Animals
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Bizarro Earth

Humpback grouper invades Keys waters from the Pacific - equivalent of a hunter in North America finding a zebra

Kevin Wadlow
Miami Herald
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:49 UTC
Image
© Wayne Grammes / KeysNet.comGreg Caterino of Tavernier hoists the humpback grouper -- a Pacific Ocean species -- he speared off North Key Largo in late December.
Deep-diving spearfishermen surfaced with a mystery last month south of Pacific Reef Light off North Key Largo. "I was shocked when I saw it," Wayne Grammes said. "It's an ugly-looking fish with a face on it that looks like a tripletail and a tail like a jewfish." The 15-pound, 27-inch fish speared by Greg Caterino of Tavernier turned out to be a humpback grouper - a species native not to Pacific Reef but to the tropical Pacific Ocean off Asia. "This is the equivalent of a hunter in North America finding a zebra," said Grammes, who was fishing Dec. 23 with Caterino.

"We've seen the successful marine invasion of lionfish," Reef Environmental Education Foundation Project Director Lad Akins said this week. "We certainly do not want to see it happen again with another Pacific species." Akins, a renowned expert in fish identification, confirmed the speared fish was a humpback grouper. With an array of black spots, it's also known as a panther grouper.

"This is not the first time these have been sighted in Florida," Akins said. "There have been five or six reported as far back as the 1980s, but all from different parts of the state." "The juveniles are really popular in the aquarium trade," Akins said. "It's quite likely that this is released fish."

Young humpback grouper sport a brilliant white color with an attractive spray of black spots. But they outgrow most privately owned saltwater tanks - and cast a hungry eye on other tank fish. "Just like lionfish, they are carnivores," Akins said.
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Binoculars

Thousands of dead birds washing up on northern Michigan's shorelines

Don Gardner
Daily Tribune
Sun, 06 Jan 2013 17:15 UTC
dead loons
© Common Coast Research and ConservationDead loons lie along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

The rapidly changing ecology of the Great Lakes Basin, brought on in large part by non-native, invasive species, is causing devastation among Michigan's waterfowl, especially common loons.

The common loon, a beloved, iconic bird known for its eerily lonely, two-note call and its beautiful markings, suffered devastating losses along Lake Michigan's northern shoreline this fall. Thousands of dead birds, mainly loons, washed ashore - from the Upper Peninsula, down to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. A large percentage of the dead loons had just entered their first year of breeding maturity.

The reason for the die-off, which follows similar incidents in 2006 and 2007, isn't fully understood. But it is suspected that it is driven by the food chain linking the loon to invasive species, specifically, the quagga mussel, the zebra mussel and the round goby.
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Question

Investigating mystery bird deaths in Angus, Scotland

Richard Watt
The Courier, UK
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:11 UTC
Dead Birds
© The Courier, UKTwo of the dead birds.

A mysterious virus or natural event has baffled residents of an Angus town, after a number of seabirds were found washed up on their shore.

At least 17 geese and other unidentified birds were found on the coast of Arbroath on Sunday morning, and dog walkers contacted The Courier to air their concerns.

Despite being obscured by dirt and debris, only two of the birds had any visible wounds. Kevin Murray recorded 18 geese and one mallard duck at the breakwater during a walk.

He said he was out for a walk along the Arbroath beach front, below the breakwater beside Pleasureland and the old outdoor pool.

"This could have resulted from a lightning strike," he said. "But could this be something else?"

A supervisor for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed a report had been filed on 17 dead seabirds.

It is understood a team may not be available to clear away any contaminated birds until today, so passers-by have been urged not to interfere with the carcasses.
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Bizarro Earth

Large Humboldt squid continue to invade coastal California in record numbers

Brett Smith
RedOrbit
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:54 UTC
Humboldt Squid
© NOAA/MBARI 2006 Humboldt Squid.
Humboldt squid have overrun the waters off the coast of Southern California, and the area's fishermen have taken to the sea en masse - catching boatloads of the ultra-fresh calamari.

One report noted a fishing boat that had caught more than 200 squid in an hour, leading the captain to return his ship to port early.

"I have enough for a whole year," John Plaziak, one of the fishermen, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"We saw a few of them last year, but nothing in fishable quantities," part-time fisherman Rick Marin told the newspaper. "It has probably been two or three years since we've seen a lot of them."

The squids were first spotted as "dark blobs" near the surface early last week and the fishing boats began hauling in large numbers of the sea creatures over the weekend. Some speculated that tidal forces in the eastern Pacific drove scores of krill into the region. The overabundance of the squid's favorite prey likely attracted the cephalopods.

According to reports, the majority of the squid have been found 3 to 4 miles from Dana Point Harbor, located in southern Orange County. Large groups of the animals were reported as far south as the Mexican border with the U.S.

Conservation of the Humboldt squid off the coast of California is not a major concern because the squid can reproduce in mass numbers.

Comment: Hundreds of dead Humboldt squid washed up on beaches Sunday along Rio Del Mar in Santa Cruz County, California

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Bandaid

Massachusetts man attacked by bobcat in his garage


Yahoo News
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:13 UTC
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'Bleeding like crazy': Roger Mundell Jr. was scratched on his face and back after being attacked by a rabid bobcat in his own garage
A man in Massachusetts says all he heard was a hiss before a bobcat pounced on him in his own garage, sinking its teeth into his face and its claws in his back.

Roger Mundell Jr. went into the garage in Brookfield on Sunday morning to fetch some tie-down straps for a friend when the animal attacked.

It then ran out of the garage and bit Mundell's 15-year-old nephew on the arms and back.

