The bizarre deep sea creature is the second in the past few weeks to be caught in Australian waters
February 21, 2016 - 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.
Bizarre deep sea fish found off Victoria coast, Australia
A bizarre deep sea creature with bug eyes and dozens of needle-like teeth has been pulled ahsore -the second sea monster to appear in Australian waters in less than a week.
The outlandish creature was caught off the Victoria state coast by a
fishing trawler, the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association said.
Growing to 38cm, this species can be found around
the south-eastern and western margins of Australia's continental shelf
in waters ranging from 275-500m deep
Experts said the animal may be an Endo's Goosefish - Lophiodes endoi, also known by some people as 'monkfish' - isa deepwater member of the anglerfish family.
Growing to 38cm, this species can be found around the south-eastern and western margins of Australia's continental shelf in waters ranging from 275-500m deep.Angler
fishes possess some of the most impressive teeth and ensure that once
prey enters their mouths, there is no chance of escape.
Last week, another peculiar deep sea creature which looks like a cross
between a crocodile and a dolphin washed ashore on the banks of an
Australian lake. - Daily Mail.
Dead whale found in waters off Zambales, Philippines
A dead whale was found in the waters off the coastal town of Candelaria
in Zambales province on Saturday morning, local police said.
Residents of Barangay (village) Dampay discovered the carcass of the
whale floating some 100 kilometers from the coastline at 9 a.m., said
SPO4 Tomas Mejos, team leader of a unit deployed by the Candelaria
Police Station.
"The whale was about the size of a minibus," Mejos said in a telephone interview.
The species of the whale has yet to be identified, Mejos added.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Central Luzon has sent a
team to determine the cause of the whale's death, said Nelson Bien,
chief of the agency's fisheries resources and management division.
As of 1 p.m., residents were still towing the animal to the shore, Mejos added. - Inquirer.
MYSTERY SOLVED: A pike eel photographed near the Swansea boat ramp sent ripples through social media. Picture: Robert Tyndall.
February 16, 2016 - 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.
Odd Australian creature washed up identified as pike eel
Giant eel, "messed up crocodile" or unidentified lake monster?
A creature apparently photographed at Swansea has confused and slightly
frightened locals since it washed up on social media on Monday.
Ethan Tippa, who posted the photo on Facebook, typified the general response.
"What the f--- is it?"
The answer, said marine biologist Julian Pepperell, is that it's a pike eel.
The angle of the photo made it difficult to judge the creature's length, but it seems longer than the species' average maximum of 1.8 metres.
"I think it's definitely a pike eel. The head is very indicative of that species," Dr Pepperell said.
"It's hard from the photo to get an idea of the scale."
The nocturnal pike eel is common in NSW waters, but surprisingly little is known about it.
Dr Pepperell said the species is frequently caught by fishers at night
who get "the fight of their lives" when they reel in a powerful,
thrashing predator with a nasty bite.
"There are certainly people who are bitten by them in boats," he said.
"They have incredibly strong muscle and their teeth are geared towards inflicting slashing wounds."
An old fishers' adage goes that a tinnie has room for a fisherman or a pike eel, but not both.
The photo of the long, sharp-toothed and clearly dead creature has been
shared thousands of times on social media, with many identifying it as a
pike eel.
It was probably "relatively old", Dr Pepperell said, and could have died
from a net entanglement, been hit by a boat or died of old age.
Some questioned whether the image was Photoshopped, or whether it had really been seen at Swansea.
Dougie Boyd, of the Commercial Fishermen's Co-Operative, thought it was genuine.
"I don't think it's been Photoshopped," Mr Boyd said.
"I've seen some monsters, but none that big."
Pike eels are not poisonous to eat, and are frequently sold in the market of Southeast Asia.
There are thousands of migrating sharks swarming just off Florida's
coastline, which in 2015 became the "shark attack capitol" of the US.
This new aerial footage has revealed the sheer scale of the predator
population.
