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

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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.”