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