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
"Their bumpy skin and blushing protrusions wouldn't look out of place on a teenager's acne-ridden face but, even so, they were quite adorable"
You might think that finding a bubble-gum pink animal in the middle of the blue ocean would be a piece of cake. But you'd be wrong. Melissa Hobson travels to the Coral Triangle to meet a pygmy seahorse
Bigger than Germany, it hides 65 underwater mountains and bizarre deep-sea creatures, including a deadly predator with needle-like teeth
They’re 750 miles long, up to 2.4 miles tall and are home to long-legged sea spiders and deep-sea fish with mouths crammed with haunting teeth
“Bubbles are coming up all over the place.” One mile below the surface of the ocean, it fizzes like Champagne
A rare phenomenon is happening on an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean – amazing scientists
It's 80km long, 10km wide and thousands of metres deep. Now, robots are revealing the extraordinarily strange creatures that live in its darkest depths
Australia’s Bass Canyon is thousands of metres deep and its dark waters are home to many mysterious marine creatures
Deep sea robot discovered bizarre ‘forest’ full of eerie animals 2,442 metres deep, astonishing scientists
The deep-sea landscape seems so odd that it wouldn’t look out of place in a cartoon
"Just keep swimming." Shark expert tags largest fish on the planet off New England coast
Tagging sharks and other marine animals can help scientists understand the reasons behind their migrations.
3 miles down in the ocean deep-sea robot discovered a bizarre world that shouldn't exist – where water reaches 401°C
The Beebe Vent Field in the Cayman Trough is home to the world’s deepest known hydrothermal vents
It’s 5 miles deep, 3,500 miles long and home to strange creatures, underwater landslides and fish that melt at the surface
Stretching for thousands of miles off the coast of South America and plunging five miles beneath the Pacific, the Atacama Trench is a mysterious underwater world of bizarre creatures, geological wonders and powerful forces that could trigger devastating tsunamis
It’s 2,000 years old, half a mile long and paved with giant slabs – but why is this mysterious road at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea?
“We settle on the seabed just shy of 150m – deeper than the London Eye is tall.” What’s it like to journey down to the deep sea?
What’s it like going 150m below the surface of the sea? Melissa Hobson finds out
This apex predator is at risk of overheating in our oceans – here’s why
Are all fish cold-blooded? The answer is more complicated than you'd think
Experts thought these animals might be extinct. Now, 1,000 have been released into the wild
Conservationists have been releasing Jamaican rock iguanas into the wild for the past decade.
When this WWII seaplane was discovered by a fisherman in 1994, an array of dazzling animals were found hiding in the wreck
The Jake seaplane rests in shallow water off the coast of Palau in the western Pacific Ocean. How it got there is a mystery
It's the size of Switzerland and an astonishing 20 million years old. The world's largest underwater island that's teeming with whales
It’s nearly 200 miles from the nearest land but this spectacular seagrass haven is home to sperm whales, whale sharks, dolphins and more
Scientists lowered a baited camera 1,054m into the Caribbean Sea, then this appeared out of the darkness
In 2024, researchers captured footage of numerous roughskin dogfish in the central Caribbean Sea – the first time the deep-sea species has been recorded there.
Crocodile fish ARE real – and they can create a deadly vortex that sucks prey right into their gaping mouths
The scary-sounding crocodile fish is actually shy and “will likely bolt upon seeing a human,” researchers say
10-year-old boy tags rare black stork near Chernobyl then tracks it in motorhome. This is what he discovered
Noah Beshto is on a mission to learn more about one of the planet's most mysterious birds.
Expedition team surrounded by hundreds of flying foxes in Madagascan forest
Madagascar's fruit bats play an important role in helping forests recover.
"Invisible armour and giant eyes…" It can grow to the size of a human hand, swims through the ocean unseen and lives at depths of around 1,500 metres
Open water animals in the deep sea are dangerously exposed to predators but this one swims through the ocean totally unseen thanks to some special attributes.
Researchers dropped a camera into a murky river in the Amazon – then a rare and peculiar animal appeared
A pod of enigmatic creatures emerged from the darkness and began playing in front of the camera.
Night diver films ambush predator slithering over the seafloor in Indonesia
Footage captured near Komodo Island shows a marine file snake swimming slowly through the darkness.
It’s almost the size of the UK, incredibly dangerous and deep enough to swallow Mount Fuji and visited by one third of the world’s whales and dolphins
The Bay of Biscay is known for its rough waters and incredible wildlife watching opportunities
When this tunnel of swirling mist and air forms over the sea, move away fast!
A waterspout is a weather phenomenon in the same ‘family’ as tornadoes
The world is splitting apart here – and you can slip through the crack
It can flush divers through a narrow vertical drop, spitting them out around 16 metres deep”
