--- title: Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Ocean TikTok Videos description: If you don't already have a fear of the ocean, then this marine biology student's TikToks may have you rethinking your stance on the matter. canonical: https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-18T18:32:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:18.418Z og:title: Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Terrifying Ocean Factoids og:description: These may just keep you out of the water for good og:url: https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae3adf35c12acab/698a0a5e22fb8594fae2a9b5/Marine-Biology-TikTok.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 508 og:image:height: 286 og:image:alt: Marine-Biology-Student-TikTok og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Terrifying Ocean Factoids twitter:description: These may just keep you out of the water for good twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae3adf35c12acab/698a0a5e22fb8594fae2a9b5/Marine-Biology-TikTok.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Ocean Factoids That Will Stoke Your Fears of the Sea > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f8a950b2-2a8c-471b-bd87-40bcf4305a05&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 18, 2020 6:32 PM UTC  Drone point of view of seascape Drone point of view of seascape Nora Carol Photography—Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 18, 2020 6:32 PM UTC If you don’t already have a [fear of the ocean](https://time.com/5506590/great-white-shark-hawaii-coast/), then this marine biology student’s [TikTok](https://time.com/5594374/tiktok-artists-money/) videos may have you rethinking your stance on the matter. Thanks to Cornell University freshman [John Dombrowski](https://www.tiktok.com/@jc6470?lang=en), TikTok viewers can now get a crash course in some of the more terrifying aspects of the ocean and other large bodies of water, including the creatures that live in them. Dombrowski has posted over 300 TikToks since joining the video-sharing site in September 2019, a number of which cover marine-themed topics ranging from [“Horrible ways to die in the ocean”](https://www.tiktok.com/@jc6470?lang=en) to [“Ocean facts that will make you feel really small”](https://www.tiktok.com/@jc6470?lang=en) to [“Animals that can kill you the fastest in the entire ocean.”](https://www.tiktok.com/@jc6470?lang=en) It has been these clips, as well as his makeup tutorials and takes on life as a student, that have earned him over 1.1 million TikTok followers in just about five months. As for why he chose to center his TikTok presence on his college major, Dombrowski told the [_Cornell Daily Sun_](https://cornellsun.com/2020/02/18/riding-the-viral-tiktok-wave-first-year-marine-biology-student-finds-internet-fame/) that, in addition to the fact that he’s had a lifelong passion for marine biology, it just seemed like the right move for him. “I can’t dance, I’m not hot, I can’t do the thirst traps or whatever,” he explained. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/"},"headline":"Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Ocean Factoids That Will Stoke Your Fears of the Sea","datePublished":"2020-02-18T18:32:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:18.418Z","description":"The ocean can be a scary place","url":"https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae3adf35c12acab/698a0a5e22fb8594fae2a9b5/Marine-Biology-TikTok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae3adf35c12acab/698a0a5e22fb8594fae2a9b5/Marine-Biology-TikTok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marine-Biology-Student-TikTok","caption":"Drone point of view of seascape","creditText":"Nora Carol Photography—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5785828/john-dombrowski-marine-biology-student-tiktok/","name":"Marine Biology Student Goes Viral With Ocean Factoids That Will Stoke Your Fears of the Sea"}}]}] ```