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
"It produced a 12km high eruption plume, a large volume of floating pumice, and an island almost a mile-wide with cliffs 30-50m high"
The first recorded eruption of Home Reef, Tonga, was in the mid-19th century and it has had several periods of eruptions in the years since.
Divers hid a camera in a lobster den. What happened next shocked them all
Scientists in Australia were surprised to see Port Jackson and crested horn sharks appear out of the darkness.
Camera dropped under San Diego pier, then this scuttled over the lens
Ocean lovers can watch the world unfold below the waves from wherever they are via the Scripps Pier underwater camera.
Was it the lost city of Atlantis or a crashed UFO? The strange Ferris wheel-sized circle found at the bottom of the sea
The Baltic Sea Anomaly has been the subject of mystery and debate for many years
“As if they were showing off their tusks." Herd of walruses surrounds small tourist boat in the Arctic
With no one else around, these Arctic tourists got a close-up view of a lively group of walruses.
This ocean titan has 9 brains, hunts sharks at night and can grow as long as a school bus
The largest specimen ever found reportedly measured 9.75m long and weighed 272kg. Here's everything you need to know about the giant Pacific octopus.
"It can fit in the palm of your hand, could kill you in minutes with a venom a thousand times stronger than cyanide – and there's no antidote"
Discover all you need to know about one of the world's deadliest animals
“It causes excruciating ‘whole-body’ pain that lasts for weeks in humans.” 9 dangerous animals armed with deadly venomous spines
From pus-filled stab wounds to paralysis and cardiac arrest, it’s best to steer clear of some of the world’s most venomous spined creatures
Deep-sea scientists were filming at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, when this giant cow shark appeared
The elusive animal was filmed swimming over the seafloor near the Phoenix Islands in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
"They can whip up their tail to plunge its venomous barb into your flesh..." 7 deadly creatures roaming the English Channel
The animals living in UK waters aren’t typically as deadly as those found in other regions, such as the Indo-Pacific, but there are some species to watch out for, from venomous fish lurking in the sand waiting to strike to boisterous dolphins.
It has a rather grotesque face, electric organs, venomous spines and can swallow prey whole thanks to its huge mouth, which can suck them right in
These ambush predators can also create a vacuum that sucks prey right into their mouths.
It's longer than a shipping container, has a metre-wide mouth and a dorsal fin the length of a baseball bat: 9 biggest, most gigantic sharks on the planet
These are some of the largest sharks in the sea (and the biggest isn’t the great white!)
Underwater photographer filmed rarely seen creature slithering along the ocean floor in Mauritius
Ribbon eels are usually shy so photographer Ian Haggerty was delighted to enjoy the rare sight of one free-swimming, like a scarf blowing in the wind.
Scuba diver filmed dazzling jellyfish in Thailand. What she spotted attached to it amazed her more
These tiny creatures sometimes use jellyfish as a means of transport, hitching a ride to get to where they need to go.
When a diver swam up to a frogfish, they were amazed by what they saw lodged in its mouth
The fish was locked in a battle for survival with another animal that was almost the same size.
'Moonwalking' orca stunned onlookers in Canada. Experts know what it was doing
Moonwalking is a rare behaviour among transient killer whales and may be a way of dividing up food to share.
"Blows my mind”: when this drone pilot saw a baby humpback whale off the coast of Australia, he wasn’t expecting it to do this
The photographer was amazed to see the newborn humpback whale launch itself into the air as it learnt to breach – and he caught the whole thing on camera.
This photobomb is the most adorable thing you’ll see all day
When this wildlife photographer set up his GoPro in the waters of French Polynesia, a funny fish came to investigate.
“The sea lions were curious but also cautious, letting the team know whose waters they were diving in”
An expedition team were filming in a remote kelp forest in Patagonia when this happened
"A sting from one of these deadly creatures can kill a human in a matter of hours…" 10 most dangerous, deadliest animals in the Indian Ocean
From tiny stinging jellies to huge predatory sharks, these are some of the most dangerous animals in the Indian Ocean
"What is that?" Researchers put a camera on a nurse shark in Florida. They didn't expect it to film this
The scientists were using camera tags to learn more about shark behaviour.
When an expedition team went to the Falkland Islands, a group of curious animals surrounded them
A large group of king penguins approached the researchers “before giving a trademark side-eye and waddling off”.
“I had to do a double take." Marine biologists peered into a shark egg and were astounded by what they saw
In spring 2025, researchers documented the first confirmed case of identical twins in small spotted catsharks.
“In places, you couldn't see a single rock because everything is so densely populated… ” Deep sea scientists find something staggering in the Pacific
A remotely operated vehicles found never-before-seen hydrothermal activity on the seabed in Papua New Guinea.