Mundell and his wife pinned the cat to the ground and shot it dead.
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Question

Biologists baffled by discovery of penguin-like bird in Florida

Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:05 UTC
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Razorbills have flapped their way to Kennedy Space Center, where Audubon members spotted several during their annual Christmas Bird Count.
They typically winter no farther south than New Jersey. Maybe Hurricane Sandy steered them off course or disrupted their usual diet of schooling fish.

Biologists aren't sure why these penguin-like birds, called razorbills, have flocked to the Space Coast and beyond, way farther south than normal.

The black birds with white underbellies have flapped their way to Kennedy Space Center, where Audubon members spotted several during their annual Christmas Bird Count.

"Everybody's talking about it," said Ned Steel, who coordinated the Audubon count on Merritt Island, which includes the security area of the space center.

Before this year, there had been only 17 sightings of razorbills reported to Florida's bird surveillance program. Those were typically one or just a few birds.
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Blue Planet

European birds catch a ride to Massachusetts on Hurricane Sandy, but can they survive the cold?

Todd Feathers
boston.com
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:00 UTC
Image
© Wikipedia
Three Northern lapwings, European shore birds that seldom stray into the Western hemisphere, were apparently blown across the Atlantic into Massachusetts by the chaotic winds of Hurricane Sandy and are now in danger of succumbing to the cold New England winter, a bird expert said.

The rare birds, with their colorful plumage and odd-looking head feathers, have drawn bird enthusiasts from across the country.

Two of the birds have taken up residence in a Nantucket pond and one has been sighted by the side of several Bridgewater roads, said Wayne Petersen, director of Mass Audubon's Important Bird Areas Program.

Petersen, who has seen the Bridgewater bird several times, said it was in severe danger of starving because snow covering the frozen ground makes it nearly impossible for the bird to find worms and other food.
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Fish

Thousands of snapper washed up on New Zealand beaches since New Year's Eve.

Maryanne Twentyman, Elton Smallman & Stacey Kirk
Fairfax NZ News
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:10 UTC
Dead Snappers
© Stuff.co.nzWashed Up: Dead snapper litter the Coromandel Peninsula from Port Jackson to Fantail Bay.

A massive clean-up of rotting fish is underway on the Coromandel Peninsula where thousands of snapper have washed up since New Year's Eve.

Fisheries officials have warned people not to eat the fish as Thames-Coromandel District Council staff try to work out how they came to be dumped at the popular holiday spot.

TCDC communications manager Benjamin Day said the dead fish were beginning to ''rot and smell'' so the decision was made to begin the clean-up immediately.

"With the DOC campsites full and boaties launching from the beach, we want to get the place cleaned up for our visitors as fast as possible,'' he said.

The clean-up will concentrate on an area 100 metres either side of Granite Wharf, situated at Paritu, north of Colville.

It is not the first time this has happened at the small settlement.

Thousands of dead snapper also washed ashore in 2011 at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, causing residents to wonder at the time whether they were starving or poisoned, although that was deemed unlikely.

The Ministry of Fisheries investigated that incident as well but it still remains unsolved.

Fisheries compliance manager Brendon Mikkelsen said the Ministry for Primary Industries was investigating the latest incident but could not confirm the number of dead fish found on the shore.

But local residents said the dead fish numbered in the "thousands".
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Magic Wand

Rare San Francisco river otter stumps researchers

Jason Dearen
Salon
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:44 UTC
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© Credit: Flickr Creative Commons
The first river otter seen in the city in decades has become a local celebrity -- and harbinger of cleaner water.

A rapt crowd followed a trail of bubbles that zipped over the surface of a seaside pond in the ruins of a 19th century bath in San Francisco.

San Francisco's newest star - the first river otter seen in the city in decades - surfaced its whiskery head furtively, a mouth full of sea grass. The crowd oohed as large waves pounded rocks just offshore, a briny smell and chill in the air.

The otter ducked back under water and took the sea grass underneath a concrete remnant of the historic baths, where the animal was building a nest.

"We came here to see the baths and this was just a bonus," said Eliza Durkin, who brought her son Jonathan to the site for a school project on historic places.

Beyond tourists, the otter has mystified and delighted conservationists, who are piecing together clues to figure out how he got there. The whiskery creature was first spotted by birdwatchers in September and has since settled into the City by the Bay.

River otters once thrived in the San Francisco Bay area, but development, hunting and environmental pollution in the 19th and 20th centuries has taken its toll on the once thriving local population.

The creatures are a living barometer of water quality - if it's bad they cannot thrive. But new populations being seen north and east of San Francisco are giving hope to conservationists that years of environmental regulations and new technologies are making a difference.
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Arrow Down

Javan rhino officially extinct in Vietnam

Douglas Main
OurAmazingPlanet
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:20 UTC
Javan rhino
© WWF-Greater MekongA Javan rhino in Vietnam captured in a camera-trap photo.


It's official: There are no more rhinos left in Vietnam.

A large female Javan rhino, estimated to be between 15 and 25 years old, was shot and killed in late April 2010, and had its horn removed by a poacher. Turns out it was the country's last, as reported by Rachel Nuwer at Take Part, a digital media and advocacy company.

It's the second subspecies of Javan rhino to go extinct. The third subspecies remains in Indonesia, likely confined to a single park, where as few as 35 of the critically endangered animals survive. A camera trap caught video of a mother Javan rhino and her calf in Ujung Kulon National Park in 2011.

It's not known whether the population is increasing or decreasing, and their survival remains in doubt, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a global network of government and private groups that assesses the extinction risk of species.

DNA analysis of rhino dung in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park in 2009 found that only one rhino remained at that time - the same one that was shot a year later, according to a study published recently in the journal Biological Conservation.
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