Archer fish hunt insects with water jet 6 times stronger than their muscular power

From Science Codex:  Archer fish hunt insects with water jet 6 times stronger than their muscular power

Archer fish knock their insect prey out of overhanging vegetation with a jet of water several times more powerful than the fish's muscles. New research now shows that the fish generate this power externally using water dynamics rather than with any specialized internal organs. The research, published Oct. 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Alberto Vailati and colleagues from the University of Milan, provides the first explanation for how archer fish can generate such powerful jets to capture their prey.
Other animals like chameleons and salamanders store energy in collagen fibers in their bodies and abruptly release this stored energy to project their tongues at high speeds, but previous studies on archer fish have ruled out such specialized organs as the source of the powerful water jets.
The authors of the current study used high-speed video recordings of archer fish knocking insects out of overhanging plants to study the mechanics of the water jet and found that the fish could modulate the velocity of the jet to create a single large water drop that hit the prey with a large force. According to the authors, this approach avoids the evolutionary costs needed to develop special internal structures to store these large amounts of energy.
"The origin of the effectiveness of the jet squirted by archer fish has been searched for inside of the fish for nearly 250 years. The striking finding of our work is that a large amplification of muscular power occurs outside of the fish and leads to a very powerful impact of the jet with the prey" says Vailati.

 

Chronicle of a Sperm Whale Death Unsolved

From Discovery News:  Chronicle of a Sperm Whale Death Unsolved


On June 15 2010, about 77 miles from the Deepwater Horizon accident site, the crew of the NOAA research vessel Pisces came across a dead sperm whale, floating in the water. The whale was rotting, had probably been dead for a few days to a week, was likely a sub-adult, and parts of its carcass had been eaten by sharks.

On that same day, NOAA observers on another vessel at the well site saw five sperm whales, including a juvenile, covered in oil.
Two days later, NOAA issued a press release about the dead whale, announcing that tests would be conducted to determine the cause of death.

And then ... silence.

Greenpeace decided to dig into the story, and filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. What they received, and released yesterday, was a trove of photographs of the unfortunate whale, and some revealing e-mail exchanges, including the revelation that the crew of the Pisces was instructed not to post or disseminate any pictures they took. There were not any results of the tests that were conducted into the cause of the whale's demise.
To Greenpeace, the episode is indicative of the veil of secrecy that descended upon the Gulf of Mexico in the weeks and months after the Deepwater Horizon accident, as manifested in a response earlier this year to the same FOIA request - for any communication relating to threatened or endangered Gulf species from April 20, 2010 to July 30, 2010. That response revealed previously-unreleased photographs of garbage bag upon garbage bag filled with dead wildlife, including endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles.

"The White House was sitting on this stuff for over two years, at the same time they were saying everything was fine, that the oil was gone, and while they were rushing ahead with plans for new drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic, elsewhere," John Hocevar of Greenpeace said at the time. "It's just not okay. This is not an acceptable type of collateral damage."
In response to the release of the sperm whale photos, a NOAA spokesman said that it had not been possible to ascertain the cause of the whale's death due to the severe decomposition of its body. The admonition to the crew of the Pisces not to post any photographs was standard protocol during that period, so that the government could collect information for its investigation and any possible subsequent legal action.
So did Deepwater Horizon oil kill that sperm whale? It seems unlikely that anyone will ever know for sure; but, given that, absent some external factor, sperm whales can frequently live up to 80 years, the presence of a dead sub-adult close to the world's largest ever oil spill strikes some as awfully coincidental.

As Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies asked rhetorically: "How many times does a whale just die?"

 

Grey seal cull may create new markets: Processor

From Canada.com:  Grey seal cull may create new markets: Processor

The head of the world's largest seal processing facility says if Canada approves a proposal to pay hunters to kill 70,000 grey seals off the East Coast, his company is eager to fill the global demand for grey seal products.
There's just one problem. Dion Dakins, CEO of Newfoundland's Carino Processing Ltd., says even though the demand is there, key markets in Europe and China remain closed. "It will require substantive action to open those markets to the products," he said in an interview Wednesday from South Dildo, N.L. "Markets internationally for seal products are challenged right now."
The European Union's 27 member states imposed a ban on seal products in 2010, a move that has decimated Canada's commercial hunt for harp seals.

 

Experts' joy at birth of first Farne Island twin seals

From BBC NEws:  Experts' joy at birth of first Farne Island twin seals

 

 

 Both pups may not survive, experts say

Wildlife experts believe the first ever twin seals have been born on the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast. The grey seal pups were spotted by National Trust ranger David Steel, who had been monitoring a pregnant seal.

Multiple births in grey seals are "extremely rare" and no records exist of any having been born on the islands.
The Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews in Scotland has asked for DNA tests to verify the pups have come from the same mother.
Mr Steel, who has worked with the seal colony for 12 years, said: "Over the weekend, a lone heavily pregnant cow seal was discovered on the secluded south beach.
"By Monday, the female, still on the secluded beach, and still by herself, had given birth, but to our surprise, not to one pup but possibly to two.
'Biologically possible' "On the small rocky beach, two pups were together, wet and bloody, with the mother in attendance.

"It was evident that both had just been born and with no other female in this area of the island."

Ailsa Hall, acting director of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews, said: "As far as I'm aware it's extremely rare for twins to be born in grey seals and to my knowledge this hasn't been directly recorded anywhere.
"It is biologically possible for seals to conceive twins, but the female would usually abort one foetus prior to birth as she wouldn't have the resources to feed both pups.
"In this case, National Trust rangers monitored one female in the cove where the pups were born for a number of days before finding two pups very close together, clearly very soon after pupping.
"Should the pups survive the rangers can take DNA sample from the pups and we will test it just like you would a human to see if the pups came from the same mother."
The Farne Islands are known for their huge seal colony and around 1,500 pups are born there each year.

