SUNFISH HAS TRUNCATED TAIL - TOPS OUT AT 5000 POUNDS - BUT VULNERABLE TO EATING PLASTIC BAGS BECAUSE THEY MAY SEEM TO BE JELLIES

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM on THE SUNFISH

Excerpt: Because molas spend so much time drifting near the ocean surface, they are vulnerable to fishing boats that use drift gillnets. Gillnets usually don't kill molas immediately, but they cut into their skin, scrape off their protective mucus and flood their gills with air.

Another hazard to the mola are discarded plastic bags. When these wind up in the ocean, they float at the surface and look a lot like a jelly — a mola's favorite meal. If the mola doesn't choke as it sucks the bag in, the plastic can clog the fish's stomach, slowly starving the animal. Helping the mola is one more reason to carry your own shopping bags with you to the store — and make sure any plastic bags you use are properly disposed of.

The mola is listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

ROBERT E. FULLER COMBINES ACTIVISM WITH ART : HUMPBACK WHALES IN ALASKAN WATERS

A few months ago I started watching Robert. E. Fullers YouTube channel.  What an amazing person! This short video on humpback whales is just one of his very many.  If you follow his channel you'll learn how to help birds survive by building safe nesting spots for them, and so much more.  Robert is also fine artist who sells his work.

BRINE POOLS IN THE RED SEA : HYPER SALINITY and MICROBES : ANTI CANCER PROPERTIES

NATURE COM : BRINE POOLS IN THE RED SEA 

Excerpt: Despite their rarity and diminutive size, brine pools present intense oases of macrofaunal and microbial biodiversity in a deep-sea benthic environment that otherwise lacks in number and variety of species. Deep-sea brine pools are of intense scientific interest since their pervasive anoxia, low pH, and hypersalinity represent one of the most extreme habitable environments on Earth, perhaps offering clues to first life on our planet, and guiding the search for life beyond it. The significance of Red Sea brine pools has been further amplified with the discovery that the extremophile microbes that inhabit them can yield bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential, including antibacterial and anticancer properties

HAPPY SPERM WHALE

 

SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE : WOULD YOU LIKE TO APPLY TO TRAVEL ON A RESEARCH VESSEL?

SCHMIDT OCEAN ORG 

SCHMIDT OCEAN ORG : THRIVING ECOSYSTEM ON DETACHED ICEBERG

The ICEBERG was as big as CHICAGO... and on the sea floor...

Excerpt: An international team on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too) working in the Bellingshausen Sea rapidly pivoted their research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice. On January 13, 2025, an iceberg the size of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet. The team reached the newly exposed seafloor on January 25 and became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.

SEE THE PICTURES!

A large sponge, a cluster of anemones, and other life is seen nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf, a floating glacier in Antarctica. Sponges can grow very slowly, sometimes less than two centimeters a year. Therefore, the size of this specimen suggests this community has been active for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years.

FIRST TIME COLOSSAL SQUID SEEN BUT IT'S A TEENAGER!

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE COLOSSAL SQUID IN SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN 

EXCERPT: 

The stunning 4K video film, captured in the deep sea by California's Schmidt Ocean Institute, shows the rare creature's transparent body and eight pink tentacles.

Colossal squid can grow up to 23 feet (7 metres) and weigh as much as 500kg, making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet.

But this specimen, which looks like a delicate glass sculpture, is just a 'teenager' – measuring 11 inches (30cm).

Dying colossal squid adults have previously been filmed by fishermen, but the species has never been seen alive at depth before.

Expedition chief scientist, Dr Michelle Taylor at the University of Essex, called the footage 'stunning' and 'beautiful'.

Siren here!  Check out the video on the website I linked to....  I wonder if the scientists will be able to find this particular creature again when it is more grown!

THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE SEA by LEWIS BLACKWELL : FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Fantastic photography and important text, Lewis Blackwell is the photographer.

Loved this book!

RED LOBSTER

 

WHEN THE OCEAN SENDS A CRY FOR HELP : SAN PEDRO'S MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER THE FOCUS OF THIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE STORY

Random Length News : When the Ocean Sends a Cry for Help

Excerpt: An unusually early and toxic algae bloom has caused a massive domoic acid poisoning event affecting pinnipeds, dolphins and seabirds all along the Southern California coast. While there have been other serious outbreaks in the 24 years since DA was first identified on the West Coast — the summer of 2023 was also harrowing — the early arrival and the morbid intensity of this event are straining local resources. Ash and runoff from the fires may be exacerbating the natural phenomenon, leading to heartbreaking scenes of dolphins stranding on public beaches, gasping for breath.

HILTON HEAD BEACHED SPERM WHALE : WHALE HELP

ISLAND PACKET :HILTON HEAD BEACHED SPERM WHALE

Excerpt: Like the beached whale on Hilton Head Island, live whales usually only beached themselves if they’re sick, injured, or in otherwise poor health. One common cause of sickness is when the whale ingests marine debris, especially plastic. Whales can get entangled in fishing gear or get struck by boats. Sperm whales are an endangered species, and about four of them strand themselves on beaches across the Atlantic coast per year. George said there has been some increase in the number of whales washing up over the years, but it’s not known whether that’s due to an increase in sperm whale populations or an increase to the threats they face. Lentz said the average person can help endangered whales by making conscientious choices about the food they eat and the products the buy, and picking up their garbage on the beach.

If you see a stranded or injured marine animal, do not push it back into the ocean, as biologists say it will likely wash up again somewhere else. Instead, call (877) WHALE-HELP to report the animal to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

DRONES RECORD HUNDREDS OF WHALES : CHANGES IN SIZE OF FEMALES AND CALVES : DROP IN BIRTHRATE : HEATWAVES EFFECT

SEATTLE TIMES : DRONES RECORD HUNDREDS OF WHALES by Brendan Rascius  of McClatchy News 

EXCERPT: ... scientists documented dramatic changes in the size of the mothers and calves and in humpback birthrates.
Changes in size

Between 2018 and 2022, “a total of 2,410 measurements were taken from 1,659 individuals, with 405 repeat measurements from 137 lactating females used to track changes in maternal body volume over migration,” Martin van Aswegen, one of the study authors, said in a news release from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In six months, they decreased in body volume by 17% on average. Specifically, the mothers off Hawaii — where the whales breed — lost about 214 pounds of blubber each day.

Comparatively, nonpregnant and pregnant females off Alaska — where the whales feed — gained size much faster than new mothers, putting on weight between two and six times the rate of lactating females.

Calves, in contrast, rapidly put on weight. They increased their body volume by about 395%, and their length increased by nearly 60%.

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KEEP READING! 

OCEAN CURRANTS STALLING? CHANGING? WEATHER MOVING TOWARDS AN ICE AGE?

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE : CLIMATE CHANGE by Jonathan Chadwick - Assistant Science and Technology Editor.

 
Excerpt: A new study by experts at University of Gothenburg and the German Alfred Wegener Institute reveals that rapidly melting freshwater ice in the Arctic could be one cause. This melted ice could weaken or even cause a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – Earth's vast system of ocean currents.

Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', AMOC transports warm water near the ocean's surface northwards from the tropics up to the northern hemisphere, keeping Europe, the UK and the US east coast temperate.

If and when AMOC does collapse, much of the northern hemisphere, including Europe and North America, could experience harsh, freezing cold winters.

But study author Dr Céline Heuzé, senior lecturer in climatology at the University of Gothenburg, said it's 'scary' that the exact effects of weaker global ocean circulation are as yet unknown.