June 11, 2014 - EARTH - The following constitutes
the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass
die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare
creatures.
Marine Mammals Mysteriously Dying In Record Numbers Along The West Coast
More sick and dying animals are washing up on the coast of California, with new reports indicating record numbers of young sea lions, seals, and other marine mammals being admitted to care shelters for rehabilitation. The Orange County Register reports that the only facility in the county licensed to care for marine mammals is now at capacity, and that other facilities all along the coastline are being similarly inundated.
The normally pudgy and active creatures are increasingly turning up emaciated and dehydrated, a mysterious phenomenon that the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center (MMC) has monitored across a 600-mile area of coastline that stretches from Mendocino to San Luis Obispo. After washing ashore, many of these sick marine mammals are too week to even get back in the water, let alone survive on their own.
"We thought it was going to be a nice calm year; in the last month it's just spiked," stated Melissa Sciacca, the director of development at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) in Laguna Beach. Hundreds of ailed sea lions turned up last year as well, but the early part of this year was mostly quiet, that is until recently. "The rescues just keep coming in at a steady pace."
Sharp uptick in injured sea animals following FukushimaAccording to reports, this is only the third time ever that the PMMC has been at capacity with sick animals, the first time having occurred in 2009 and the second time last year. Like in years past, the animals being rescued today exhibit the same strange symptoms, almost as if something attacked or infected their bodies, preventing them from developing normally.
"Once we get them nourished, they do fine out there," added PMMC executive director Keith Matassa, as quoted by the OC Register. In his assessment, the sea lions' mothers may not be producing enough milk, or they themselves may be getting exposed to toxins or some other damaging factor. "It's all circling around food issues."
Dr. Shawn Johnson, director of the MMC's veterinary sciences department, seems to agree. He told SFGate.com that most of the sick marine mammals being admitted to the center appear to be starving to death, either from a dearth of available food or from an inability to capture and consume it. Either way, the animals are suffering and nobody seems to know why.
"The ones we are seeing are basically starving to death," he told SFGate.com. "It's definitely a mystery. We're hoping it's not the new norm."
Sick, dying animals turning up all across Pacific CoastSimilar events are occurring elsewhere along the Pacific Coast, including in Alaska where dozens of sea lions, whales and other creatures recently turned up dead. Researchers there believe that radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may be responsible, especially since many of the dead creatures are exhibiting signs of radiation poisoning, including unusual baldness and skin sores.
A 2011 symposium on Fukushima radiation and its effects on marine life essentially predicted these outcomes, having modeled how radiation accumulation on sea ice might harm sea lions, for instance. It explained how radiation exposure in these areas represents an ongoing immunotoxic threat to these innocent creatures, not to mention the damage it can inflict on the thyroid gland and skin.
"Marine transported Fukushima radionuclides... may represent a new stressor to the ecosystem," reads a poster for the meeting. -
Natural News.
Deep Water Alien Fish Hauled Out Of The Gulf By Houston Fisherman
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| Meet Cullen Greer, the man who caught a 300-lb alien fish |
A Houston fisherman's latest catch is going viral after after photos
came out of a massive Warsaw Grouper he caught off the Louisiana coast.
Cullen Greer caught the huge 267-pound fish at the end of May and is
looking to get into the state record books. His 6' 6" long giant would
be the fifth largest ever caught in this species.
KETK report that Greer hopes the ugly grouper will also rank as the third largest caught on a hand crank.
The current record with the
Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association stands at 359.10 pounds caught in November 2008.
Warsaw groupers are the only grouper with 10 dorsal spines according to
Texas A&M at Galveston. They live in deep waters in the Gulf and on rocky ledges or sea mounts. The Texas state record is listed with Texas Parks and Wildlife as a 302.7 pound fish caught in October 2006. -
CHRON.
Thousands Of Plaice And Eels Found Dead At The Mouth Of A River In Galicia, Spain
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| Thousands of dead fry plaice and eel appear in Cee |
Not one vivo. Throughout the course of the river channeled through the central Cee, from the La Marina to the mouth at sea impossible to see yesterday at noon one fish alive.
Thousands of copies, the vast majority of juvenile plaice (flounder) and eel, but also had a prisoner, pawn and adult mullet, still lay dead at the bottom of concrete late in the afternoon.
A notice of a particular 112, about 12.00, sounded the alarm and moved to the point the Local Police, Civil Protection, Civil Guard Corcubión, agents Seprona A Coruna, specialists District Environment and forestry technicians Augas of Galicia. Even inquired at the Regional Police happened, but late in the afternoon no one had yet found the possible cause.
The logic of these cases pointed to a possible release of a lethal chemical for these species yet to be developed, but in the river there was no trace of oil floating in the water any more odors than the usual flow where several pipelines sanitation.
The agents checked pipes, workshops that are in the vicinity of the runway and even the works of the Mercadona roundabout, where it also crosses the river, but any search was fruitless.