 

No life in found Antarctica’s buried Lake Vostok -- yet

From Fox News:  No life in found Antarctica’s buried Lake Vostok -- yet

A first analysis of ice pulled from the largest body of water buried beneath Antarctica has yielded nothing but pristine water, untouched in tens of millions of years.
But that doesn’t mean the lake is lifeless.
Sergey Bulat of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in Russia presented preliminary results from a study of ice pulled from the 6,000-square-mile subglacial lake in February. He and his colleagues told the 12th European Workshop on Astrobiology that they found fewer than 10 microbes per milliliter, according to a report at Nature.
That’s equivalent to the background in their clean room, Nature said.
But the results came not from the lake water that rushed up their borehole from the lake and froze it shut again; instead the first results came from ice that froze onto the drill bit itself -- and they did find elements that likely came from the drilling oil and lubricants used to poke a hole through 13,000 feet of ice to the lake.
Bulat hopes to get clean samples from the ice frozen in the hole soon, and the lower depths of the lake itself, which scientists believe may hold microbial life that has been sealed off and isolated for as much as 20 million years.
Such unusual forms of life might give indications of what life elsewhere in the universe looks like. But Lake Vostok is an interesting spot for other reasons.
Beyond the fantastic science, Russian news agency Ria Novosti recently noted a number of rumors about the lake, including talk of a secret Nazi sub base and a rumor that the bodies of Hitler and his mistress were delivered there for cloning.
The Lake Vostok project has been years in the making, with initial drilling at the massive lake -- 6,060 square miles -- starting in 1998. The scientists were quickly able to reach 11,800 feet, but had to stop due to concerns of possible contamination of the never-before-touched lake water.
The Russian scientists came up with a clever way to make sure the water would not be contaminated: They agreed to drill until a sensor warned them of free water. At that point they took out the kerosene lubricating their drill bit and adjusted the pressure so that none of the liquids would fall into the lake, but rather lake water would rise through the hole due to pressure from below.
The Russians are not alone in such a mission: Scientists from around the world are literally racing to explore the mysteries of Antarctica. There are two other Antarctic digs underway.
A team from the British Antarctic Survey is on a competing mission, set to plumb the depths of Lake Ellsworth, one of a string of more than 370 lakes beneath Antarctica that may soon see light for the first time. And a third Antarctic expedition -- a study of the subglacial Whillans Ice Stream -- mainly features U.S. scientists.

 

40 whales die in mass stranding in India

From BigPondNews:  40 whales die in mass stranding in India

About 40 whales have died in a mass stranding on the west coast of India's remote North Andaman island in the Bay of Bengal, wildlife officials say.
'The short-finned pilot whales were found by fishermen who alerted us and investigations show it was a case of mass stranding,' said Ajai Saxena, a wildlife official in Port Blair, capital of the islands.
Saxena said no previous mass stranding had been reported in the Andamans, but it was a natural phenomenon that occurs when whales get disoriented and are unable to swim back into deep water.
Stranding is also thought to occur when a pod follows a sick or an injured whale into the shallows, experts say.
Emergency teams and local volunteers headed to the beach near Elizabeth Bay on the North Andaman island where the whales were stranded, but they were unable to help.
'The mammals are so heavy, it is impossible to move them back to the waters,' Saxena told AFP.
A post-mortem examination has been conducted on one of the adults, which weighed two tonnes.
The Andaman and Nicobar islands are Indian territory, though they are at least 1000 kilometres from the mainland and are closer to the coast of Burma.

 

Booklist: Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman who Mapped the Ocean Floor

Booklist: Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman who Mapped the Ocean Floor
Hali Felt, Henry Holt and Company, 2012

Description
Her maps of the ocean floor have been called "one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography" yet no one knows her name.

Soundings is the story of the enigmatic Marie Tharp, geologist, gifted draftsperson, and the inknown woman behind one of the greatest accomplishments of the twentieth century.

For years most people, including those in the scientific community, thought the ocean floor was a vast expanse of nothingness. In 1948, at age 28, Marie Tharp walked into the newsly formed geophysical lab at Columbia University and practically demanded a job.

The scientists at the lab were all male, the women who worked there were relegated to secretary or assistant. Thruogh sheer willpower and obstinacy, Marie was given the job of interpreting the soundings (records of sonar pings measuring the ocean's depths) brought back from the oceangoing expeditions of her male colleagues.

The marriage of artistry and science behind her analysis of these dry data gave birth to a major work: the first comprehensive map of the ocean floor, which laid the groundwork for proving the then controversial theory of continental drift.

When combined. Marie's scientific knowledge, her eye for detail, and her skill as an artist revealed not a vast empty plane but an entire world of mountains and volcanoes, ridges and rifts, and a gateway to the past that allowed scientists the means to imnagine how the continents and the oceans had been created over time.

Just as Marie dedicated more than twenty years of her professional life to what became the Lamont Geological Observatory, engaged in the task of mapping every ocean on Earth, she dedicated her personal life to her great friendship with her coworker Bruce Herzen. Partners in work and, in many ways, partners in life, Marie and Bruce were devoted to each other as they rose to greater and greater prominence in the scientific community, only to be envied and finally dismissed by the head of their beolved institute.

They went on together, refining and perfecting their work and contributing not only to humanity's vision of the ocean floor but to the way subsequent generations would view the earth as a whole.

With an imagination as intuitive as Marie's. brilliant young writer Hali Felt brings to vivid life the story of the pioneering woman whose work will continue to inspire fellow scientists for generations to come. 