The blacktip sharks are teaming up just several hundred feet away from
the shore near Palm Beach and up some 20 miles to Jupiter Beach.
In a video from Friday, Florida Atlantic University biological sciences
professor Stephen Kajiura showed off the scene as part of the aerial
blacktip shark migration surveys he and his team are conducting.
"There are literally tens of thousands of sharks a stone's throw away
from our shoreline. You could throw a pebble and literally strike a
shark. They are that close," Kajiura told CBS12.
While migration is normal for blacktip sharks this time of the year,seeing such an enormous population and at this particular location is not usual. Typically, the sharks go further south, but this year they have stayed near Palm Beach, north to the Jupiter Inlet.
He is now working to find out why sharks decided to stay in the area
rather than traveling further south along the Florida coast.
"One of the ideas may be that as they are getting south, if they are in a
suitable habitat, then why not stay," Kajiura told ABC.
WATCH: Thousands of sharks teem off Florida beaches.
Part of his survey is tagging sharks. He wants to tag 60 sharks to see
where they would be going next and study their migration patterns.
Thousands of sharks have not scared away beach-goers, though, and the coastline remains open.
"These sharks are pretty skittish," Kajiura said, explaining that it is
due to clear water in the Palm Beach area that they can differentiate
between humans and prey like fish. "So when they see a human, they swim
away."
He says that "if you look historically", very few people have
been bitten by blacktips in this area and most of the cases are usually
registered further north in Daytona. - RT.
Whale carcass removed from Bantry Bay, South Africa
The City of Cape Town successfully removed the carcass of a whale that beached in Bantry Bay.
Authorities believed that dead marine mammal posed a risk to the public.
Decomposing whales could attract sharks, and they also create an awful stench.
WATCH: Beached whale at Bantry Bay.
Samples will now be taken for research purposes, and the carcass buried in a landfill site.
Gregg Oelofse from the City of Cape Town said before the removal, "It's
going to be difficult. But the particular location of this animal means
we're going to have to take it off by towing it back out to sea."
"We're quite lucky because it's a small whale, a calf, about 6 metres in length so it makes it easier for us." - ENCA.
Dolphin found dead on east coast - days after whales died in Lincolnshire, UK
A Hornsea Coastguard officer with the dolphin. Picture: Hornsea Coastguard
A dolphin washed up dead on the east coast, just days after a number of whales were stranded along the Lincolnshire coastline.
Hornsea Coastguard was called out to the beach in East Yorkshire at
about 3pm on Friday afternoon after reports of a whale or porpoise on
the beach.
It was later identified as a white beaked dolphin, and details were passed to the Natural History Museum to arrange collection.
A spokesman for Hornsea Coastguard said: "Team paged by CGOC Humber to a
report of a whale/porpoise on the beach north of Hornsea.
"The team responded and after a short beach search located the
mammal on the beach. The mammal was identified to be a white-beaked
dolphin which was unfortunately deceased.
"A description, grid reference and measurements were recorded and passed
to CGOC Humber who will notify and pass the details on to the Natural
History Museum and arrange collection." - Grimsby Telegraph.
Migrant birds confused by hot-and-cold winter as hundreds stay in their Dehli homelands, India
Delhi's bird watchers have noticed significant changes in the behaviour of migratory birds this season
While the Capital's citizens missed out on the trademark Delhi chill
over the winter months, the flip-flop winter seems to have baffled its
winged guests as well.
Some species of migratory ducks, which used to arrive in their thousands, have trickled down to hundreds.
Experts said the arrival of these birds was also delayed, and this is
being attributed to the lack of snow in their homelands in Europe and
central Asia.
Some of the migratory birds that did arrive this season, apparently, are ready to leave.
Adding to all the 'confusion', a few birds that breed only in
summer are nesting and pairing up in January, a phenomenon usually
witnessed in April, say experts.
However, it may be too soon to press the climate change alarm, some
birders caution, adding that any change in migratory behaviour could
have resulted from the disturbed habitats in the city.
