Science

Tour Group Spots Mass Stranding Of Whales In Iceland

Earlier this month, dozens of pilot whales littered a remote beach in Iceland after a mass stranding. Unfortunately, by the time the animals were spotted they were already deceased. The original sighting was made by tour group in a sightseeing helicopter that happened to pass over the remote area.

The pilot of the helicopter, David , had this to say, “We were flying northbound over the beach and then we saw them. We were circling over it, not sure if it was whales, seals, or dolphins. We landed and counted about 60, but there must have been more because there were fins sticking out of the sand.”

The gruesome scene was hard to see and it was too late to call for help. It is still unclear why the whales stranded. According to Edda Eliabet Magnusdottir, a marine biologist, “the most important thing to look at is that these are deep sea whales common at the continental margin. They mainly feed on s quid, which is why they’re good at diving deep. When they enter shallow waters, most of them have a tendency to become disoriented. They use echolocation for orientation, for finding one another, estimating the depth, and so on. But a sloping, sandy bottom appears to increase their disorientation. There are numerous examples of them having beached where there is such a sandy, sloping bottom. ”

In a similar incident, dozens of pilot whales stranded on St. Simon Island in Georgia this month.

Conservation

Clipper The Whale Killed By Boat Strike Off The Coast Of Canada

Featured Image: Andersen Cabot Center For Ocean Life

In 2016, Clipper the whale was spotted with her calf by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The healthy female had given birth to a calf but the pair was struggling to leave the shallow water. As they drifted closer to shore, everyone was worried that the calf would not survive. However, the pair eventually made it back out to sea and continued their journey.

Unfortunately, Clipper died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence earlier this year after being hit by a ship. Clipper is one of six North Atlantic Right Whales that have died in Canada this summer.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, say, “given the vulnerability of the North Atlantic right whales to extinction, recent news from Canada on the deaths of six North Atlantic right whales along with two new entanglements has alarmed conservation leaders. With fewer than 100 breeding females left in the population, and only 7 right whale calves sighted during the 2019 calving season, preventing right whale deaths is of vital importance.”

The total population of North Atlantic right whales continues to dwindle each year, bringing the species perilously close to complete extinction. Their plight stems from decades of unrestrained whaling operations that left the population in shambles. Although Canada has speed regulations and fishing management strategies in place to protect the whales, researchers and activists hope that more stringent regulations will be put in place to further protect the endangered species.

Science

Researchers Discover A Pocket Shark That Glows In The Dark

Featured Image: Sciencealert.com

Back in 1979, researchers found a small shark in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that had never been seen before. Because the small shark had a pocket near its gills, scientists named it the pocket shark. Within the pocket are glands that produce a bioluminescent fluid that helps the shark attract prey. Unfortunately, after this initial discovery another pocket shark was not seen for several decades.

Then, in 2010, a group of researchers from NOAA found a pocket shark in the Gulf of Mexico. However, a recent study shows that these two animals are not the same species. This means there are two known species of pocket sharks in the world.

In total, the shark only measures around 5 inches long but it’s small razor-like teeth and other body characteristics identifies it as a shark. Mark Grace, the biologist who processed the animal says, “I knew it was a species of shark. But I’d never seen anything like it before.” Unlike the original pocket shark, this species has photophores all over its body. The photophores product light allowing the shark to glow in the dark.

Based on the shark’s body type, researchers speculate that it has similar feeding habits to sperm whales, but further study is necessary to better understand it. Grace notes, “the fact that only one pocket shark has ever been reported from the Gulf of Mexico, and that it is a new species underscores how little we know about the Gulf, especially its deeper waters, and how many additional new species from these waters await discovery.”

Baby Animals

Global Warming Has Halted The Birth Of Male Sea Turtles

The negative impacts of global warming on the world’s oceans are well known. Ice caps are melting, coral is bleaching and sea turtles are all being born female. Wait, what was that last one?

The Science Of Sex Ratios

The sex of sea turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand in which the eggs incubate. Warmer sand means more females, but typically both sexes are represented in turtle nests. This is not the case anymore in Florida, where researchers have found that in 7 of the last 10 years 100% of the hatchlings were female.

Florida is of vital importance to three turtle species: leatherback, loggerhead, and green turtles. In recent years, all three of these species have been producing all female nests. This trend becomes even more striking when you consider that leatherback turtles nest early in the year, while green turtles nest closer to fall. These species should have more male offspring because they nest during cooler months, but even they have been affected by overall rising temperatures.

It’s Not Just Florida Either

Australia’s Raine Island is the biggest green sea turtle nesting ground in the Pacific. A 2018 study showed that the ratio of turtles born here was 116 females to one male. The study showed that 40 years ago, nests were also mostly female, but the ratio at that time was 6 to 1. In contrast, turtles born in the last 20 years were 99% female. A third study conducted with green turtles in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa showed similar results.

All Hope Isn’t Lost

Sea Turtles are an incredibly resilient species. They have existed in some form for 200 million years, withstanding multiple extinction events. The species is good at adapting to changes in their habitat, and one male turtle can impregnate many females. So the biggest question isn’t whether the species is capable of evolving, instead it is whether they can evolve as fast as the climate is changing.