Herman Melville: 10 things you need to know about the Moby-Dick author

From the Daily Mirror:  Herman Melville: 10 things you need to know about the Moby-Dick author 

To mark the 161st anniversary of the publication of Moby-Dick, Google created a doodle (on Oct 18) to celebrate the book and author Herman Melville.
Here are 10 things you need to know about the novelist...
1. Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
2. He was born on August 1st 1819 in New York City
3. In 1841 Herman joined a whaling ship voyage but deserted the ship and spent three weeks living among the Typee natives and wrote a book about his experience which became a bestseller
4. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Shaw - the daughter of the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - and the couple had four children
5. Herman wrote the novel Moby-Dick, also known as The Whale, which was first published in 1851 

  6. The book is considered to be one of the Great American Novels ever written
7. It tells of the adventures of sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by the vengeful Captain Ahab who is hunting a whale called Moby-Dick who previously destroyed Ahab’s boat and bit off his leg
8. There have been numerous movies made about Moby Dick with the part of Captain Ahab being played by several actors including John Barrymore, Gregory Peck, Patrick Stewart and William Hurt
9. Herman Melville died at his New York home on September 28, 1891, aged 72
10. After his death the "Melville Revival" took place and it's reported that he became the first writer to have his works published by the Library of America

 

Florida residents embarked on gator hunts in record numbers in 2011

From WUFT News:  Florida residents embarked on gator hunts in record numbers in 2011

If you ask Alachua County gator hunter Johnny Bass how he got that scar on his forehead, you won’t get a straight answer.  But he will tell you it involves gator hunting on Newnans Lake.
Florida’s 15-week gator hunting season lasts from Aug. 15 to Nov. 1. And for each of the last 15 years, you’re sure to find Bass hunting gators on Newnans Lake. Of course, Bass’s history with the lake is rooted deep in his childhood.
“I learned to fish and waterski in this gator-infested lake. I’ve waded the whole perimeter of this lake bass fishing,” said Bass, a 63-year-old Gainesville resident retired from fixing UPS trucks.
Bass calls himself the “Old Man of the Boat,” and he is joined by some younger gator hunters from Gainesville — C.J. Masciale, John Kurtz and Kurtz’ 18-year-old son David, who’s been helping the group hunt gators since he was young. Masciale runs C.J.’s Concrete and Kurtz operates Hog Town Auto in Gainesville.
Fishing and hunting, especially catching gators, has been their true passion for the last 10 years—an exciting passion that sometimes takes shape overnight, since the law in Alachua County is to hunt from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m.
“We pulled an all-nighter gator hunt,” Kurtz said. “I saw a red eye in the bushes, and I couldn’t hook him. Johnny set a big hook and threw it and hooked the gator.  Johnny almost fell into the water.  It was an 11-foot, 11-inch gator.
“The tail slapped the boat 10 times. Dad had me around the waste thinking it was going to pull me over,” he said.
Last year, more than 8,100 gators were caught in Florida, the highest number in the past 10 years, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Bass says all their experience and camaraderie are what make their hunts so successful. They have caught five gators this year. The biggest was nine feet, seven inches.
That’s nothing in comparison to the 13-foot gator they caught two years ago —  a gator so old, Bass says, he only had two teeth left.
As the gator hunting season ends, Bass and his crew are zipping around Newnans Lake looking to hook one more big gator. Between the four of them, they have three permits, meaning they are allowed to catch a total of six gators in Florida this year.
No matter the size of the catch, Bass and company say they’ve only felt excited — never scared or endangered — as they hunt gators.
“The hunt is as dangerous as the people you’re hunting with,” said Bass, who still won’t say how he got that scar on his forehead. “What happens on the boat stays on the boat.”

 

Researchers Use Underwater Robot To Track Tagged Sharks

From Red Orbit:  Researchers Use Underwater Robot To Track Tagged Sharks

Matthew Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography, is using an underwater robot (OTIS) to help track sharks along the Delmarva Peninsula. Credit: University of Delaware / Matthew Breece, courtesy of Matthew Oliver and by Evan Krape

Researchers from University of Delaware are in the midst of a multiyear study with Delaware State University researchers to better understand the behavior and migration patterns of sand tiger sharks. In the latest phase of the study, an underwater robot is being unleashed to hunt down and follow these seemingly placid predators.
The Oceanographic Telemetry Identification Sensor (OTIS) is a remote-controlled underwater device that looks very much like a yellow torpedo. Normally used for testing water conditions, the researchers have outfitted OTIS with acoustic receivers that can recognize signals given off by transmitters. OTIS will track sharks that have been previously tagged with these transmitters as they travel through their coastal habitat.
Matthew Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, said OTIS has, “in the past week…detected multiple sand tiger sharks off the coast of Maryland that were tagged over the past several years.”
“This is the first time that a glider has found tagged sharks and reported their location in real time,” he said in a news release, reported by Teresa Messmore, a Communications Specialist for UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
The technology implemented allows the course of OTIS to be changed, enabling it to follow the sharks and test the water around them. Using OTIS to track these sharks will allow scientists to follow where the sharks are going more efficiently than using conventional tracking methods.
OTIS will be tracking sharks with three different types of tags.
One is an acoustic transmitter that “pings” receivers while passing by a set of 70 devices situated around Delaware Bay. DSU’s Dewayne Fox maintains these receivers, and has tagged more than 500 sharks since 2006.
Another tracking mechanism implemented is the pop-off satellite archival tag. The team is using 34 of these tags, which store data on the sharks’ journeys for up to a year then automatically release from the animal to dispatch a location signal for retrieval.
A third type of tag, also the newest, is called a VEMCO mobile transceiver (VMT). This tag is larger than the others, but also transmits and receives information to communicate its location and listen for the pings of other marine animals outfitted with acoustic tags.
The VMT tag “will tell us not only where it is, but who it’s with,” said Oliver. “It’s like a social network for sharks.”
Oliver, Fox and students from both universities, spent the summer catching sand tiger sharks, carefully pulling them into stretchers alongside their boat, and inserted transmitters through a quick surgery.
Sand tiger sharks are the largest commonly occurring shark in Delaware’s bay and coastal region. Although these marine animals are generally slow-moving and seem relatively placid, they are apex predators in their habitat and play a key role in the ecological balance of the region.
“Sand tigers have suffered from a number of threats that ultimately led to population declines,” said DSU’s Fox. “In 1997 sand tigers were listed as a ‘species of concern’ by the National Marine Fisheries Service, although very little is known of their migrations and habitat requirements.”
Scientists have suspected that these sharks migrate widely along the Eastern Seaboard, and using newly collected information, the university teams plan to map these habitats, cross-referencing shark data with satellite and remotely sensed environmental conditions to create a comprehensive picture of the animals’ habitats.
Oliver told Messmore the teams are integrating two areas of biotelemetry to get a better understanding of the behaviors of migration patterns of these apex predators.
Fox is part of the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry Network (ACT), which tracks thousands of animals up and down the coast; Oliver participates in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS), which uses satellites, underwater robots and models to study the coastal ocean.
By combining the two unique data sets, Oliver and Fox hope they will assist natural resource managers in predicting where sand tiger sharks live and how best to handle conservation efforts.
OTIS will be a big part of this, helping researchers find out which water conditions sharks prefer to swim in during their migrations. OTIS is capable of traveling much further out than what the static receivers’ can pick up, and can also collect information on a wide array of conditions, including water temperature, quality, clarity and oxygen levels.
The team hopes the data will give scientists a little more understanding as to why these sharks head to certain places, explained Oliver.
Oliver said the team took an educated guess as to where these sharks were currently hanging out last week when it launched OTIS for the first time. They launched it off the coast of Delaware’s Indian River Inlet and heading south. After five days, they began receiving transmissions from sharks about 4 to 9 miles off the coast of Assateague Island, Maryland.
Their next goal is to direct the glider to stay near the sharks, unless they move south of the lower Delmarva Peninsula. OTIS can last up to four weeks without recharging.
“We have at least another two weeks of battery,” Oliver said. “We’ll see how it develops.”