Dr Sumit Dookia, Assistant Professor at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, says: "We
have barely seen 250-300 Bar-headed geese at the Najafgarh Lake this
fall. Traditionally we would get to see 1,500 plus. They also came in
pretty late, only around the last week of November.."
Bar-headed geese
Dookia
also reported 'confused behaviour among the birds' saying that they
were 'frequently flying out to nearby wetlands of Basai and Sultanpur'.
"When it snows heavily in China and Siberia, they escape to
India. However, they need constant warm temperatures to stay put. We
assume that since both the geological regions displayed unusual winters
this time, significant changes in bird behaviour are visible," he
explained.
Bird watcher Wing Commander Vijay Sethi noted a surprising find of Ruffs
already gathering in thousands at the Dhanauri Kalan wetland in Greater
Noida, a sign that they are about to leave.
"Otherwise, they stay scattered across the waters," he said.
JNU zoologist Dr Surya Prakash echoed this view.
"We have, indeed, seen lesser number of the winter bird Red-crested
pochard at the Yamuna Jagatpur Khadar" Prakash told Mail Today.
"On the other hand, some summer birds like the Indian Courser, a local
migrant, can already be spotted at the Sultanpur flats. Coppersmith
Barbets, which otherwise mate in April, can already be heard making
courtship calls at the JNU campus, Bhati mines etc. The case of the
Common Hawk Cuckoo is also the same," he added.
Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in charge at Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP), however, has different views.
He said: "A few species may be up or down in number, but the usual bird
diversity is visible. We have had a large number of Garganeys and Common
Teals at YBP. This goes against any argument of weather-related change
in bird behaviour. Also, this is a subject of 'phenology' which is
studied over at least 30-50 years and cannot be analysed over only a
year's observation."
Another avid birder KB Singh attributed altered bird activity to troubled bird habitats in the city.
He said: "Najafgarh is a beautiful site for birds, but thanks to its
location close to the upcoming Dwarka Expressway, it is highly
disturbed. This is the case in the Basai wetlands as well." - Daily Mail.
April 3, 2015 - UNITED STATES - Last summer, the United States Navy invited 22 countries to
participate in exercises across a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean. For
whales and dolphins, though, the gathering probably felt more like war
than war game. Training exercises such as the biannual RIMPAC
event—which includes naval ships, submarines, aircraft, and all the
noise pollution that comes with them—are dangerous to cetaceans. In
short, noise can be a deadly weapon.
The tide may finally be turning in the whales’ favor, though. A
federal court ruled yesterday that the government has fallen short of
its legal obligation to protect marine mammals from naval exercises in
the Pacific.
Active sonar—bouncing sound waves off physical objects to produce an
underwater map—is a major threat to marine mammals. Whales, for example,
are exquisitely attuned to sound. Their ear bones are about the size of a human head,
and those ears provide the animal with most of its sensory information
in the dark underwater environment. Whales rely on their sensitive
hearing to find food, communicate with peers, and mate. Marine
biologists have a saying that sums this up succinctly: A deaf whale is a dead whale.
Deploying active sonar near a whale that’s trying to hunt is a bit
like shining a spotlight in the eyes of a human in the grocery store. So
when sonar-equipped ships enter an area, whales stop feeding. They also
stray from migration paths and abandon their traditional habitats. If a
whale is close to the ship when sailors switch on their sonar system,
the consequences can be even more dramatic. The blast of sound can damage the whales’ lungs and digestive system and cause temporary or permanent hearing loss.
Ships and submarines participating in the 2012 RIMPAC exercise. Photo: U.S. Navy
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act,
the National Marine Fisheries Service must review any activities that
could pose a threat to, well, marine mammals. Its review isn’t always
satisfactory, though. In December 2013, the NMFS approved the navy’s five-year plan for sonar and ordinance use in the Pacific Ocean—even though the military’s own data showed that the activities would inflict harm on marine mammals 9.6 million times. The plan represented a 1,100 percent increase in incidents of harm to whales and dolphins.
