Animals
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Butterfly

Monarch butterfly decline linked to the spread of GM crops in U.S.

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© Tyler Flockhart Tyler Flockhart, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Guelph, led the analysis, which combined all the known data about monarch populations and the factors that influence them.
Milkweed essential to monarchs in decline because of herbicides used with genetically modified crops

The main cause of the monarch butterfly's decline is the loss of milkweed - its food - in its U.S. breeding grounds, a new study has found. That all but confirms that the spread of genetically modified crops is indirectly killing the monarch.

This past winter, the number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico fell to its lowest since 1993, when records first started being kept, the World Wildlife Fund and Mexico's Environment Department reported in January. That report blamed the loss of milkweed owing to genetically modified crops and urban sprawl in the U.S. and illegal logging in the butterflies' Mexican wintering ground.

Info

Rare purple jellyfish found on Ballina beach, Australia

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STRANGE FIND: Maralyn Hanigan, from Ballina, sent in this photo of a purple jellyfish she found at the northern end of Shelly Beach a few weeks ago.
A purple jellyfish believed to be a newly discovered species has been found at Shelly Beach.

Maralyn Hanigan, from Ballina, sent in this photo of a purple jellyfish she found at the northern end of Shelly Beach a few weeks ago.

She thought it was a lavender garbage bag caught in the sand.

The jellyfish closely resembles a bright purple one-metre long jellyfish found on Coolum Beach on May 21, with an international jellyfish expert telling the ABC it could take some time to identify the new species, believed to belong to the genus thysanostoma group, which is uncommon in Australian waters.

"It is either a species from the Red Sea or a species from Malaysia or the Philippines or it is new to science," CSIRO expert, Lisa-Ann Gershwin said.

SCU marine science lecturer, Dr Daniel Bucher said it was likely the two purple jellyfish had been caught up in the Eastern Australian Current.

"The jellyfish can swim in a directional sense, but they are not strong enough to swim against a strong current," he said.

Dr Bucher said the purple colour of the jellyfish was not unusual for a surface dwelling sea creature

Fish

Deep sea oarfish washes up in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

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© AGENCIESThis giant oarfish (5 meters) was found dead in the harbor of La Paz (Baja California) in Mexico on May 29 2014.
A rare, five meters long (15ft) oarfish, commonly known as sea serpent, was found dead by beachgoers along the boardwalk of the harbor of La Paz on May 29, 2014.

According to Cadena Noticias, the oarfish, a still mysterious deep sea creature, was still alive when researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences (CICIMAR) and the National Polytechnic Institute of Fisheries (IPN) arrived at the scene. But sadly, it died minutes after. The fish remains will be used for science to learn more about this species.

In October 2013, two oarfish were found dead on beaches in the USA (Catalina Island and Oceanside).

Source: Cadena Noticias

Attention

Deep sea oarfish caught by Vietnamese fishermen: Consequences of earthquakes?

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© Thanh Nien NewsVietnamese fishermen caught on oarfish while he was fishing near the coast of Thua Thien-Hue Province on May 30 2014.
What a catch!

An angler in central Vietnam has caught a 4.2 meter long fish, believed to be an oarfish, while he was fishing near the coast of Thua Thien-Hue Province.

A 61 years old fisherman, Nguyen Van Anh, 61, battled with one of his friend 30 minutes to pull the fish, which weighed almost 30 kg, off the water onto the shore on May 30, 2014. It is the first time both saw this kind of fish, as reported by Thanh Nien News.

Fish

Rare deep sea deal fish found on Hornsea beach, Yorkshire

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The fish was identified as a Deal Fish by marine biologist Prof Mike Elliott
A rare fish washed up on a Yorkshire beach normally lives in the open ocean at depths of up to 1,000 metres, a leading marine biologist has said.

Prof Mike Elliott, at the University of Hull, said the Deal Fish found on the beach at Hornsea normally inhabits colder waters north of Scotland.

Prof Elliott said the one-metre long (3ft 3in) fish was young as adults could be up to 2.4m (8ft) long.

He said: "Global warming means these fish should be moving further north."

The fish was found on the beach by Hornsea resident Allan Dougal and his son.

Attention

'Unprecedented' sea star disease epidemic on Oregon coast

Sea star dieoff
© SeaStarWasting.orgA sea star with wasting syndrome.
Just in the past two weeks, the incidence of sea star wasting syndrome has exploded along the Oregon coast and created an epidemic of historic magnitude, one that threatens to decimate Oregon's entire population of purple ochre sea stars, experts said Wednesday.