Source: Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online

redOrbit (http://s.tt/1qprF)

 

Chesapeake Striped Bass Reproduction At Record Low

From CBS Baltimore:  Chesapeake Striped Bass Reproduction At Record Low

 

 

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– A record low number of young striped bass were counted this summer in the Chesapeake Bay.

Alex DeMetrick reports it’s the smallest number of newly-spawned fish in nearly 60 years.
Every summer for 59 years, state biologists string nets in rivers feeding the Chesapeake to catch and count that year’s spawn of striped bass. In the latest survey:

“2012 is a below average year for striped bass reproduction,” Eric Durell of Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service, said.

The average has a numerical value of 12. But this year it was less than one– a record low. That follows a record high of 35 last year.

So what’s happening? It’s the water.

Striped bass spawn in the bay’s fresh water tributaries. This spring and summer, hydrologists who monitor stream flow found a number of Maryland waterways with extremely low levels.

“It’s not only dry. It’s been excessively hot,” Wendy McPherson, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Service (USGS), said. “There’s been several temperature-setting records.”

Those are the perfect conditions to kill off striped bass long before they get to adult size. But there are numbers that balance out the decline, starting with the 20 years striped bass live.

“Fortunately, striped bass are long-lived repeat spawners,” Durell said. “So the impact of one poor year is not as dramatic as would otherwise be if they spawned once and died.”
And in this year’s spring survey of adult striped bass, biologists found a healthy number of reproductive fish whose offspring will hopefully have a better chance at survival next year.
Because the Chesapeake is the East Coast spawning ground for striped bass, federal regulators keep close track of the surveys. It takes three consecutive years of below-average numbers to trigger stricter conservation rules.

Meet the worst underwater predators

From Avaz:  Meet the worst underwater predators

Around 8m tonnes of waste go into our oceans every day, polluting our waters and killing all kinds of marine life. At this rate, the "predators" pictured below won't just be the most dangerous in the sea – they'll also be the most common.
It's time to endanger these species. Share this image and raise awareness:

 

Undercover Investigation: Disease, Overcrowding, Neglect At Caymans Island Turtle Farm; 'It's Truly Horrific'

From Underwater Teams: Undercover Investigation: Disease, Overcrowding, Neglect At Caymans Island Turtle Farm; 'It's Truly Horrific' 

BOSTON, Massachusetts -- A year-long undercover investigation conducted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) at the Cayman Turtle Farm, a popular tourist destination and the world's last remaining facility that raises sea turtles for slaughter, has revealed disturbing animal cruelty and potential human health risks.

Video footage and photographs from the farm show thousands of endangered sea turtles being kept in dirty, packed touch tanks. Swimming in water filled with their own waste, the turtles fight for food, bite each other and even resort to cannibalism. Many suffer from disease and birth defects, such as injured fins or missing eyes.

"Life on the Cayman Turtle Farm is a far contrast from how sea turtles live in the wild," said Elizabeth Hogan, Oceans and Wildlife Campaigns Manager at WSPA. "It's truly horrific to see this type of neglect and cruelty taking place at a tourist attraction. Not to mention the fact that these foul conditions aren't only affecting the resident turtles – humans could be at risk, as well."

As part of its attraction, the farm encourages visitors to touch and pick up the sea turtles. However, WSPA tested and found traces of Salmonella, E. Coli and Vibrio vulnificus in the turtle touch tank waters – meaning that visitors who touch the turtles are at risk for contracting these diseases and then possibly spreading them to fellow passengers back on board their cruise ships. According to a 2012 poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, 69% of cruise ship passengers who visited the Cayman Turtle Farm since 2009 were unaware of these health risks, and the majority would not have touched the sea turtles, had they known.

"The bottom line is that the farm is currently posing great threats to sea turtle welfare and human health," added Hogan. "We want to help the farm change for the better, but its unwillingness to meet us halfway is posing a great challenge."

On July 3, WSPA met with the Cayman Turtle Farm owners to discuss its investigation findings and propose a plan for the farm to transition its business to a sea turtles rehabilitation and research center. To date, the farm is not willing to change.

To learn more about WSPA's campaign to end sea turtle cruelty at the farm, please visit www.StopSeaTurtleFarm.org

Experts: Florida's 'Mystery Eyeball' Appears To Be From A Swordfish

From Underwater Times: Experts: Florida's 'Mystery Eyeball' Appears To Be From A Swordfish

Florida scientists have said the giant mystery eyeball found on a beach is likely from a large swordfish. Credit FWCMedia

TAMPA, Florida -- After examining an eye found on a south Florida beach this week, researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) believe the specimen came from a swordfish. Genetic testing will be done to confirm the identification.

