Why did we all want to be marine biologists?

I’m going to preface this by saying: I’m a liar.

When people ask me about being a writer (which is a catch-all job title I’m still trying to get used to), I say it’s always what I wanted to do when I was little. Which is absolutely true — I sent a full manuscript to literary agents at the age of 12 — but also ignores the short but nonetheless significant stint of my early years when I desperately wanted to be a marine biologist. This dream was dashed just a few months later when I realised I don’t like a) boats and b) sea creatures. So why was I so intent on becoming one, then?

Well, as it turns out — I’m not alone, and so many of us felt the same!!!

@kaitlinugolik

@csapunchWhy did all of us 90s kids want to be a marine biologist?!? 🐙🐡🐠🐬🦈🦭

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Anecdotally, it seems like a *lot* of us had a marine biologist phase. Interestingly, this wasn’t just a marine biology phase, where we became interested in the deep sea and those that dwell within, but specifically a marine biologist phase, where we were so confident in our interests that we were willing to dedicate the rest of our lives to learning about them.

Please note that this is not a scientifically binding poll, and if more people vote No than Yes…then no they didn’t. If you want stats, find another newsletter!!! (Please don’t, I like having you here.)

As all investigative journalists do, my first course of action was to turn to Google. There were a few articles that backed up my theory that all 90s kids had this phase, but they were, interestingly enough, all from Australia. As a child who grew up on the east coast of England, marine biology seems like an entirely reasonable and practical pursuit for Australians — because, you know, sharks — but it did lead me to my first idea as to why we all had this phase:

1. Au naur Cleaur (a.k.a. Australian TV)

I never watched Home and Away or Neighbours (sorry Margot Robbie), but I did watch a helluva lot of Sleepover Club and H2O: Just Add Water. With the delicious accents, bright sunshine and beautiful beaches — coupled with the fact that it’s literally the opposite side of the world too — it seemed about as exotic as you could get, and marine biology seemed like the best way to get there (because it seemed more achievable than, say, surfer, which was the other occupation I knew to be Aussie at the time.)

2. Under The Sea

This leads me onto my second suggested reason — the proliferation of the underwater in popular culture. Mermaidswise, we had the aforementioned H2O: Just Add Water, Aquamarine and, of course, The Little Mermaid. And we can’t forget Finding Nemo - little blue! Maybe we were all just desperately trying to climb aboard the big teacher ray’s back and learn about the ocean?

3. Dolphins

Similarly, I feel like the world was also at that point in time obsessed with dolphins — if the early 00s had a mascot, it would be that. They were, for no real reason, everywhere: in home decor, in tattoos, and in every single pair of earrings I’d pick up in the Princes Quay branch of Claire’s Accessories.

Maybe, relatedly, we could put our marine biologist phase down to that moment when you learned that porpoises were actually more like dolphins, not like tortoises as they sound like they should be, and you thought “there’s just so much about those damn waters that we don’t know about!”

4. The Deep

This one’s very author specific, but I grew up just outside of Hull, a city with both a family-fun fish trail going through it (which someone recently stole a fish from — like a metre long metal fish, out of the floor) and the world’s first — and only — submarium (because, to be clear, they made that word up.) (But this does mean that Hull has penguins, which I bet you wouldn’t have believed would you?) Anyway, I never felt particularly closely called to my hometown’s maritime background, but maybe it was whispering to me all along.

5. The Unknown

In all seriousness, perhaps what kids find so appealing about being a marine biologist is exactly what I’d hate about it now: the unknown.

According to child and family therapist Ray Medhora on the aforementioned Australian article (on The Latch):

Children want to be in professions that inspire them and fill them with curiosity and wonderment…Roles like marine biologists are exciting to kids because working with animals is appealing, as is working in the deep blue water. Many kids dream of the vast unknown and believe marine biology could be a way to engage in both of those simultaneously.

We were dreaming big, and the biggest we could think of was the endless ocean.

Which leads me to wonder: I hope little Ellie is happy with the big dreams she’s making happen today, even if they are more land-based.

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(Featured photo by Cristian Palmer on, rather fittingly, Unsplash)