Guest Columns

Pink Salmon: Another Threat for Southern Resident Whales?

Featured Image Source: Doug Marine/ Minden Pictures

The Southern Resident Orcas in the Pacific Northwest region are a population struggling for survival. Through the years pollution, noisy waters, and a decking food source has left their numbers dwindling.

Unfortunately, researchers have pinpointed another problem for these whales to contend with.

Salmon researchers noticed a trend that more of these whales died in even years than odd years. The pattern correlates to the return of pink salmon which come into the Salish Sea every other year in outstanding numbers.

It seems that the return of these salmon interferes with the orcas’ ability to hunt their preferred prey, Chinook salmon.

Although there is a correlation in the data, the researchers have not yet determined the exact cause of it. They have published their findings in an attempt to get the word out but know there is more research to be done.

One of the authors, Greg Ruggerone, said “the main point was getting out to the public word about this biennial pattern so people can start thinking about this important completely unexpected factor in the decline of these whales. It’s important to better understand what’s occurring here because that could help facilitate recovery actions.”

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Guest Columns

Hawaii Humpback Whale Count to Continue this Year

Featured Image Source: Antarctica Bound/CC by ND 2.0.

Humpback whales were recently taken off of the endangered species list. The species was removed from the protections of ESA in 2016, but the gentle giants are still being monitored on a regular basis.

One of the big monitoring events occurs in Hawaii every year around this time. The humpback whales are migrating to give birth in the area, so it is the perfect opportunity to perform a population estimate survey.

In normal years, the count is performed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) team based in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Unfortunately, due to the government shutdown these employees are unable to perform this crucial count.

So, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is stepping in to perform the count. Although it is not their duty, the team is gearing up to perform the whale population count with volunteers in the area.

Kris Sarri, the president and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, had this to say about the situation, “fewer humpback whales are being observed in the main Hawaiian Islands in recent ears and we don’t know why. Unfortunately, critical sanctuary research is on hold indefinitely due to the government shutdown.”

At least the count is still being performed by these dedicated individuals in the face of the government shutdown.

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Guest Columns

Here’s What Wiped Out the Infamous Megalodon

Featured Image Credit: Herschel Hoffmeyer/Shutterstock

You may have heard of the Megalodon. The large shark creature was the presumed predecessor of the great white sharks of today. The massive shark was the size of a school bus and an impressive predator.

How could a shark like that go extinct? The sheer size and force of an animal that size seems to be completely unexpected. The fossil record shows that it did in fact exist. But what wiped it out?

Scientists think that a massive supernova may be the cause of extinction for these animals.

Adrian Melott, a professor at the University of Kansas and the lead study author, said, “I’ve been doing research like this for about 15 years, and always in the past it’s been based on what we generally know about the universe–that these supernovae should have affected Earth at some time or another. This time, it’s different. We have evidence of nearby events at a specific time. We know about how far away they were, so we can actually compute how that would have affected the Earth and compare it to what we know about what happened at that time–it’s much more specific.”

Apparently the damage from a supernova would have extended hundreds of yards into the ocean, which is probably what wiped out the seemingly invincible Megalodon.

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Guest Columns

Why Do Reef Fish Have Different Color Patterns?

Featured Image Credit: Mark Sheperd / Lizard Island Field Guide

Have you ever wondered why some reef fish have extremely colorful patterns? Well, the researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the James Cook University wondered the same thing.

The team studied the differences in the physical appearance of 42 types of butterfly fish. The goal was to understand why the fish looked different from each other. They used high definition photography to study the difference closely.

Christopher Hemingson, the lead author of the study, had this to say about the study, “Our results show that, over millions of years, butterflyfishes have evolved the greatest diversity of visual markings when they live in the same area as other, closely related species. Crucially, we also found that this only happens when both species have ranges that are of similar sizes. Colour is far more complicated than just looking different from other species. These colour patterns also depend specifically on what other species are also present. It is an interesting piece to the puzzle and may help explain why reef fishes are so colourful.”

The differing patterns seem to be related to the size of the range of the species. The authors on the paper were pleased with the new knowledge that the coloration of species evolves extremely quickly.

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Scientists Recently Uncovered An Evolutionary Link for Large Whales

Featured Image Credit: C. M. Peredo et al., 2018/Current Biology

Have you ever wondered why large whales have baleen instead of teeth? Although some whales (like killer whales) have teeth, many of the larger whales (like blue whales) have baleen plates instead. The plates act like a filter to allow these large whales to feed on small prey like krill. With these structures, the largest mammals in the world can eat tons of food everyday and not even stop to chew!