The following month, NRDC and a coalition of environmental groups sued the NMFS for failing to fulfill its obligations. (Disclosure.)
The organizations demanded that the government develop better
safeguards to protect marine mammals from the navy’s sonar and
explosives, such as declaring certain areas off-limits when whales are
feeding or mating. In response, the navy pointed out that it had set
aside a plot of sea—3.1 miles in length—near the Hawaiian coast to
protect humpback whales and contended that any additional restrictions
would hamper its operational ability. That argument, though, seems a
teeny bit unreasonable, considering it claims its exercises need 2.7
million square nautical miles, an area larger than the continental
United States.
Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway rejected the arguments made by the
navy and the NMFS—and the language she used in her opinion verged on
mockery in some places. When the NMFS said it would have come to the
same conclusion even if it had used superior data, she dismissed this as
an “it makes no difference” argument and accused the agency of offering
“after-the-fact explanations.”
Judge Mollway even waxed nautical in describing her search for a
rational justification for the NMFS’ decision: “This court feels like
the sailor in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner’, who, trapped for days on a ship becalmed in the middle of the
ocean, laments, ‘Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.’ ”
Although the whales won this round, Judge Mollway’s ruling is only on
the merits, not on the remedies. That’s a fancy legal way of saying
that the judge hasn’t yet decided on what the NMFS must do to bring
itself into compliance with the law. That decision is likely months
away. Until then, whales can breathe a sigh of relief, presumably out of
their blowholes. - onEarth.
April 03, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Sickly, emaciated sea lion pups have been turning up on California's
coastline in unusually high numbers since January - with live strandings
nearly three times higher than the historical average.
Officials say the strandings have intensified this month, and they're
starting to investigate the possible causes, while marine mammal
rehabilitation centers in the area have been overwhelmed with starving,
hypothermic and dehydrated pups.
Spike In Sick Sea Lions Along California Coast Puzzles Scientists.
The problem is most pronounced in Los Angeles County, where 395 sea lion strandings
have been reported this year as of March 24, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). During the same period in
2012, just 36 strandings were reported.
Stranding rates are also high in Orange County, where 189 sickly sea
lions have come ashore, compared with 20 last year. And in San Diego
County, strandings stood at 214, compared with 32 last year.
Last week, NOAA declared an "unusual mortality
event," from January to the present and has launched an investigation,
which will involve testing blood and tissue samples from both live and
dead sea lion pups for bacterial, viral and other infectious agents as
well as radioactive traces.
Officials from the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, Calif., told the Los Angeles Times that they are treating about 100 animals and have seen as many cases since January that they would normally see in a year.
The goal is to get these sea lions healthy and rehabilitated so that
they can be safely released back into the wild. But sometimes the
animals strand themselves again and again and then go on to become
research subjects.
Take Ronan, for example, a California sea lion that stranded three times
before she was taken in to the Pinniped Cognition and Sensory Systems
Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She made
headlines this week when researchers published the results of a study
that showed the sea lion had learned how to headbang to songs like the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody." Ronan might be the first non-human mammal to prove she can dance. - Live Science.
Dying Arctic Birds Being Found On North Carolina's Crystal Coast.
An unusual bird is making its way to our Crystal Coast and dying, and scientists are trying to figure out why.
Dovekies are usually found further north in the arctic. While they are
not related to the penguin, they look like a miniature version of one.
They wobble around on the sand walking on their two feet, but they are
used to living full-time in the sea. They don't do well on land.
Possumwood Acres in Onslow County has had about 15 come in the past
couple weeks. Unfortunately they are young, hurt, and haven't been able
to survive. Many people are finding them stranded on our beach.
"They're really not supposed to be here. When we get them they are very
compromised and they need some help. We're not exactly sure what is
going on with them. They come in, they seem bright eyed and bushy
tailed, very, very healthy and well, and within a couple days we tend to
see problems and a lot of them pass," said volunteer Megan Tetreau.
