How can I become a marine biologist?
There are many steps in the process to become a marine biologist, and many people start at a very young age, laying the groundwork for their college educations. The first and foremost step is an interest in marine life and the oceans, as being a marine biologist would not be very enjoyable if you weren’t interested in your study subjects. Marine biologists study ocean life, ranging from huge whales to tiny planktonic organisms. They have access to some of the most interesting places in the world, including hydrothermal vents, which host bizarre organisms that use chemosynthesis for energy. The ocean is a largely unexplored territory, which means that there is a lot of work to be done in marine biology, from monitoring the populations of commercial fisheries to studying global ocean temperatures and their effect on marine life. If you want to become a marine biologist, you should start as early as possible because there’s a lot of math and science to absorb. In high school, taking class
Three Really, Really Bad Reasons to Want to Be a Marine Biologist Reason Number One: “I want to be a marine biologist so that I can talk to dolphins.” Believing this is simply the Kiss of Death. This is the verbal equivalent of reaching down your throat, pulling out your own intestines, wrapping them around your neck and choking yourself. When we hear this our impulse is to thwack you a good one on your keester with the frozen haddock we keep within arm’s reach just for this occasion. And why is that? It is because, and please listen carefully, while you may want to talk to dolphins, dolphins do not want to talk to you. That’s right. Mostly, dolphins want to eat fishes and have sex with other dolphins. And that pretty much cuts you out of the loop, doesn’t it? Oh, I know that there are the occasional dolphins that hang around beaches, swim with humans and seem to be chummy, but these are the exceptions. You don’t judge the whole human race by the people who attend monster car rallies,