The structure of baleen is actually composed of flexible hair-like plates. With these structures, the whales just filter their food. However, the evolution of baleen was unclear until now. Scientists have wondered how the whales made the evolutionary jumps from teeth to baleen plates.

Smithsonian scientists recently uncovered the link! In the fossil record there is a whale that had neither baleen plates or teeth. The whale, Maiabalaena nesbittae, lived approximately 33 million years ago. The whale was roughly 15 feet long. Carlos Mauricio Peredo, the lead author on the study, had this to say, “A living baleen whale has a big, broad roof in its mouth, and it’s also thickened to create attachment sites for the baleen. Maiabalaena does not. We can pretty conclusively tell you this fossil species didn’t have teeth, and it is more likely than not that it didn’t have baleen either.”

Scientists believe that this whale could neither chew or filter feed. It appears to have a strong cheek and retractable tongue that could suck in water (and food) into its mouth. This is huge piece of evolutionary history. Without this whale, baleen whales as we know them today may not exist.

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Guest Columns

Why Do Toothed Whales Have Big Heads?

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Have you ever wondered why some whales have large heads? The pattern has always been that the toothed whales have large domed heads than baleen whales. Scientists never knew exactly why that was until now.

Apparently, larger noses and heads are important for echolocation in toothed whales. Echolocation is the use of sound waves to find prey, navigate, and more. A study at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark sheds light onto the issue. Professor Peter Teglberg Madsen, an author of the study, had this to say, “Normally, organs tend to grow proportionally to the rest of the body, but as echolocating whales became larger, their sound generating structures started taking up more and more of the body.” Another author, Frants Havmand Jensen, had this to say, “This likely reflects an evolutionary pressure for long-range prey detection — it allowed larger whales to find prey further away, letting them hunt more efficiently in deep water. The pinnacle of this evolutionary push is the sperm whale, where the nose used to generate and focus sonar pulses can make up as much as one-third of the body of adult males.”

It is an interesting discovery that helps us understand the lives of whales better.

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Guest Columns

Humpback Whales Found in the Mediterranean Sea

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Large whales, including humpbacks, are known for their migrations surrounding their feeding habits in the colders areas of the globe. Typically, these large mammals travel into extreme northern and southern degrees in order to feed on krill. Although the size of their prey is small, these massive filter feeders have found the methods that work.

In the cooler latitudes of the oceans, the krill can be found in large numbers. However, a recent trend of humpback whales coming into the Mediterranean Sea to feed may indicate a problem with these traditional food sources.

Scientists at the University of Seville are baffled by the continuing rise of humpback whales in the Mediterranean Sea. The increase has been documented over the last 150 years.

The data shows that most of the whales that enter the sea to feed are younger. The majority of the whales are also alone. The director of the Marine Biology Laboratory, Jose Carlos Garcia-Gomez, had this to say about the observations, “In recent years, there have been changes both in climatic conditions and in the temperature of the sea, something which has been verified by many studies. If we add the exact coincidence of krill blooms in the Strait of Gibraltar with the presence of these whales, this could perhaps tell us that, in the near future, sightings of this species could increase in the Mediterranean. For this reason, it is considered imperative to implement preventive contingency and conservation plans for the species in this sea.”

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Guest Columns

Stingray Loses Sensory Capacity With Crude Oil Exposure

Featured Image Credit:montereybayaquarium.org

Almost every marine fish relies heavily on their senses to survive. In fact, every animal on the planet (including humans) rely on their sensory systems in some way. Imagine going through life without senses. It would be a difficult existence.

Unfortunately, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused some creatures to lose their sensory abilities. The Atlantic stingray has been significantly affected by the oil spill.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University were able to understand the effects of crude oil on marine vertebrates. The experiment was done through recreating the amount of exposure to crude oil in the water. They found that after just 48 hours, significant damage was done to the stingray’s sensory systems.

Stephen Kajiura, an author on the study, had this to say, “Elasmobranchs are renowned for their well-developed sensory systems, which are critical to alert them of the presence of predators, prey, mates, and unfavorable environmental conditions. Any impairment of these sensory systems could have a damaging effect on their survival and fitness.”

Although this study was done on just one species, it is probable that the negative effects of crude oil could be seen on other elasmobranch species.

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