Ancient Hurricanes

While searching throught the oceans channel link on Cathy's blog, I came accross an article that looked interesting to me. This article was all about how Ancient hurricanes can be used to presict the probablility of a certain magnitude hurrican occuring in the future. The part that I fund extremly interesting was their methodology for conducting this research. Basically they already had data showing hurricanes of the last 150 years but after hurricane Katrina, the notion of a category 5 hurricane making landfall on a place such as New Orleans along the gulf became a concern. The facts hurrican Katrina was a category 3 and no category 5 storm has made landfall around the gulf as far back as history can tell us (150 years). However Dr. Liu wanted to know what occured in the time before that with regards to the storm. This was accomplished by "pulling sediment cores from coastal lakes and analyzing the sand layers might give us the information" (http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=7778&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=), this along with things such as radiocarbon analysis allowed it to be shown roughly when hurricanes of certain magnitudes hav occured. The result 10-12 category 5 storms in the last 3,800 years. This means we have a percent chance of having a category 5 reach landfall along the gulf at a rate of 0.3 percent each year. WOW

Link: http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=7778&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=

Heading for Troubled Waters?

In todays newspaper there was an article shown on the front page about a Dalhousie study which has sown support for the argument that the mass depletions of sharks will have huge impacts on other sea life. Just as you learn in intro biology courses it has been found that the reduction in shark species has resulted in booms in the populations of the things that sharks feed on. They have found that many small shaks, skate, and rays that normally large sharks would feed off of are undergoing an increase in numbers which in turn is depleting nutrients as well as many other smaller organisms. This article is great as it helps to show that the word is getting out to the public about the issues of shark hunting. As well t is great to see that there are many leading scientists working on this very important issue. The thing I find most interesting is the fact that there is actually an increase in numbers of many smaller species. I just didnt think that was the case and just goes to show that more research needs to be done. As well it is interesting that fundamental things learned in junior high such as food webs are basically the main science that is being studied by these main researchers. WOW we can all be scientists.

Link. Mail Star newspaper, Friday, March.30, 2007 Page A1 and B5

The Fisheries Museum in Lunenbourg

This past saturday in afternoon I attended a tour of the fisheries museum along with students from my Ocean Use and Management class. It was a little different then I expected (being that I had never been there before). I was truly amazed by the species of fish that they had in the bottom level of the museum, as well in particular by the aquarium in the center of the room that was simulating a marine environment with codfish, and flounders. In a way it was a bit disapointing that a lot of species that they normally have on hand during the season were not there; however I plan on making a trip back sometime this summer to see what it looks like at the heat of tourist season. As well it was a little frustrating that lots of the outdoor sections of the museum were not viewable. I know this would have added to the experience. Another thing that I really liked about the museum was how it seemed to hold true to the areas traditions and does not seem to be as heavilly dominated aby the tourism industry as others of its kind. Lets just hope that this museum stays open so that future generations can enjoy a little bit of history of Nova Scotia.

Some Of the Weird Species Found Recently In New Zealand

Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3017078.stm

Fangtooth and his Friends

Weird ocean life surprises

By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor


New species of underwater life, including a giant sea spider and armoured shrimps, have been discovered by a expedition trawling in deep water northwest of New Zealand.

Behold fangtooth
Researchers on a joint NZ and Australian voyage also found deep-sea sponges and a prickly shark.

The scientists have just returned from four weeks aboard the Research Vessel Tangaroa collecting and photographing species at depths up to 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles).

According to Mark Norman, of Victoria Museum in Australia, the survey around Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands was the most complex research expedition ever conducted in Australasia.

"Many species new to science were recognised, including new sharks and rays, redfish, rattails, and a range of invertebrates," he says.

Each way bet


The wonky-eyed squid
One newly discovered creature, called the fangtooth, has teeth longer than its head. To avoid piercing its own brain when it shuts its mouth, its teeth fit into opposing sockets.

The so-called viperfish has a hinged head and the coffinfish walks along the sea floor on short leg-like fins with a glowing lure on its head to attract prey.

They also found two rare spiked dogfish, a small type of shark, doubling the number of known specimens.

One of the strangest creatures was a Pacific spookfish which has a long snout that probes for electrical signals from its prey.


New species of armoured shrimps were found
There was also a squid, nicknamed the wonky-eyed jewel squid, which has a left eye much larger than its right eye. It seems that the big eye looks up for food while the small eye looks down for predators.

The spiders found on the sea floor are not related to terrestrial spiders. They have such small bodies that some of their internal organs are pushed down inside their hollow legs.