"Experts on site and remotely have viewed and analyzed the eye, and based on its color, size and structure, along with the presence of bone around it, we believe the eye came from a swordfish," said Joan Herrera, curator of collections at the FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. "Based on straight-line cuts visible around the eye, we believe it was removed by a fisherman and discarded."

The approximately softball-size eye was recovered by a citizen in Pompano Beach on Wednesday. FWC staff received the eye later that day. Swordfish are commonly fished in the Florida Straits offshore of south Florida at this time of year.

A highly migratory fish, swordfish can be found from the surface to as deep as 2,000 feet. Swordfish in the Atlantic can reach a maximum size of over 1,100 pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Swordfish feed on a wide variety of fish and invertebrates.

Giant 'mystery eyeball' discovered on South Florida beach

From Grind TV:  Giant 'mystery eyeball' discovered on South Florida beach

The discovery of an enormous eyeball on a South Florida beach begs a very pertinent question: What kind of creature did it belong to? The "mystery eyeball," as it's being referred to by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was found Wednesday by a beachcomber on Pompano Beach.

Giant eyeball found by a beachcomber Wednesday on Pompano Beach, Fla. Credit: Carli Segelson / Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Carli Segelson, spokeswoman for the agency, said the eyeball is slightly larger than a baseball and presumably belonged to some kind of marine animal.

"We're hoping to determine what kind, but at this point we just don't know," Segelson said.

The eyeball is being preserved and will be delivered to the agency's research lab in St. Petersburg, where it's hoped an official identification can be made.

Meanwhile, people are making all sorts of guesses.

Perhaps the best comes from George Burgess of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Burgess has suggested that the eye may have belonged to a bigeye thresher shark. The species is found off Florida in moderately deep water, and the sharks are aptly named.

Other guesses have appeared on the FWC's Facebook page.

"I'm going for a whale eye ...," reads one comment.

"Giant squid?" reads another.

Then there was this more adventurous theory: "A giant squid ripped out a whale's eye."

Segelson said it might be several days before a precise identification is made.

 

 

Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

From Grind TV:  Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

In Florida, scientists have their hands on a large and mysterious eyeball, which washed ashore Wednesday, and are trying to determine what kind of sea creature it belonged to. That could take a few days.

But in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, another bizarre find was made Friday: that of an oarfish, which washed ashore on bustling Medano Beach, which features a view of the end of the Baja California peninsula.

Oarfish are deep-water denizens that are rarely seen. But because of their long, slender appearance, and their bright-orange dorsal fins and manes, they helped spawn myths of sea serpents and sea monsters among ancient mariners.

They've been known to reach lengths of 30-plus feet.

Pisces Sportfishing reports that an employee from Pisces Real Estate helped discover an estimated 15-foot specimen that washed up in the gentle breakers.

Gonzalez "was working very hard, sitting under an umbrella on the main beach of Cabo-El Medano at an open house we are hosting today at Hacienda," states the Pisces blog. "He was right in front of Villa 2 when he saw a commotion on the beach and a small crowd gathered at the water's edge. His first thought was, 'There's been an accident.'

"Then he saw three locals supporting what appeared to him as a monster from the deep. He ran down to get a closer look and saw three locals assisting the strange creature, which appeared to be in distress as it struggled for air."

Unsuccessful attempts were made to revive the oarfish and return it to the Sea of Cortez, and ultimately it was collected for scientific study.

Oarfish inhabit the world's oceans but are found in the dark depths between about 600 and 3,000 feet. On the rare occasions one is seen on or near a beach--this happens very rarely and sporadically--it's either sick or injured, dying or already dead.

Their silver bodies have no scales and the fish swim with undulating motions, serpent-like.

Tracy Ehrenberg, who runs Pisces Sportfishing, said this is the first known oarfish to have washed up on Cabo's main beach. She discussed the discovery Friday morning on the "Baja Now" Internet radio show with Phil Friedman.

--Images are courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

 

San Francisco Giant Mola mola eyes whale watching boat

From KSBW:  Giant Mola mola eyes whale watching boat

This gigantic Mola mola was seen off the coast of Dana Point, Calif.
Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari

View Large

MONTEREY, Calif. — Whale watching passengers aboard Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari were "mugged" by the world's heaviest fish, a Mola mola, off the coast of Dana Point, Calif.

"Lucky for us, they are mellow fish that feed primarily on jellyfish and are not dangerous to people," crew member Giselle Anderson said of the giant ocean animal encounter.
Mola mola are also known as the Ocean Sunfish.
"Sunfish are usually shy and will flee from an approaching boat. But this large individual swam up and down the length of our catamaran and paused to check us out in our Eye to Eye Underwater Viewing Pods," Anderson said. "Now, who is watching who?"
Dana Point is located eight miles south of Laguna Beach in southern California.
Central Coasters who want to see this enormous species of fish up close can go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is home to three Mola molas.
They grow up to 10 feet wide and can weigh nearly 5,000 pounds. With their large, almost flat bodies, big eyes, and virtually no tail fin they look like visitors from another planet. Mola mola can become infested with skin parasites and our whale watchers often see them jumping several feet in the air in an attempt to remove the parasites.
"We also encounter them lounging near the surface and soaking up the warmth from the sun. And this year we've seen them in record numbers," Anderson said.
Meanwhile, a sport fisherman who lives in Dana Point may have caught a $1 million catch.

Guy Yocom caught a 427-pound yellowfin tuna in Mexican waters. It took him about 50 minutes to land it.

The boat skipper, Greg DiStefano, says the catch was submitted to the International Game Fishing Association and if the fish's weight is confirmed, it would break the current record of 405 pounds and win a $1 million prize offered by Mustad, the company that made the hook that caught the fish.