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| Not seen in the river remains lethal chemicals to fish |
At this point two possibilities opened. Some argue that police could deal with a spill point, which lasted just minutes from there that could not be detected, but veteran fishermen in the area, ensuring that already happened more times, suggest that the fall of the tide could cause excess fresh water in the channel and the death of these intertidal species. In fact, this theory fits with who has almost single fry and adult specimens lograsen escape, while those that appear dead are broken in some cases several days, but nothing confirmed.
For technicians Augas is not significant given the low mortality involvement in adults, but in any case, sources Environment took samples from the river and built a record of what happened in case it is necessary to establish responsibilities .
The oddest thing about this case is that mújeles, which practically have taken over that stretch of the river, due to the large amount of waste received and feeding yesterday disappeared completely. There was not one to get to the sea itself, where hundreds swirled itself around the wastewater stream. For some agents can be a symptom of perceived something strange in the water and decided to flee, although the fishermen consider that this may be their regular tidal movements. -
La Voz De Galicia. [Translated]
Thousands Of Fish Appear Dead In Rivers, Ponds And Lakes In Ha Nam, Vietnam
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| Dead fish too drips, people do not dare to carry out salvage boat. |
Many today, Threshold river, as it passes through the territory of Japan Tuu commune (Kim Bang, Ha Nam) appearing in mass mortalities, smelly concentration anonymously make people's lives are seriously affected. According to some residents living near the riverside, said status of mass mortalities occurred on (5/6). "At first, not many dead fish, people still take the boat out with fish that bury into the tree, but after one night, the dead fish in dense areas, river floating white. Seeing so many dead fish, who also shivered so no one would dare river fished out again. " Ms Mai, the people said. Mr. Nguyen Van Son, near the pumping station, said Xue dead and moribund fish, averaging about 10 a day picked sacks ca. Dead fish in the river drift into the area near the pumping station and water accumulation in here can not smell the smell, not the house he lives that affected all people in the surrounding areas were severely affected important.
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| Tons of dead fish on the river Threshold anomaly. |
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| Dead fish mainly tilapia. |
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| Not only fish on Threshold river, fish in the ponds of people also die series. |
According to Mr. Son, the number of dead fish in a few days here estimated to need tons. Present at the Threshold River region, according to the reporter's record, a 1km stretch of the river on a series of dead fish appear white river float river. Most areas of dead fish are near the pump station and bridges around Japan Achievement. The dead fish like tilapia, carp, crucian carp. Not just a river in nghue, area, in people's ponds, lakes and white dead fish floating. Unusual phenomenon of dead fish on the river Threshold area has yet to determine the cause. However, in the judgment of the people, may be due to contaminated river water is too heavy, the extra hot weather the past few days, causing many fish to die unbearable series. -
Xaluan.
[Translated]
Death Toll Mounts For Harbor Porpoises On San Juan Island Shores
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| A Stranding Network volunteer takes notes on a harbor porpoise.
Stranding Network |
An uptick in harbor porpoise strandings has local biologists scratching their heads, looking for clues and wary that mid-May's
unusually high death toll may signal something other than the natural die-off of a population on the rise.
Although, that just might be the case.
"We've also heard there's been an increase in the number of strandings
in the (British Columbia) area," said The Whale Museum's Jennifer Olsen,
coordinator of the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
"But we're not sure of what the total is or exactly where they were
found.
We didn't have a single stranding a year ago in May."
A total of eight harbor porpoise carcasses were
recovered from beaches on the westside of San Juan Island between May 19
and May 29. All are similar in length, 4-6 feet, suggesting they were
adults, and a series of necropsies are slated to be conducted on three
bodies that were not picked apart by scavengers, beginning June 5, Olsen
said. The term "stranding" applies to dead animals and to live ones
that for some reason are stranded on a beach or rocks and cannot get
back into the water.
Although it stands as the second-highest stranding total in the month of
May, since 2006, eight is not necessarily cause for alarm, not by
itself (12 strandings were recorded in May 2012, the highest total for
the month in the last eight years).
In fact, according to Dr. Joe Gaydos of the Orcas Island-based SeaDoc
Society, spring is the time of year when harbor porpoise typically
migrate en masse from the mouth of Juan de Fuca Strait into the heart of
the Salish Sea and strandings are not uncommon at that time. Still,
Gaydos, who will perform the early June necropsies, said the spate of
strandings warrant examination to find out if an infectious disease or
virus, such as pneumonia, may be responsible or contributed to the
deaths.
"Right now we really don't know what's going on," he said.
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| Stranding Network |
The smallest of marine mammals, the harbor porpoise generally stays
close to coastal waters or river estuaries, tend to be solitary foragers
and feed primarily on small schooling fish, such as herring, pollock,
hake, as well as squid and other cephalopods. Adults typically measure
4-6 feet in length, average between 135-170 pounds (females tend to be
heavier) and have an average lifespan of about 24 years.