Work starts here

The strange characteristics of the new lifeforms are adaptations to conditions beneath kilometres of water where the pressure is hundreds of times greater than at the surface; and it is also completely dark.

The researchers also found a huge fossilised tooth of an extinct shark known as a megalodon. The tooth had been lying undisturbed on the sea floor for millions of years.

In total, 500 species of fish and 1,300 of invertebrates were discovered. It will take over a year to classify them all.


A spider but not as we know it
"We are only just beginning to understand our marine environment and voyages like this help us fill in pieces of the puzzle," says Australia's National Oceans Office deputy director Sean Sullivan.

"Scientists know roughly as much about Australia's ocean environments as we did about the Australian land 150 years ago."

The month-long voyage on the RV Tangaroa also found extinct volcanoes as they mapped the ocean floor during the 10,000-kilometre (6,200 miles) voyage.

Just another example of marine biodiversity that we never knew existed
STOP bottom trawling.

Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

Today while talking to some students about their presentation on the Gulf of Mexico they mentioned the biological environmental condition known as hypoxia. I decided to look up some more info on this phenomena just to get a better understanding as I find biological processes very interesting.
First off, every summer in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Louisiana a zone called the dead zone forms. This so called dead zone is an area of oxygen depleted waters, and due to the need of oxygen to sustain most life many organisms just cannot live there. The cause of this condition is due to the Mississippi River depositing nitrogen into this area and it is a growing concern for commercial fishing, shrimping, and recreation. As well we as humans are largely responsible for this damaging condition, as we are the one responsible for putting excessive nitrogenous waste into the Gulf. thus I believe it is up to us to find a solution to this ecological problem.

Weapons-Grade Uranium

Russia Building Floating Nuclear Power Plant

A couple of weeks ago in my Ecology of Fishes course, we were given a handout of an article about how Russia was planning on building a floating nuclear plant. To me this raises many concerns, such as what will happen if there is an accident and nuclear waste will get into the oceans. A catastrophge at sea is avery real possibility as they would be using weapon grade uranium to generate electricity. The one key beneift to this would be the ability to provide remote regions with energy for their coastal communities; however I believe that the risk is just to hight to take.I agree that the concept is amazing as the new ship would be anchored along any coastline where there is no threat of a tsunami or hurricane and all that would have to be done is attach a few cables and done. As well many countries have already expressed interest in this new technology such as China, India, Indonesia, and states in the Persian Gulf.The environmental group Green Cross Russia not only believes that it is a danger to the worlds oceans, but also not in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Link:www.spiegal.html

Great White Shark

The great white shark is found in almost all coastal and offshore waters with a water temperature between 12 and 30 degrees C.The average length of a great white shark is 4-4.8 meters with a weight of 1500 to 2450 lbs. Great white sharks, like all other sharks, have an extra sense given by the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which enables them to detect the electromagnetic field emitted by the movement of living animals. Every time a living creature moves it generates an electrical field and great whites are so sensitive they can detect half a billionth of a volt.To more successfully hunt fast moving and agile prey such as sea lions, the poikilothermic great white shark has developed adaptations that allow it to maintain a body temperature warmer than the surrounding water. One of these adaptations is a "rete mirabile". Great white sharks primarily eat fish, smaller sharks, turtles, dolphins, whale carcasses and pinnipeds such as seals and sea lions. Great whites have also been known to eat objects that can't be digested. In great white sharks above 3.41 meters (11 ft, 2 in) a diet consisting of a higher proportion of mammals has been observed.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark
http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/biodiversity/Great%20White%20Shark/shark.html