 

Ancient Mosaic Helps Biologists Piece Together Mediterranean Fish’s Human-Eating History

From ArtInfo:  Ancient Mosaic Helps Biologists Piece Together Mediterranean Fish’s Human-Eating History


Unintentionally, art can become more than just a cultural record, but an environmental one as well. The distribution of animals in Paleolithic France can be analyzed through the Lascaux cave paintings, and an extinct animal can sometimes only be seen through an old rock carving, as is the case with the buffalo-like “Great bubalus” in Africa. This has been particularly true with mosaics, one of the best preserved types of ancient art, in which detailed depictions of animals both living and extinct can be examined for indications of how and where they lived.
The Mediterranean mosaic fish that caught the interest of University of Salento biologist Paolo Guidetti and Stanford University biologist Fiorenza Micheli was the dusky grouper, Scientific American reports. A massive fish, the dusky grouper can grow longer than four feet and weigh more than 100 pounds, with a large gaping jaw. However, it used to be even bigger, at least according to the mosaic that Guidetti came upon when perusing an ancient art book. In it, a dusky grouper swims among an array of earth-hued sea creatures, and from its wide mouth hangs the legs of a poor human it is in the process of consuming (see above).
Unfortunately, despite its hulking shape and formidable mouth, the grouper is a popular prey for its savory flesh, and it has been overfished and declared endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Few groupers even come near the surface now, decreasing their chances of taking on a man for a meal.
To get an idea of what the grouper’s profile used to be, Guidetti and Micheli investigated mosaics in museums and books, finding 73 scenes with fish or fishing, 23 of these with groupers, dating from the first to fifth centuries. In the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman mosaics, the groupers are as much monster as fish, spiked fins rising up from their monolithic bodies. While the one eating a person appeared to be an anomaly, possibly an artistic flourish, they were frequently shown to be of startling size.
The researchers’ discoveries were published last year in the “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” journal. Their examinations reveal a fish larger than any of those found today, as well as fishing techniques like harpooning and nets that indicate groupers once swam close to the surface. Of course, as all art is interpretive, no matter how representational, it can only offer hints. But the researchers are confident that there is something to be learned from non-scientific sources when directing the conservation efforts of a species.
As Micheli told Scientific American: “For these types of questions, we must be willing to consider the importance of less quantitative, more anecdotal evidence. We wanted to emphasize art as a form of information.”

 

Giant fish-eating spiders reintroduced to British countryside

From TravelAol.co.uk:  Giant fish-eating spiders reintroduced to British countryside


Arachnophobes may want to look away now... ecologists have released hundreds of the UK's largest breed of spider into the wild - and they can grow up to 8cm long.

The great raft spider has been saved following a breeding programme in 10 zoos, that saw thousands of spiderlings being reared for reintroduction to their former base in the Norfolk Broads.

This arachnid is so big is it capable of catching and eating a fish as it glides across the water, according to the Daily Mail.

But, before you scream in horror, these spiders only live in wetlands, so you won't be finding them in your living room anytime soon.

Around 200 baby spiders have already been released at the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen reserve near Norwich.

SWNS

Bristol Zoo Gardens keeper Carmen Solan raised 170 of the arachnids, using a special tube operated with her mouth to feed the tiny babies dead flies.

The ecologist, who has been working with fen raft spiders for 20 years, said the conservation programme is mainly concerned with giving the spiders the best chance in the wild, according to the BBC.

By rearing the spiderlings in isolation, project staff can boost their survival rates by as much as 90%, which in turn gives them a greater chance of success in the wild.

 

Coming Soon: Robot Sea Turtles That Carry Cargo in Their Shells

From Pop-Sci:  Coming Soon: Robot Sea Turtles That Carry Cargo in Their Shells

Turtlebot One of the concept designs for the naro-tartaruga robot looks like a full-size sea turtle. ETH Zurich

The makers of quadrocopters and other fun robots at ETH Zurich may be landlubbers, but that does not stop them from designing objects that swim. The Swiss students are working on a turtle-inspired bot that can swim with efficiency while carrying plenty of cargo. The Naro-Tartaruga may not be as glide-y as a fish or eelbot, but it might be easier to build, and it is better for carrying payloads and robot parts like batteries and controllers.
As of now, the robot is a cylindrical aluminum vessel with turtle-inspired flippers, which will help it propel itself through the water. Concept designs include the more realistic-looking turtlebot seen above. The research team at ETH Zurich started with a tuna in 2008, studying how to imitate its movement in water. The main goal is to pick a winner between flapping fins and propellers. Whichever is more efficient could power new generations of ocean-inspired underwater autonomous vehicles.

Naro-Tartaruga:  ETH Zurich via Facebook

 

Researchers: Preserving Old Female Cods Key To Population Conservation

From Underwater Times: Researchers: Preserving Old Female Cods Key To Population Conservation

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Cod are among Sweden's most common and most popular edible fish and have been fished hard for many years. One consequence is the risk of serious changes in cod stocks, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In overfished areas, there is often a shortage of large and old cod, and the fish become sexually mature at a younger age. Researchers have feared that this change may have impacted on the fish's health, physiological aging and reproductive capacity.

In a recently published study, a research group from the University of Gothenburg working with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences therefore looked into the health and aging of male and female cod.

"We measured various aspects of oxidative stress, a condition in the cells that can lead to irreparable damage, antioxidant capacity, which protects against oxidative stress, and telomere length," says researcher and marine biologist Helen Nilsson Sköld.

Telomeres are repeated DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes. The length of these telomeres and the rate at which they get shorter are closely linked to health and aging.

The researchers compared the health of cod in the Öresund, Skagerrak and Kattegat. Cod in the Öresund have been protected from trawling since 1932 and so stocks include larger and older fish, but cod in the Skagerrak and Kattegat have been seriously overfished.

"Our results show that older males generally have shorter telomeres and a reduced antioxidant capacity," Helen Nilsson Sköld explains. "However, we didn't see the same pattern among females -- there were no signs of physiological aging in the age span we looked at for the females (two to eight years)."

The researchers were surprised to see such marked gender differences. Although older males were fatter and seemed less stressed than younger males, the females were generally in better shape than the males.

"Our theory for why the males age and are more stressed during spawning is that they have to compete for territory and mates. This stress seems to be more acute among the younger males."

The researchers were unable to find any signs of the overfished stocks of the Skagerrak and Kattegat being less healthy than the Öresund population.

A key factor in this context is that larger fish produce a much higher number of eggs -- it can vary from half a million to five million depending on the size of the cod.