Tetreau says one of the reasons they could be down here is because of an abnormal migration.
If you see a dovekie having a hard time on our
shores, experts say call your local bird rescue-like Possumwood Acres.
That number is 910-326-6432. - WITN.
WATCH: Arctic Birds Being Found On Crystal Coast Dying.
Record Dolphin, Sea Turtle Deaths Since Gulf Spill.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill
happened in the Gulf of Mexico nearly three years ago, but the
estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that it released are still killing
dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life in record numbers, according
to new research.
The damaging effects of oil spills are not just measured in how many
gallons of oil involved. That's part of it, but where the oil was
spilled, how fast it was cleaned up and how it affected or still affects
the surrounding wildlife and communities all have to be considered.
If we were to measure the worst oil spills in history just in how many
gallons spilled, the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989 would not make the
list. However, adding in environmental impacts and clean-up efforts, it
is still recognized as one of most damaging spills to date. Debate
continues over what qualifies as an oil "disaster," but here we show
several that would certainly make the list.
"Three years after the initial explosion, the impacts of the disaster
continue to unfold," Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation
and lead author of the report, said in a press release. "Dolphins are
still dying in high numbers in the areas affected by oil. These ongoing
deaths - particularly in an apex predator like the dolphin - are a
strong indication that there is something amiss with the Gulf
ecosystem."
* Dolphin deaths in the area affected by oil have remained above average
every month since just before the spill began. (The infant dolphin data
was gathered in January and February of 2013.)
* NOAA
called the dolphin die-off "unprecedented" - a year ago. While NOAA is
keeping many elements of its dolphin research confidential pending the
conclusion of the ongoing trial, the agency has ruled out the most
common causes of previous dolphin die-offs.
* More than 1,700 sea turtles were found stranded between May 2010 and
November 2012 - the last date for which information is available. For
comparison, on average about 240 sea turtles are stranded annually.
* A coral colony seven miles from the wellhead was badly damaged by oil.
A recent laboratory study found that the mixture of oil and dispersant
affected the ability of some coral species to build new parts of a reef.
* Scientists found that the oil disaster affected the cellular function
of the killifish, a common baitfish at the base of the food web. A
recent laboratory study found that oil exposure can also harm the
development of larger fish such as mahi mahi.
"The oil disaster highlighted the gaps in our understanding of the Gulf
of Mexico," said Ian MacDonald, professor of Oceanography at Florida
State University. "What frustrates me is how little has changed over the
past three years. In many cases, funding for critical research has even
been even been cut, limiting our understanding of the disaster's
impacts."
BP and other companies responsible for the disaster are now on trial in
federal court for violations of multiple environmental laws. BP on its website says it has a "commitment to sustainability worldwide" and that it has been meeting the challenges of the spill.
‘Flow Of Hundreds Of Dead Fish’ In Rock River Brings Illinois DNR Inquiry.
State conservation officials are checking reports of hundreds of dead fish in the Rock River. “They were bobbing like bobbers on the water,” Jerry DalSanto said. “The whole river was full of them, up and down both sides.” DalSanto and his girlfriend, Kim Hill, counted more than 150 dead
bluegill, catfish, carp and drum in 15 minutes around noon Sunday. “We were at the Auburn Street bridge watching the flow of dead fish —
lots and lots of them — just coming down the river,” he said.
Chris McCloud, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said a state biologist was going to check the river today for evidence of a fish kill. Fisheries biologist Ken Clodfelter said such species as gizzard shad
are susceptible to cold weather and die, often showing up in the
spring. Sometimes fish are trapped in small pools under the ice and die,
then are washed back into the river when ice melts and the water rises
in spring. Fish kills also can be caused by industrial or agriculture waste that is discharged or runs off into the river. Investigating reports of river fish kills and their causes becomes more difficult over time for a simple reason: fish float. “The problem is, if its two days or three days ago, they might be in Byron by now,” Clodfelter said. - RR Star.
