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13 days ago

3 Seconds.

That’s all it took to make the day MAGICAL 💙

My first time witnessing a humpback breach in person.

I’ve seen this moment in photographs and videos countless times but nothing quite prepares you for seeing it happen right in front of you.

Just… WOW. 💙

#HumpbackWhale #WhaleWatching #WildlifePhotography #Breach #UnwrittenSeas taken in Gansbaai, Western Cape by @bobbie.cost

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14 days ago

Who gets the salmon? 🐟🫍

For resident killer whales, catching a fish doesn’t always mean eating it alone.

A new study published in Marine Mammal Science used drone imagery to get a closer look at prey sharing among Northern and Southern Resident killer whales.

Researchers observed prey sharing in approximately 59% of Northern Resident and 42% of Southern Resident predation events. They also distinguished between active and passive forms of sharing, offering a closer look at how food moves between individuals within these highly social populations.

The differences between the two populations don’t necessarily mean one is more “generous” than the other. Instead, they raise interesting questions about how prey availability, family relationships, and foraging ecology may shape when and how killer whales share a meal.

My newest Unwritten Seas article takes a closer look at the study:

Sharing the Catch: What Drones Are Revealing About Prey Sharing in Resident Killer Whales

📖 Full article at Unwritten Seas — link in bio.

#Orcas #SRKW #NRKW #MarineScience #UnwrittenSeas by @bobbie.cost

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15 days ago

Seeing @ironmaiden in Hershey, PA last night was AWESOME!
The production, the performance, the crowd 🤯
Bruce’s vocals at 68 are beyond amazing!

This show was well worth the almost 6 hour drive!

#IronMaiden #Hershey #LiveMusic #RunForYourLivesWorldTour by @bobbie.cost

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17 days ago

It’s been 25 years since September 11, 2001, and for some reason, this year’s anniversary is hitting me harder than most.

Maybe it’s because I’ve now been to New York City and stood in the place where so many people lost their lives. I’ve read the names surrounding the reflecting pools and felt the way the atmosphere changes there.

New York is loud, busy, and constantly moving, but in that space, the noise seems to fade. It’s eerily quiet.

I’ve stood looking into the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. I’ve eaten at O’Hara’s, just a block away, surrounded by patches and memorabilia left by first responders from around the world. Being there makes something I first experienced through a television screen feel much more real.

I was 12 years old and on a field trip on September 11, 2001. I remember being told we had to return to school because something was happening in New York that could impact all of us. I remember hearing about planes hitting the towers and wondering where another might go next.

When I finally got home, I watched the footage. I watched the second plane hit. I watched the towers fall. I watched people running as clouds of dust and smoke swallowed the streets behind them.

I knew I was watching something horrible, but at 12, I couldn’t comprehend what those images truly represented.

2,977 lives lost. Thousands of families changed forever. First responders running toward buildings everyone else was desperately trying to escape. Passengers aboard Flight 93 fighting back. Survivors and first responders still suffering from illnesses related to that day.

Maybe part of getting older is understanding events you lived through differently.

At 12, 9/11 was the feeling that something unimaginably bad was happening. As an adult, I see the people. The names etched into the memorial. The empty places left in families. The people who went to work or boarded a plane on an ordinary Tuesday morning and never came home.

Standing at Ground Zero connected the images I remembered to a real place, real names, and thousands of individual human stories.

Maybe that’s why 25 years feels heavier.

May we never forget, 9/11/2001 🇺🇸 by @bobbie.cost

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23 days ago

If your reading list tends to involve fins, flukes, tentacles, or conservation, here are five books from my shelf worth checking out📚

🐙 The Soul of an Octopus — Sy Montgomery
A fascinating and surprisingly emotional look at octopus intelligence, personality, and our relationships with other species. A great blend of science and storytelling.

🦈 Orca — Richard Peirce
Peirce explores the disappearance of great whites from Gansbaai, South Africa, and the role of the now-famous orcas Port and Starboard. An interesting look at what happens when the presence of one apex predator changes the behavior of another.

🖤 A Puget Sound Orca in Captivity — Sandra Pollard
A difficult but important look at the capture and captivity of Lolita (Tokitae), a Southern Resident orca taken from Puget Sound in 1970. Her story puts a deeply personal face on the history of orca captures and the captivity debate that continues today.

🫍 Endangered Orcas — Monika Wieland Shields
A great introduction to the Southern Resident killer whales, their families, and the interconnected threats they face—including declining Chinook salmon, contaminants, and vessel disturbance.

🪸 Life on the Rocks — Juli Berwald
Part science and part memoir, this explores coral reefs, climate change, resilience, and conservation. A reminder that protecting marine life also means protecting the ecosystems they depend on.

Five books. A lot of ocean. 🌊

Some are scientific, some personal, and some confront difficult parts of our relationship with marine wildlife—but each offers something worth thinking about.

#Books #Orcas #Sharks #MarineBiology #Conservation by @bobbie.cost

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a month ago

Taking a break from this week’s grad school assignments for a selfie 🙃 Still getting used to the bangs but kind of digging ‘em.

*says “AI content” because I edited out the phone reflection from my glasses 🙄 by @bobbie.cost

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a month ago

I’ve waited a long time for a moment like this. 🦈

Getting into the ocean off of Gansbaai and seeing Bronze Whaler sharks (Carcharhinus brachyurus) swimming just feet away from me was absolutely incredible!

I’ve spent so much time learning about marine life, studying the ocean, and imagining what it would be like to experience these animals in their own environment. Actually being in the water with them was something completely different. The excitement of seeing that first shark appear beneath the surface is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

For me, this was more than just a cage dive. It was finally getting to experience the ocean life I’ve spent so much time learning about firsthand and I loved every second of it. 🦈💙

Such a wonderful experience at @marinedynamicsacademy and @marinedynamics 🖤 I really can’t wait to go back!

#CageDive #Sharks #SouthAfrica #MarineBiologist #SaveTheSharks by @bobbie.cost

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a month ago