"Our study also shows that large older females are healthy and don't seem to have aged physiologically," Helen Nilsson Sköld adds. "The conclusion is that it's important to look after the large older females, as they produce many more eggs than younger ones. A conservation strategy of this kind would be ideal in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat."

How do fish know if they're swimming in the right school?

From ABC Science:  How do fish know if they're swimming in the right school?

ish can't see themselves, or use a mirror! How do they know they are in the right school of fish?— Jim
Almost 80 per cent of the more than 20,000 known fish species school at some point in the life cycle.
Schooling helps reduce the risk of being attacked by predators, and also makes swimming easier because the fish position themselves so they are able to slipstream in their neighbours' wake.
Some species school only when they are vulnerable juveniles, others when they are older. They begin by swimming in pairs and then in larger and larger groups of the same species.
While fish have big eyes to help them find prey and keep track of each other up close, they rely on their chemosensory system to track other fish of the same species in the vastness of the ocean, says Dr Ashley Ward, a fish biologist at the University of Sydney.
"A fish can smell itself, and recognises others with the same smell," says Ward, who studies the social behaviour of fish.
Fish use smell to sniff out a partner with a strong immune system.
The smell of an individual fish is genetically programmed by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, which are crucial to vertebrate animals' immunity to disease.
"As a by-product, MHC affects the way we and other vertebrates smell," explains Ward.
"Even though all the fish in a school may look alike, when it comes to choosing a mate, picking one that smells different, that is, not related, will ensure the resulting offspring will have the best range of immune responses."
But when it comes to choosing who to hang out with, the smell of where a fish lives and what it eats is even more important.
"Like humans, who take on smells from our diet such as garlic or asparagus, fish clearly smell which individuals live in their microhabitat and preferentially associate with them," says Ward.
"We think the reason that they can do this is that another individual which carries that 'local' smell might have important local knowledge," he says.
But the way they smell, and their ability to smell each other can be affected by chemicals introduced into the aquatic environment.
"Water pollution might mean they have trouble recognising their school or potential mates," says Ward.

Fishy frenemies

Fish are pretty picky when it comes to choosing their school friends.
"Shoaling (schooling) fish have a strong preference for associating with familiar over unfamiliar fish.
"If territorial or solitary, they recognise their neighbours and are less aggressive to them than outsiders. And when it comes to mating, promiscuous fish recognise and avoid the ones they have mated with previously," says Ward.
Less well-proven, he says, is the way fish choose foraging companions. Recognising their foraging companions' strengths and weaknesses may be the difference between finding a meal, and ending up as one.
Some recognise poorer competitors and prefer to associate with them, he says, presumably because they know they will end up with a bigger share of the day's catch, while others show a preference for good foraging companions from the past.
"This might be those that forage better, are better navigators or are skilled at avoiding predators," Ward says.
"It has also been shown that fish have personalities, and exhibit certain types of behaviour, where they may be either bold or shy.
"While they may look alike, groups comprising a diversity of personality types, that is a mix of bold and shy fish, have been shown to outperform those composed of one type."

 

California Names Leatherback Sea Turtle As Official State Marine Reptile

From Underwater Times: California Names Leatherback Sea Turtle As Official State Marine Reptile

SACRAMENTO, California -- In a strong affirmation of the Golden State's commitment to the environment, Governor Brown today designated the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle as California's official state marine reptile by signing into law Assembly Bill (AB) 1776 by Assemblymember Fong (D- Cupertino). As sponsors and supporters of the bill, SeaTurtles.org and Oceana applaud Governor Brown and the State Legislature for providing a first of its kind recognition of the importance of this critically endangered species to the state's marine ecosystem.

Leatherback sea turtles are best described by superlatives: they are an ancient lineage outsurviving the dinosaurs; they are the largest sea turtle on Earth; they can dive to a depth of over half a mile,-- as deep as the giant whales; they have one of the longest migrations of any animal (6,000 miles across the entire Pacific), and unfortunately, are the most endangered sea turtle in the Pacific due to incidental capture in industrial fishing drift nets and longlines.

Per the new state law, October 15, 2013 will be California's first annual Leatherback Conservation Day. Schools will be encouraged to teach students about this centuries-old sea turtle species that makes an incredible 6,000 mile journey from Indonesia to the California coast to feed on jellyfish.

"By designating the Pacific leatherback sea turtle as our state marine reptile, California joins a coordinated worldwide conservation effort," said Assemblymember Fong, who introduced the bill. "This bill demonstrates California's commitment to protecting our ocean's ecosystem and a species whose population has declined more than 95 percent and whose migratory pattern includes California's coast."

"California has now established itself as a national leader in promoting conservation of Pacific leatherbacks, which have survived in the Pacific Ocean for over 100 million years but are now being driven to extinction by fisheries bycatch, poaching, and plastic pollution," said Dr. Chris Pincetich, marine biologist with www.SeaTurtles.org, the primary architect and sponsor of AB 1776."I can now imagine that in the near future I will be able to visit a California classroom and all the students will have learned about leatherbacks, their critical habitat offshore, and ways they can take action to ensure their continued survival. Right now, students that have even heard of them are in the minority."

More than 16,000 square miles of California's coastal waters were designated as critical habitat for leatherbacks earlier this year. However, more needs to be done as the most recent nesting surveys are showing continued declines for the population that utilizes California waters. This new law will encourage state and federal agencies to build cooperative relationships with island nations where Pacific leatherback sea turtles return to nest in order to increase awareness and conservation of this critically endangered species.

"By recognizing the Pacific leatherback as the newest state symbol, Governor Brown continues California's leadership in ocean conservation," said Ashley Blacow, Oceana's Pacific Policy and Communications Coordinator. "Pacific leatherbacks are on the brink of extinction, and public awareness is a key ingredient to turning the tide for these ancient marine reptiles."

"Governor Brown's action today will help us to educate, motivate and most importantly, actualize more concrete measures to protect the critically endangered Pacific Leatherback from extinction," said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director for www.SeaTurtles.org.