Prior to this, Oregon had been the only part of the West Coast that had been largely spared this devastating disease.

The ochre sea star, which is the species most heavily affected by the disease in the intertidal zone, may be headed toward localized extinction in Oregon, according to researchers at Oregon State University who have been monitoring the outbreak.

As a "keystone" predator, its loss could disrupt the entire marine intertidal ecosystem.


Attention

Drastic fall in baby brown pelicans: Blame El Niño?

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© Dan Anderson, UC DavisOne of two baby brown pelican chicks found on Isla San Luis in Mexico during a 2014 UC Davis survey.
An endangered species success story is suffering this year, perhaps because of El Niño.

California brown pelicans almost completely failed to breed at their nesting sites in Mexico this year, surveys have found. Scientists are reluctant to blame any one cause for the drastic decline in fuzzy-headed baby pelicans, but a similar drop in breeding numbers struck during previous El Niño events.

"Over the years, we've seen that during an El Niño, their breeding effort goes way down," said Daniel Anderson, a University of California, Davis wildlife biologist who has monitored California brown pelicans for 46 years. Overfishing of sardines and habitat loss could also be hurting the pelican population, Anderson said.

Comment: Concerning the lack of sardine food and its effects on other species, see also: 650 emaciated sea lion pups wash up on the California coast over last 2 months

As to a more expansive explanation other than El Niño, see: Creatures from the deep signal major Earth Changes: Is anyone paying attention?


Bug

Madagascar once again struck by locust plague

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© RIJASOLO/AFP/Getty ImagesA farmer protects his rice field from locusts by chasing away them with reeds at Amparihibe village in Tsiroanomandidy, western Madagascar.
Farmers in Madagascar have once again had to witness their crops be destroyed by an annual plague of migratory locusts, which threatens the livelihoods of 13 million people.

Since April 2012, the creatures have descended on the land where nine million of the country's agriculture workers try to make their living.

The threat lies in the insects' voracious appetite, with one locust able to consume its body weight - about 2 grams - in a day. During plague season, billions of locusts swarm to the east African nation.

Photos of this year's ambush show the insects appear as vast clouds in the sky, while farmers attempt try and fail to protect their land with fire and makeshift battons.

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A farmer protects his rice field from locusts by chasing away them with reeds at Amparihibe village. A Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) mission is to fight the locust's swarm with an insecticide.
What began as an upsurge in 2010 became a plague because campaigns to tackle the insects between 2010 and 2012 were underfunded, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation (FAO).

In September 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO sought to tackle the problem and launched a Three-year emergency Programme, which aims to control locust populations and thereby protect millions of vulnerable people.

To protect Madagascar's naturally diverse ecosystem, control operations are carried out using bio pesticides.

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A swarm of the Red Locusts 20 kilometres north of the town of Sakaraha, south west Madagascar

Fish

Hundreds of white bass wash up dead on Indian Lake, Ohio

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© WDTN PhotoFishkill on Indian Lake in Logan County.
Hundreds of dead fish are washing up along the shores of a Indian Lake in Logan County.

People enjoying the lake over the weekend made several calls to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to make a report. They want to be sure the popular tourist lake is safe.

Hundreds of white bass surfaced so far.

"I've never seen this many fish before."

John Bodey has lived on Indian Lake for thirty five years. He notice a number of dead fish last week, lying on the dock behind his house.

"I think this is unusual, but it is not unusual for it to happen in some lakes."

According to the Ohio Department of National Resources, he's correct.

They call it a fish kill.

Attention

Wrong place, wrong time: Dead Arctic beluga whale washes up on a Scottish beach

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© APBeluga whales are rarely sighted in Scottish waters.
The discovery of the carcass of a dead Arctic beluga whale on a Scottish beach could plug a 200-year research gap for National Museums Scotland.

The NMS was contacted to identify the rotting remains washed up on Lunan beach, north of Arbroath.

DNA samples were sent off along with the mammal's skull and teeth and experts were thrilled with the results.

The whale is only the second specimen of beluga the museum has received - and the last one dates back to a stranding in the Firth of Forth in 1815.

Zena Timmons, assistant curator of vertebrates at NMS, helped to identify the animal after it was found by volunteers from the Keilor Trust and members of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme. She said: "Staff from the Natural Sciences department at National Museums Scotland identified a specimen washed up at Lunan Bay as a beluga whale.