January 28, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The carcass of a dolphin that died after becoming mired in a notoriously toxic New York City canal has been removed and will be sent for a necropsy, a marine research group said Saturday. The animal was first spotted in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal on Friday morning, where it was described as looking disoriented and unwell as it struggled to avoid getting bogged down in the canal's muddy floor.
A man reaches down to pat a dolphin as it struggles along a bulkhead in the headwaters of the Gowanus
Canal as others look on in Brooklyn, New York on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013.
Biologists from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, who monitored the dolphin with police and a crowd of onlookers, hoped the animal might be able to free itself and head back out to the harbor as waters rose. It died Friday evening before high tide. "The option that gave the animal the best chance for a positive outcome was waiting," Robert DiGiovanni, Riverhead's executive director and senior biologist, said Saturday. "If an animal wasn't going to be able to survive through the next tide cycle then it was an animal that was compromised and wouldn't make it." Approaching the dolphin by boat would have been difficult in the shallow, polluted canal and may have achieved little besides adding to the animal's distress, he said.
The disoriented dolphin ended up in a canal laced with heavy metals, coal tar wastes and other pollutants.
A necropsy will be performed on the adult dolphin, estimated to weigh about 200 pounds, on Sunday at Riverhead's laboratory on Long Island, he said. The findings and tissue samples will be shared with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Common dolphins are social animals that travel in groups known as pods. To see a solitary common dolphin, especially so far inland, is unusual, and is a sign that the animal is sick or dying, biologists and other marine officials said. The dolphin's unusual trek into Brooklyn – DiGiovanni could not recall a dolphin coming so far into New York City in at least two decades – brought wide attention to one of the city's dirtier and most malodorous corners. The Environmental Protection Agency declared the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site in 2010, calling it one of the country's "most extensively contaminated water bodies." Mayor Michael Bloomberg had opposed the designation, arguing the city's own plan would have cleaned the canal in less time. The canal is laced with heavy metals, coal tar wastes and other pollutants from the factories and tanneries that have lined its banks, the EPA says. The EPA is still working on its plan, which is currently open to public comment, to spend an estimated $300 million to $400 million of federal money to clean up the canal. - Weather.
December 03, 2012 - AUSTRALIA - The animal swam off with the youngster, who was originally believed to be 12-years-old, in his jaws and police are not optimistic the boy is still alive but are still continuing the search for him.
A 12-year-old boy in Australia is thought to have been killed after he was
snatched by a saltwater crocodile (Picture: Alamy).
The boy is from an Aboriginal region near Darwin and is believed to have been taken while he swam in a lagoon with a number of people. Police Superintendent Michael White said there was an attempt to save his life but it failed. ‘Initial reports suggest adults within the group tried to save the boy by spearing the animal, but the crocodile dragged the child out to deeper water,’ he said. A seven-year-old girl suffered the same fate within the last fortnight in the country's Northern Territory. Her remains were reportedly found in a crocodile that was shot dead near the area she disappeared in. Saltwater crocodiles are a present danger in the Northern Territory. Their protected status means there is a high number of the reptiles, which can reach 25ft in length and weigh upwards of a ton. - Metro.
An eight-year-old girl has had a lucky escape after a dolphin she was feeding bit her at a US theme park. Jillian Thomas was holding out fish to feed to dolphins at Orlando's SeaWorld when she got an unexpected surprise. While she was feeding the usually friendly mammals, a dolphin lunges at her and nips her hand. The girl, whose parents posted the video on YouTube to make other people aware of the dangers, suffered three small puncture wounds. Jillian's father, Jamie Thomas, told local media the family were angry at the theme park for not warning them of the dangers of dolphin feeding. "We felt powerless," he said. "We thought, look, we've got this video, let's make it public, and let's try to put some pressure on SeaWorld to make some changes." A SeaWorld statement said: "Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our guests, employees and animals. "Educators and animal care staff are always on-site at this area monitoring all interactions and are committed to guest safety." - SKY News.
