Sickening: The effects of 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

NEW ORLEANS— As the one-year anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster approaches, the Center for Biological Diversity today released a report tallying the full impacts of the disaster on the region’s birds, sea turtles, dolphins and other wildlife.

The report, titled A Deadly Toll: The Gulf Oil Spill and the Unfolding Wildlife Disaster, compiles federal data, scientific papers and media accounts to estimate the number of animals hurt by the spill so far. Using multipliers to calculate the true cost of the damage to wildlife species, the Center estimates that approximately:

6,000 sea turtles,
26,000 dolphins and whales,
82,000 birds,
and countless fish and invertebrates may have been harmed by the disaster.

Based on the documented, ongoing effects of previous oil spills, pollution from the 2010 BP spill will continue to affect Gulf wildlife for decades.

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Fish sounds

I never knew fish made sounds. It's hard to believe that they do, but when you think about it, why not? Most other animals make noises, so why not fish?

In "Run Noisy, Run Deep," the New York Times samples of some of the sounds made by five species of fish.


My favorite is the clownfish which are prolific "singers" that produce a wide variety of sounds, described as "chirps" and "pops" in both reproductive and agonistic behavioral contexts. Clownfish sounds were recorded as early as 1930, but it was just recently that scientists discovered the unusual ligament that allows this fish to pull its jaws together quickly to produce the sounds.

The accompanying article, "What’s Making That Awful Racket? Surprisingly, It May Be Fish," tells an interesting story about Cape Coral, FL, where residents were pushing the City Council to pay an engineering firm more than $47,000 to eliminate the nightly noise reverberating through their homes.

James Locascio, a doctoral student in marine science at the University of South Florida, rescued the city from financial folly.

He explained that at 100 to 500 hertz, black drum mating calls travel at a low enough frequency and long enough wavelength to carry through sea walls, into the ground and through the construction of waterfront homes like the throbbing beat in a passing car.

How cool.

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Wild Octopuses Have Complex Lives

Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders and gender-bending tricks.

The new study was conducted by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia. They found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.

The scientists saw picky, macho males carefully select a mate, then guard their newly domesticated digs so jealously that they would occasionally use their 8-to-10-inch tentacles to strangle a romantic rival to death.

Source: National Geographic

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Virgin birth celebrated in Hungary

A Hungarian aquarium is celebrating an extrordinary virgin birth after its lone female shark produced a pup without ever having come into contact with a male shark.

The white-tipped reef shark, named Ibolya by staff, has been on her own at the Nyiregyhaza Centre since she was born seven years ago.

"I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark. The mother is very protective of her pup, but as soon as we can, marine biologists want to get a DNA sample from both."

Parthenogenesis, where an egg starts to divide without being fertilised, occurs in a number of lower animals such as bees and ants but, it was thought, not in higher animals including cartilaginous fish such as a shark.

Source

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It's understandable

Louis the Giant Pacific Octopus at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium is so attached to the Christmas present that was dropped into his aquarium tank, he fights his keepers whenever they try to take the toy from him.


Louis can dismantle and assemble his Mr Potato Head and has even learned to dig out food hidden in a secret box at the back of it.

Source

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Ukrainian mussels invading California

Quagga mussels, an exotic species native to Ukraine that was first found in the Great Lakes 18 years ago, have been found in a fifth San Diego County reservoir.

Quaggas apparently were transported from Europe to Lake Erie in the United States in the ballast water of oceangoing ships, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The mussels grow virtually unmolested because they have no natural predators. They clog pipes and screens at power stations, water treatment plants and agricultural irrigation lines.

Photo: New York Sea Grant

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Fisherman Finds Rare Baby Giant Squid

A Florida fisherman found the remains of a rare baby giant squid that is nearly 7 feet long.

About 15 giant squids have been found off the Florida or Bahamian coasts, but never any babies like this one, scientists said.

Most giant squids have been discovered off the coast of New Zealand, and one has never been seen alive.

The animals live between 2,400 and 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface and can get as long as 60 feet. (That's a lot of calamari!)

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Powerful New Poison found in Deadly Sea Snails

Spies with a penchant for exotic poisons can add a new one to their list – snail venom.

For more than 23 years, Professor Baldomero M. Olivera has been studying snail venom. This week, his team at the University of Utah reported their discovery of a completely unique neurotoxin in Conus parius, a mollusk that hunts along the coast in the Philippines.

Cone snail venoms are more than an elaborate tool for assassination. In 2004, one of those toxins was approved by the FDA to treat chronic pain. Some day, they may be used to treat a variety of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

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Giant squid washed up on Tasmania's west coast

Zoologists say it remains a mystery how a 200-kilogram giant squid came to be washed up on Tasmania's west coast.

The squid was found by a member of the public on a beach.

Zoologists from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery say the squid's hood and body is more than three metres long and they estimate its full size with tentacles would have been seven metres, with a weight of around 200kg.

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Rare white humpback whale spotted

Record numbers of humpback whales are on their annual migration up Australia's east coast, including the rare white whale Migaloo, scientists say.

Migaloo, whose Aboriginal name means "white fella", is believed to be the only completely white humpback whale in the world.

The 14-metre whale was spotted off Heron Island, on Queensland's central coast, by resort staff on a fishing trip.

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Algae killing birds, sealife in Calif.

A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said.

Domoic acid is produced by microscopic algae. Birds and sea mammals ingest the acid by eating fish and shellfish who dine on the algae.

The algae population increases or "blooms" every year as the ocean waters warm but this year's bloom seems early, extensive and "very, very thick," said David Caron, who teaches in the biological sciences department at University of Southern California.

"In five years of study I have not seen a bloom this large at this particular time of year," Caron said. "It's having an extraordinary impact on pelicans and many other species."

"There are conceivably thousands of animals being affected," Caron said.

The Wetland and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach had received 73 sick or dead birds since Sunday, assistant director Lisa Birkle said.

The toxin has been swifter and deadlier than usual, she said.

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Jumbo Squid, Sperm Whale Study Reveals How the Giant Creatures Feed, Hunt

For the first time ever, researchers have electronically tagged sperm whales and jumbo squid swimming together off Mexico's Pacific Coast to learn more about how the giant creatures hunt and feed.

It's probably the only time tracking devices have been applied simultaneously in the same waters to deep-diving predators and their prey.

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Unseen oceans: Revelations from the abyss

These five stunning images of a host of bizarre beasts were among those unveiled at the 11^th International Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, held in 2006 in Southampton, UK.

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Annelid Worm (Photo: Daniel Desbruyeres)

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Piglet Squid (Photo: Alan Kinnear)

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Dumbo Octopus (Photo: David Shale)

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Cirrate Octopod (Photo: Michael Randall)

Deep Sea Physonect (Photo: Kevin Raskoff)

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A worm like no other

This is a worm? This photograph of the newly named worm shows its mouth, which typically faces downward as the animal drifts about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the ocean surface.

It sounds like a junior high school riddle—"What lives 3,000 feet below the ocean surface, is about the size of a marble, and looks like the back side of a pig?"

MBARI marine biologists have pondering this riddle for years, having seen a number of these strange, round organisms during deep dives in Monterey Canyon. MBARI biologist Karen Osborn and her co-workers recently came up with an answer to this riddle by combining modern DNA analysis with traditional methods of scientific observation. What they discovered was a new species of deep-sea worm, but a worm like no other. In a recent scientific paper, they gave this little creature a Latin name: Chaetopterus pugaporcinus.

Image: Karen Osborn (c) 2006 MBARI

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