Great Barrier Reef Down River

A stunning series of satellite imagery of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef released by the CSIRO shows for the first time visual confirmation of the theory that sediment plumes travel to the outer reef, and beyond.
The remotely sensed images, taken from February 9 to 13 this year, challenge conventional thought that sediment travelling from our river systems into the GBR is captured by the longshore current and travels no more than 10 to 15km offshore, affecting only the inner Great Barrier Reef Lagoon and the inner reef corals.
Images captured by CSIRO show large plumes of terrestrial material following unconventional patterns and travelling quite fast as far as 65 to 130km, to the outer reef and, in some instances, travelling along the outer reef and re-entering the reef.
The plumes are the result of heavy rainfalls in northern QLD around late January to early February 2007, with the resulting flood waters carrying a larger sediment load than during regular rainfall and river flow. As such floods have not occurred for a while the accumulated material in the creeks ands rivers coupled with increased sediment runoff from the land is causing a significant transport of terrestrial material to all areas of the affected reefs and reef waters.
Managers of the GBR have long been examining the effects of run-off of sediments, including pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, on the reef corals.
The images challenge the traditional school of hydrological modelling, which says sediment plume movement in the mid to northern GBR usually go north and never directly flow to the outer reef is spared the direct effects of such river floods.
“A re-think is needed now that we know where flood plumes go,” says CSIRO scientist Arnold Dekker, ”and what this means as organic micropollutants may be travelling to parts of the reef scientists hadn’t thought to look before.”
The images were taken from NASA’s MODIS satellite by GeoScience Australia’s Alice Springs site for a new product being developed by the Wealth from Oceans Flagship to track coastal and ocean events in real-time, building on the technology behind the successful SENTINEL bushfire tracking system.
While extreme coastal events have been captured by remote sensing before, this is the first time they can be seen and analysed straight after the event as there are now more satellites imaging the Earth and CSIRO has invested in fast information delivery systems.
by CSIRO

Link:
http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=7661&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=

Hammerhead Sharks- Are They Misunderstood ?

When many people see a picture of a Hammerhead shark the first thing that comes to their minds are that the head of this shark is a powerful weapon used to kill. They could not be more wrong.The head of all nine known species of Hammerhead sharks are special in that it provides lift to keep the shark buyant and improves its swimming. It also extends the sharks sensory system as its eyes are placed very wide apart and can see more than a shark with a normal shaped head. These sharks are also extra sensitive with regards to their head due to their extension of their lateral line system(found along most fishes bodies)and their ampullae of Lorenzini. Even though these sharks do not use their head as a weapon they are still very fierce predators that feed on bony fishes, sharks, crustaceans, and sting rays. They us their ampullae of Lorezini to find their food and thus are alos a very efficient predator.

Some facts:
1)Of the 9 species of hammerheads 3 can be dangerous to humans (Scalloped, Great, and Smooth hammerheads)
2)Found in warm waters along coast lines and the continental shelf
3)2-6 meters in length.
4)They form schools during the day and go solo in the night
5)have very small mouths (bottom feeders)

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerhead_shark
http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/sharks/shore-to-sea/hammerhead.html

Check Out This Wave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2vkwy2vdP4

How Important Are Tiny Krill To Ocean Turbulence

It has been studied this past september that the movement in coalescence of tiny Krill is very important in generating Ocean turbulence which results in the movement of nutrients from the deeper depths of the ocean to the surface. The study of this phenomena occurred in British Columbia and is the direct result of daily migration patterns of this animal from deep waters to surface waters for food. This mass movement of these tiny animals generates currents which upwell nutrients from the nutrient rich waters near the bottom of the sea floor. It was also found that gases such as Carbon Dioxide and heat were being cycled in the same way. It has not yet been documented how crucial this activity is for the ecosystems in these area; however it is likely of great significance as everything is in nature.
I personally believe that this is another great example of how there are likely so many processes that occuring in the oceans that we do not even no about. Things such as bottom trawling and dumping of toxic sewage into the oceans disturbs these ecosystems as well as a lot of the species that would normally have been there. What if humans wipe out or greatly diminish this tiny krill species? The entire ecosystem could be thrown out of whack as not only are these tiny creatures crucial as food and consumers but as shown have other effects on the ecosystem as well.

Link:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060921-krill-turbulence_2.html

Don't We Wish All Kids Were This Passionate About Global Warming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EaXwEIujvc

Shark Discoveries In Indonesia

March.2/2007 by CSIRO

At least 20 new species have been discovered in the first comprehensive survey of Indonesia’s sharks and rays since the 1850s.
The five-year survey of catches at local fish markets provided the first detailed description of Indonesia’s shark and ray fauna – information which is critical to their management in Indonesia and Australia.
Based on the survey’s findings, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research has published a 330-page, full-colour, bilingual ‘field guide’ entitled: Economically Important Sharks and Rays of Indonesia.
“Indonesia has the most diverse shark and ray fauna and the largest shark and ray fishery in the world, with reported landings of more than 100 000 tonnes a year,” says one of the guide’s co-authors, Dr William White of CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research. “Before this survey, however, there were vast gaps in our knowledge of sharks and rays in this region.
“Good taxonomic information is critical to managing shark and ray species, which reproduce relatively slowly and are extremely vulnerable to over-fishing. It provides the foundation for estimating population sizes, assessing the effects of fishing and developing plans for fisheries management and conservation.”
The survey represents the first in-depth look at Indonesia’s sharks and rays since Dutch scientist Pieter Bleeker described more than 1100 fish species in 1842–1860. Many of Bleeker’s proposed new shark and ray species were rejected by his peers who were skeptical of such high levels of diversity.
“The five-year survey of catches at local fish markets provided the first detailed description of Indonesia’s shark and ray fauna – information which is critical to their management in Indonesia and Australia.”
After more than 250 days ‘in the field’, Dr White and his colleagues agreed with Bleeker’s findings and uncovered further taxonomic riches.
From 2001–2006, they photographed and sampled more than 130 species on 22 survey trips to 11 ports across Indonesia. More than 800 specimens were lodged in reference collections at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense at Cibinong, Java, and the Australian National Fish Collection at Hobart.
Six of their discoveries have now been formally described. These include two species found only in Bali: the Bali Catshark and Jimbaran Shovelnose Ray, and one found only in West Papua: the Hortle’s Whipray.