More than 32 Yangtze finless porpoises have been found dead in the
Dongting and Poyang lakes in China in the last two months, leading
wildlife experts to worry whether the rare animals are being pushed
closer to extinction, the World Wildlife Fund has reported.
A finless porpoise at the Miyajima Aquarium, Japan.
Yangtze finless porpoises live mainly in the freshwater Yangtze River
and the two lakes, where the bodies of more than 32 of them have been
found since March 3. One of the porpoises was pregnant, according to the
blog Save Yangtze Finless Porpoise.
"This tragedy shows that Yangtze finless porpoise is facing enormous
challenges," said Lei Gang, head of WWF China's Central Yangtze program,
in a statement. "The porpoise deaths illustrate that without effective
measures to fundamentally reverse the trend of ecological deterioration,
[the] future of the incredible creature is far from certain."
After examining the dead porpoises, scientists were left with a long
list of possible culprits, including electro-fishing, strikes by
boat-engine propellers, food shortages and pollution.
In electro-fishing, which is illegal, people use storage batteries to
fire huge electric charges into the Yangtze and then collect the dead
fish that float to the surface, according to an EDGE blog entry by Sam Turvey, who has studied wildlife along the Yangtze, including the Yangtze dolphin or baiji.
An autopsy report released April 17 by the Institute
of Hydrobiology (IHB) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggests
two of the finless porpoises were killed due to electro-fishing and boat-engine propellers. Some experts have noted that climate change has lowered water levels in
the Yangtze and its lakes, making it more difficult for porpoises to
find food, but the researchers have yet to find any evidence that lack
of food is resulting in porpoise deaths.
A 2006 IHB survey found about 1,800 Yangtze finless porpoises in the
Yangtze River and connected lakes, but that number has been decreasing.
From 2006 to 2010, the number of Yangtze finless porpoises in just the
Dongting Lake decreased to 198.
Rather than relocate the porpoises, local government officials, along
with cetacean experts with the WWF, are considering conservation
measures in the Dongting Lake.
In addition, the local government plans to implement a ban on illegal
fishing (including electro-fishing), regulate sand dredging and limit
boat speeds, according to the WWF. - Live Science.
The discovery of dead dolphins is a rarity in November, he said.
A stranded dolphin found alive in the marsh near Fort Morgan, Alabama continues to improve, said Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies at Gulfport.
Another dead dolphin, the fifth in the past week, was found at Waveland on Monday, he said. "They are all about the same age, which is the group of animals that would have been born earlier this year in February and March," Solangi said. "They were less than a year old and still dependent on their mothers." All the dead dolphins were about 5½-feet long, he said. "These animals move in the wintertime," Solangi said. "They move toward the south of the barrier islands because of the water temperature and the food has moved toward the south." The discovery of dead dolphins is a rarity in November, he said. The live dolphin, found Friday, is recovering in a quarantine tank at the facility. "It is orientating itself," Solangi said.
The green circles indicate where stranded dolphins have been found along the Gulf Coast since
February 2010, and the pink circles indicate where they have been found in the past week.
The squares indicate other beached species.
The survivor, named Chance by its Alabama rescuers, has been the subject of a battery of tests, he said. "This was the second time," he said. "The first time when we got him it was a pretty quick deal. We wanted to get him stable. Today we did a battery of tests so that we could send them out." The survivor and dead dolphins are part of an ongoing series of strandings that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has classified as an "Unusual Mortality Event" in the northern Gulf of Mexico that began February 2010. NOAA's Office of Protected Resources updated its stranding count Tuesday to 603. The Nov. 20 total had been 596. "I think from the scientific perspective we are very intrigued that this might give us more information than would be got from dead animals," Solangi said of the survivor. "Things have improved with this animal," he said. - Gulf Live.