The harbor porpoise shares the name but is an entirely different species
than the somewhat larger and vastly heavier harbor seal, a pinniped, a
far more abundant animal worldwide, and common as well in the Salish
Sea.
However, the population of harbor porpoise appears to be on the rise in greater Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.
In fact, according to Gaydos, the cause of an exceptionally large number
of harbor porpoise strandings and deaths in 2006 turned out to be
largely the result of an increase in the overall population. Whether due
to age, competition or limited food supply, death is ever-present in
the natural world and casualties can tend to spike in step with an
increase in population, he said.
"It wasn't that they were dying from a disease" he said. "The harbor porpoise population was just increasing."
To report a stranding, call the Marine Mammal Stranding Network Hotline, 1-800-562-8832. -
San Juan Journal.
Mystery Disease Turns Oregon's Sea Stars To Goo
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The leg of this purple ochre sea star in Oregon is disintegrating, as it
dies from sea star wasting syndrome.
(Photo: Elizabeth
Cerny-Chipman/Oregon State University)
|
A mysterious disease that is
turning sea stars to goo
has taken off along the Oregon coast, with up to half or more of the
creatures being infected in just the last few weeks, scientists say.
Until now, Oregon was the one state along the U.S. West Coast
essentially spared from the disease. In April, researchers estimated
less than 1 percent or so of the purple ochre sea stars (
Pisaster ochraceus) living within 10 sites along Oregon's intertidal zones — which provide an easily accessible place to monitor
sea stars
— were affected by the wasting disease. By mid-May that percentage had
gone up slightly, and then after that it seemed to skyrocket.
"The percentages we saw last week, they were as high as 40 to 60
percent of the population that's showing signs of wasting," said Bruce
Menge, a marine biologist at Oregon State University, who is studying
the wasting disease in Oregon.
Turning sea stars to goo
The disease tends to progress from no outward signs to behavior changes in which the
sea stars
cross their arms and seem to collapse on themselves. Then white lesions
appear on the surface of the sea star's body that turn into holes;
those lesions are typically followed by the disintegration of skin
around the lesion and the loss of a limb or several limbs, and in
extreme cases the animal's entire body is affected by the syndrome. Some
of the creatures physically tear their bodies apart in the process,
scientists say.
"We've seen a number of cases where all that's left is a puddle of
their skeletal parts and a bunch of bacteria eating away at the tissue,"
Menge told LiveScience. "It's a pretty gruesome thing to see."
The current outbreak of sea star wasting syndrome was first
reported in June 2013 along the coast of Washington by researchers from
Olympic National Park.
Since that report, die-offs have been documented everywhere from
California to Alaska and even along the East Coast from Maine through
New Jersey.
"Wasting has been known for a long time, but usually it's very
localized to a single site or single region," Menge said. When that's
the case, as it was last August just north of Vancouver, British
Columbia, the chances for recovery are high since the plankton, or
floating forms, of the sea stars from healthy, nearby populations can
recolonize those areas that were hit.
"The thing that is worrisome now is that it's happening pretty much all along the West Coast, even up into Alaska," Menge said.
In this widespread outbreak, Oregon seemed to be a lucky outlier.
"We were hoping that for some weird reason we were going to miss out on
it. We were optimistic," Menge said. "It finally did hit, and we really
have no idea what the pathogen is, what the mode of transmission is. "
Mystery disease
The
cause of the wasting disease is unknown,
though scientists working on the mystery are testing whether an
underlying virus or bacteria is to blame, along with some environmental
stress, such as water temperature or salt content, making the organisms
more vulnerable to it.
"We are finding correlations between certain microorganisms and
viruses present in the lesions," Gary Wessel, of Brown University in
Rhode Island, told Live Science in an email. "We are now testing whether
these organisms are causative (by infecting healthy animals and seeing
if they replicate the wasting phenotype) or just associated."
Wessel added that his lab is also looking into the impacts of environmental stressors.
"In our challenge experiments to test infectivity, we are stressing
the animals with salt conditions and temperature to determine if this
environmental stress makes them more susceptible," Wessel said.
Since sea stars can act as keystone predators, meaning their predatory activities shape
an ecosystem,
their loss could have far-reaching impacts, the researchers say. By
eating mussels on the low shores in Oregon, sea stars keep those
populations in check so the bivalves don't explode in numbers, at the
expense of other organisms. Menge said it's too early to say whether the
sea stars' mussel-munching could be compensated by whelks in the area.
In addition to leaving a void in a finely tuned ecosystem, the loss
of sea stars would also disrupt a seeming iconic shoreline organism.
"The aesthetics of the rocky shore are going to be quite a bit less," Menge said. "They are charismatic beasts." -
MNN.