Divers flock to see rebound of Goliath grouper

From the Miami Herald:  Divers flock to see rebound of Goliath grouper

JUPITER -- The huge Goliath grouper seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with divers hovering near the wreck of the MG III about 60 feet deep off Jupiter. If the humans swam too close, the giant mottled brown fish backed up deeper into the shipwreck. But if they held still and waited, it edged closer — cocking its head to eye them, then opening its cavernous maw so that they could see all the way down to its palate.
Not far away, some other divers creeping up on scores of Goliaths puttering around the wreck heard a deep boom that sounded like an orchestra tympani or the penetrating bass of a rap song. That meant the humans were invading the fish’s space, and it was warning them off using vibrations from the muscles attached to its swim bladder.
Far from scared, the divers were elated.
“That was so cool,” they told one another after surfacing at their charter boat, the Blue Tang.
In a two-tank drift dive that covered three 90-foot-deep artificial reefs — the Zion, Miss Jenny and Bonaire — followed by the shallower MG III, the dozen divers probably had observed several hundred Goliath groupers. Large schools of the huge, gentle giants began showing up on shipwrecks from Boynton Beach to Stuart in July for their annual spawn, which peaked in August and is expected to extend into mid-October.
Scuba divers come from Florida, the United States and around the world just to see the one-of-a-kind aggregation of huge fish now making a resurgence after nearly being wiped out by overfishing in the 1980s. Since the Goliath fishery’s closure in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico in 1990, the population has swelled, prompting some spearfishers and hook-and-line anglers to call for its reopening.
But NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of managing fish stocks in the United States, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have no plans to open the harvest of Goliaths anytime soon. Scientists from the two agencies are expected to begin a stock assessment in 2015 to determine whether they have rebounded enough to allow any take. Chris Koenig, a retired professor from Florida State University, and several colleagues are gathering scientific data for that assessment. A lot of their work is performed in the waters around Jupiter.
“It’s neat they aggregate in such density,” Koenig said. “You can’t see that anywhere in the world. Now the population is really building. They’re doing well. They’re getting up there.”
Koenig and his fellow scientists are trying to learn all they can about the giant groupers’ life history, movements, reproduction and diet. They have caught, tagged, sampled and released more than 400 Goliaths off Jupiter in the past two years — including a banner weekend of 80 in three days earlier this month.
Working from captain Mike Newman’s commercial boat, Dykoke, the scientists use heavy lines dangling from poly balls and circle hooks baited with chunks of barracuda, jack, and bonito to catch Goliaths on the wrecks. They handline the fish quickly into the Dykoke’s cockpit and pump saltwater through its gills while they take a sample of the fin rays for aging, biopsy the ovaries and collect sperm, pump the stomach to see what it ate, collect genetic material, and implant streamer and acoustic tags. Occasionally, a fish dies after being worked up, which upsets divers who find it.
But Koenig said his team has lost only three fish in two years — a tiny percentage of the 800 that federal and state fisheries managers considered allowing them to kill five years ago in order to take otoliths, or ear bones, for aging. Koenig said they don’t need to harvest fish because they’ve developed non-lethal techniques for sampling.
Since the mid-1990s, Koenig said, scientists have learned a lot about Goliaths:
• They eat mostly small, slow-moving fish and crustaceans, but very few lobster.
• They are hermaphrodites, harboring sperm and eggs in the same set of gonads in 5-10 percent of fish sampled.
• They can live to their 60s, beginning to spawn at about four feet long.
• As juveniles, they inhabit mangrove estuaries then move out to deeper water when they mature.
• They will travel long distances — as much as 180 miles — to reach summer spawning sites.
Unknowns include: Do the fish spawn in pairs or groups? Can larvae harvested during spawning be raised in captivity? And what is the exact relationship between size and age?
Koenig urges anglers eager to target Goliath grouper to be patient and accept the findings of scientists.
“I get sick of arguing about it,” Koenig said. “All this misinformation they repeat to each other until it becomes truth. People believe their buddies and not what science tells them. They want their cake now. It’s hard getting through to them.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/27/3022594/divers-intrigued-by-goliath-grouper.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/27/3022594/divers-intrigued-by-goliath-grouper.html#storylink=cpy

 

Whale hunt to go on, despite ship refit

From The Australian:  Whale hunt to go on, despite ship refit

JAPAN'S Fisheries Agency says plans to refit its ageing factory ship Nisshin Maru won't stop it launching this year's Antarctic whaling hunt. 
 
The ship used every year on its whaling expeditions needs a major overhaul in the hope of getting at least another decade's service out of it, the agency says.

But it stressed the refit will be finished in time for this season's hunt, controversially carried out under the banner of “scientific” whaling.

“As research whaling is important, we'd like to conduct major repairs (on the ship) so that it can be used for at least 10 years,” said Tatsuya Nakaoku, the official in charge of whaling.

The agency is studying with shipbuilders how long the refitting will take, but “there is no possibility” that Japan will miss the voyage this year, he said.

Whales are caught by relatively nimble harpoon ships that bring their catch back to the larger Nisshin Maru, where the mammals are butchered and processed, before being chilled.

The Fisheries Agency's comments came after a report in the daily Asahi Shimbun, which said it was considering abandoning its controversial mission this season because of the refit.

The Asahi said the idea of there being no hunt this year had met with opposition from politicians, afraid a disruption for even one year would make Japan look “weak-kneed”.

Japan's whaling mission departs in November, or later, and comes home in the northern spring the following year.

Commercial whaling is banned under an international treaty but Japan has since 1987 used a loophole to carry out “lethal research” on the creatures in the name of science.

It has infuriated Australia and New Zealand, which say it is a fig leaf for commercial whaling. The Japanese fleet is pursued every year by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd.

Japan claims the hunt is necessary to substantiate its view that the world had a robust whale population. But it makes no secret of the fact that whale meat from this research ends up on dinner tables and in restaurants.
Anti-whaling activists have cut the number of animals Japan was able to harpoon to 267 in 2011-2012, less than a third of the intended haul.

In the preceding season, Japan cancelled the hunt after killing only 172 whales because of harassment by environmentalists.