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
“Its prey was still alive.” Photographer captures blue dragons feeding in unbelievable detail
A nature photographer in Gran Canaria captured hypnotic close-up footage of blue dragon nudibranchs feasting on prey.
Can whales and dolphins crossbreed?
Interbreeding between different cetacean species is extremely rare but has been known to happen
Photographer spots snow leopard in remote Indian mountains. He wasn’t expecting it to do this
Life can be tough for these rare predators, but they still find time to enjoy themselves...
Scientists record world's longest underwater timelapse. What is reveals is astonishing
The 1,000-day underwater timelapse, recorded on an urban reef in Miami, shows corals bleaching before making a miraculous recovery.
Ginormous king penguin colony filmed on remote Atlantic island. The sound of it is ear-splitting
Listen to the remarkable sound of thousands of penguins calling to each other in South Georgia.
Florida's 'spinning' sawfish were in trouble. Now, scientists think they may have hope
An area of the Indian River Lagoon in Florida may be providing suitable habitat for juvenile smalltooth sawfish, suggesting there is hope for the recovery of the critically endangered species.
Baited camera dropped to Pacific seabed. Then this happened
Scientists use weights to keep their camera equipment in place on the seabed – but this ocean dweller was strong enough to shift it.
Divers stumble upon pod of sleeping giants in Caribbean Sea
Researchers were on an expedition in Dominica when a pod of enormous sleeping sperm whales appeared in front of them.
Angry octopus caught punching big fish in South Pacific Ocean
When scientists dropped a video camera to the seafloor off Rotuma in the South Pacific Ocean, they filmed an octopus lashing out at a grouper.
Researchers studied 184 bull sharks in Fiji – and discovered they might make friends
Scientists studying bull sharks in Fiji found that the animals may have more complex social lives than previously thought.
“Notoriously cannibalistic.” Animals are eating their own kind in this enormous US estuary
Researchers used 37 years of data to study predation on blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. They discovered the animals are eating each other.
"I believe it may have fallen from someone’s grocery bag.” Scientist finds unlikely creature in US parking lot – and only has one thing on his mind...
The microscopy expert put the big-clawed animal through his micro-CT scanner, creating an incredibly detailed image of its body.
It's as long as a basketball court, as tall as a giraffe and so huge it can be seen from space
Experts estimate that the massive mega coral – found near the Solomon Islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean – is about 300 years old.
"Can you imagine being chased by an apex predator?” Tourists watch incredible escape in Antarctica
Tourists were stunned when a pair of orcas tried to hunt a gentoo penguin alongside their ship. Here’s what happened next.
This area of the North Atlantic ocean is infamous for shipwrecks and conspiracy theories. But does anything live there?
Does anything live in the Bermuda Triangle? Quite a lot actually, as Melissa Hobson explains
Divers saw this ocean giant approaching – and noticed it wasn’t alone...
Researchers have documented “an entire community” of animals travelling with whale sharks – the world’s biggest fish.
"Something wasn't right." Diver films giant stingray emerging from seabed with part of its body missing
When stingrays lose their barb, the animals can survive but are left without their main form of self-defence from predators, says Melissa Hobson, who filmed the injured animal while diving in Indonesia.
This haunting shipwreck in North Carolina has its own 'shark ballroom'
Why sand tiger sharks aggregate at the Aeolus wreck off the east coast of the US isn’t clear.
“I couldn’t make sense of what I was looking at” – Deep sea submarine pilot recalls first sighting of super rare ocean giant
It’s not only deep-sea researchers that get to see the rare giant phantom jellyfish
This giant ship sank off the Egyptian coast in 1941. Now an animal that looks like a crocodile hides in its shadows
The 126-metre-long ship went down with all its cargo when it was bombed in World War II. Now its trucks and motorbikes are home to barracudas, sea turtles and reptilian-looking crocodilefish.
When this WWII seaplane was discovered by a fisherman in 1994, 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
In 2015, great white sharks vanished from Australia's Neptune Islands. Experts are still trying to work out why
Many researchers thought the two-month absence was caused by the predation of a white shark by a group of orcas. Now a new study suggests there may be other reasons for their disappearance.
As darkness fell, snorkellers in the Maldives filmed this giant engulfing its prey
Whale sharks are the biggest fish on the planet but they feed on tiny plankton.
One mile down, iron-rich waters, toxic fluids, and 81°C acidic vents made this volcano seem uninhabitable – yet scientists filmed something staggering
Eel City was discovered in 2005 but, when scientists returned in 2017, they couldn’t find any sign of the mysterious place