I think this article is great as it shows that there are things being done to prevent the over exploitation of various marine species. As this article show it is being mapped what shark and ray species are in indonesian waters, as well as in what numbers. I believe this along with the continued study of the biology of marine mammals and their interactions with the environment (ecology) are crucial in developing good management decisions. Something needs to be done, we have gone far too long without truly understanding the results of our actions.

Link:

http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=7603&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=

Shark Water- How Biased Is It

First off, I would like to say that the movie shark water is a very entertaining and informative movie that I believe holds a lot of potential with regards to improving the situation on the hunting of sharks. I personally believe it is great that this film allows for many people to see the tradgedy that is occuring with these remarkable fish, especially when it comes to informing the public about wasteful issue such as shark finning. On the other hand I think that a couple ill advised cheap shots were put into this video that were un- called for. One such thing was the fact that the seal hunt issue was quickly shown. The reason that this was such an inappropriate forum for this issue to be displayed is that they are not really related at all. The people clubbing seals are doing it legally as opposed to shark finning which is done illegally in many places, as well the seal hunt is a much more humane practice as the seals die relatively quickly as opposed to the shark hunt which occurs very slow and painfully for sharks as they are caught by long lines as well as their fins are cut off and they are thrown back into the ocean to slowly die. As well the seal hunt so far is a sustainable practice as the population numbers are so high and are likely not to dwindle much as opposed to sharks which have declined by about 90 % of their former number. These two issues are direct opposites and I believe that Rob Stewert should not have included it in his film. Another thing that I disagree with, was with regards to how the fishermen were portrayed. They were portrayed as evil and law breakers when in reality they are just poor people trying to make a living any way they can. I believe that it would have been much more effective for the Sea Sheppard and Stewart to go to the source of the problem (China ands its surrounding areas) to bring awareness to the people about how harmful things such as shark fin soup really are. Overall, I believe this film was great and should help very much with this issue; however I believe Mr. Stewart should have been more careful with how he portrays certain things as well as certain people.

Basking Sharks- Deep Sea Monsters?

Well, last night I went to see Shark Water and not only was I truly pleased with the film, but it also peaked my interest in sharks. In this film there was a lot of information of hammerhead sharks and sharks in general; however I found that I wanted to learn a little bit more about specific shark species. For today I am going to write a little bit about the Basking Shark. First off when someone looks at the Basking shark they instantly think monster. As with all sharks this is a misconception. A lot of the fear of Basking sharks stems from their appearance as a wide opened mouth shark waiting to swallow humans whole. As well if you look back in the history of sea monsters many people considered the Basking shark not a shark but a sea monster. Both of these things have contributed to the Basking Sharks image but they are just not true. To help debunk the sterotype on the Basking shark it is first very important to note that they are not big toothed animals. These creatures are filter feeders, feeding on small plankton as well as fish eggs and larvae. This is the total opposite of what many people believe, as they believe that the Basking shark is a huge carnivore that feeds on huge mammals. This is impossible as they do not even have big teeth.

Some facts on Basking Sharks:

1) Second largest fish in the world (whael sharks are first)

2) Can grow up to a length of 10 meters.

3) Slow swimmers, using their entire bodies to move (3 mph)

4) Females reach sexual maturity at 4-5 meters and give birth to live young

5) Pelagic animals occuring in warm coastal and cool temperate waters

6) Often stray inshore and spend most of their time near the surface of the water

7) Migrate to deeper water in winter

8) Common along the coast of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Links:

1) http://new-brunswick.net/new-brunswick/sharks/species/basking.html

2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark

3)http://www.baskingsharks.co.uk/