Conservation

Exciting New Technology Being Tested To Combat Ocean Plastic Pollution

Featured Image: Business Insider

The Plastic Scourge

In recent years, it has become common knowledge that plastics, especially single use ones, are harming the world’s oceans. Right now, there are more pieces of plastic in the ocean than there are stars in the Milky Way. There are five massive “patches” in the world where plastic pollution has concentrated. The largest of these patches lies between California and Hawaii and is the size of Texas. It has gotten so bad that by 2050 scientists project that all the plastic in the ocean will outweigh all the fish.

Animals like turtles and whales cannot distinguish between food and plastic. As a result more and more animals are being found dead with huge amounts of plastic in their stomachs. In March, a dead whale was found to have 88 pounds of plastic in its belly. Ingestion isn’t the only way ocean plastics are harming marine life. Every year about 100,000 animals die from plastic entanglement. Luckily, some enterprising scientists are working on solutions to end, or at least mitigate, the amount of plastic currently wreaking havoc in the ocean.

FRED To The Rescue

Interns from the University of San Diego are currently testing a new invention called FRED, or the Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris. FRED is a solar powered robot with a conveyor belt that moves trash from the water into a collection bin. FRED features a camera on the inside of its roof which serves as the eyes for the operator controlling the robot from shore.

The version currently being tested is the second-phase of a four-phase project. If everything goes as planned, phase 4 will come online in 2023. The current prototype can run for 3 to 5 hours, but designers aim to create a version that can run 24/7.

BIG Problem, Nano Solution

On the other side of the world, researchers published a paper detailing a different solution to the same problem. A study recently published in Matter, details a new type of nanotechnology that might help break down the plastic in the ocean. Researchers created tiny “nano-coils” that create chemical reactions that can break down the microplastics in the ocean by converting plastic into carbon dioxide and water.

The nano-coils are microscopic tubes shaped like bed springs. The coils are made of carbon and coated with nitrogen and manganese. The latter two elements interact with the nano-coils to create reactive oxygen molecules. These molecules then attack and break down microplastics.

Researchers added the nano-coils to water samples and observed a 30-50% reduction in microplastics in an 8 hour period. The coils can then be removed from the water using magnets for reuse.

Like FRED, this technology is still at the proof of concept stage, but it is still an exciting step towards a healthier, less polluted ocean.

Conservation

Gulf Coast Reports A Massive Spike in Dolphin Deaths this Year

Since February, over 200 bottlenose dolphins have been found dead on beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. The spike in strandings has the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worried because the death toll is over 3 times the normal amount of dolphin deaths in a year.

Dr. Erin Fougere, with NOAA, says, “we are just starting our investigation now. We are concerned about the very low salinity that the northern Gulf is experiencing just due to the massive flooding that’s occurred over this past winter. It’s the wettest winter in the Mississippi Valley in the past 124 years.”

Bottlenose dolphins are not just dying, they are also showing up with skin lesions, indicating a problem in the water. Freshwater can harm bottlenose dolphins with prolonged exposure. Plus, these animals are still recovering from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Fougere says, “they do still have those health issues and any additional stressor or environmental change could potentially, you know, tip them over the edge which might be what we’re seeing here.We always say they’re like canary in the coal mines, so things that are impacting dolphins are things that could ultimately impact humans. They’re coastal residents. They live close to the beaches and the shore similar to the way humans do so it’s always worth monitoring what’s going on with them.”

Conservation

Grey Whale Found Dead in Alaska May Hold Answers To String Of Whale Deaths

Image Source: Pexels.com

Over the course of the last several months, the number of grey whales washing ashore along the West Coast has been staggering. Grey whales typically make their spring to summer migration up and down the coast with minimal casualties, however something seems to have gone horribly wrong this year.

Unfortunately, researchers remain unsure of what is causing the whales’ increased mortality rates. 167 grey whales have been found dead onshore from Alaska to Mexico since January but scientists say that the whales onshore only reflect a small number of the animals that died. Up to 90% of deceased whales will either sink, float offshore, or otherwise go undocumented.

A research wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in La Jolla, CA, Dave Weller, says, “if we can access a dead whale in time, we can look for evidence of disease, viruses, malnutrition, or human causes such as collisions with ships.” Scientists up and down the coast have been performing as many autopsies as possible which have provided vital information.

Most of the whales show signs of malnutrition. Some whales appeared to have starved to death. Others had eelgrass in their stomach, indicating the desperate consumption of a substance that they normally do not ingest. The whales fill most of their nutritional needs in Alaska, so scientists are searching for clues there. They have noted that it’s possible the population has simply grown larger than their food source, but more information is needed to establish a definitive cause.

Conservation

4 North Atlantic Right Whales Found Dead in Canada’s Gulf Of St. Lawrence

Image Source: NOAA

In the past three weeks, four North Atlantic Right Whales have been found dead. All four of the whales were found in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence. The four whales represent a loss of 1% of the total population in the span of 3 weeks.

One whale, Comet, was a 33-year-old male that had recently become a grandfather. Another, Punctuation, was a female in her breeding years that had already birthed 8 calves. The other two whales were a younger male and a female.

The loss of these animals is a significant blow to the population. The New England Aquarium, said, “the loss of sexually mature females is biologically a major loss to this species that has seen a precipitous population decline over the past several years.”

Apparently, the whales were in the area because the warming waters had reduced their food source of copepods in their normal feeding grounds. The cause of death for these animals is not yet known, however, a study published this month suggests that they may be human activity. The study looked at the death of 70 North Atlantic Right Whales over the course of 15 years, and found that 90% of the deaths were human caused.

It is a sad blow to the population, but all hope is not yet lost.

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