LEAF SHAPED FANGS?! PACIFIC DISCOVERY LINKS UNPRECEDENTED FIND! GINKO BEAKED WHALES

Unprecedented!   OOOOH this is great!

UNION RAYO: GOODBYE TO DECADES OF ASSUMPTIONS : GINKO BEAKED WHALES

Excerpt: For the first time in history, a team of scientists managed to see, record and document the elusive ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) swimming in open sea, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. And the best part is that with this encounter they also solved a mystery that had been puzzling experts for more than a decade, a mysterious acoustic signal, the famous BW43, that no one had managed to attribute to a specific species.

.... For the first time, a species known only from stranded remains was alive, recorded, confirmed!!! Now scientists can track this species without seeing it, just by listening to its signals in the ocean.

Battles, wounds and sharks

The ginkgo-toothed beaked whale has a distinctive feature and it is that the males develop two flat leaf-shaped teeth near the tip of the snout. They do not use them to eat, but to fight with other males for the females.

The photos show long scars, cuts, white lines, many battles on their backs. In addition, many had circular bite marks made by sharks called “cookie cutters”.

CLAM ANALYSIS SHOWS NORTH ATLANTIC SUBPOLAR GYRE ACTING STRANGELY

LIVE SCIENCE : MASSIVE SYSTEM OF ROTATING OCEAN CURRENTS ACTING STRANGELY

Excerpt: An analysis of clam shells suggests the North Atlantic subpolar gyre has had two periods of destabilization over the past 150 years: one around 1920 and the other from 1950 through present. ....

"It's highly worrying," study lead author Beatriz Arellano Nava, a postdoctoral research fellow in physical geography at the University of Exeter in the U.K., told Live Science. "The subpolar gyre was recently acknowledged as a tipping element. We still need to understand more of the impacts of a subpolar gyre abrupt weakening. But what we know so far with the few studies that have been published is that it would bring more extreme weather events, particularly in Europe ... and also changes in global precipitation patterns."

.... But the other signal was a total surprise, she said. The clam data revealed that the subpolar gyre was unstable for a few years in the run-up to the 1920s North Atlantic regime shift. This previously described event was characterized by the strengthening of currents in the gyre. Instability in the subpolar gyre likely caused the 1920s regime shift, and the timeline suggests the period of instability may have reflected the subpolar gyre's recovery from its Little Ice Age collapse, Arellano Nava said.


Go to the article for more upsetting details and a globe showing the way currents work!

CALIFORNIA : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYLCLED

LA TIMES - Environment : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYCLED IN CALIFORNIA 

Excerpt:  Polypropylene, labeled as #5 on packaging, is used for yogurt containers, margarine tubs and microwavable trays. Only 2% of it is getting recycled. Colored shampoo and detergent bottles, made from polyethylene, or #1 plastic, are getting recycled at a rate of just 5%.

Other plastics, including ones promoted as highly recyclable, such as clear polyethylene bottles, which hold some medications, or hard water bottles, are being recycled at just 16%.

No plastic in the report exceeds a recycling rate of 23%, with the majority reported in just the single digits.

READ ON MY FRIENDS!  

DO YOU KNOW WHICH PLASTIC CONTAINERS ARE SAFE TO REUSE TO STORE OR COOK FOODS?

AS GOOD FISH IN THE SEA AS EVER WERE CAUGHT

A vintage Valentine published in 1909

 

HOLY MACKEREL BUT I LOVE YOU

 

SAVE THE SEA

 

MERMAID WEARS GLOVES! HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY SIRENS LINK TO THE SEA!

SEVENTEEN years! 

ocean ecology, environmental activism, endangered species, whales, dolphins, sharks, octopus, marine science, mermaids, ocean, beach clean up, fish, and so much more!
 

CALIFORNIA BANS ALL PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

 No More Plastic Bags: All plastic carryout bags, including thicker reusable ones, are banned at checkout.

• Paper Bags Required: Retailers must provide recycled paper bags for a minimum fee of 10 cents each
  .
Fee Retention: Stores keep the 10-cent fee to cover bag costs and educational efforts.
Increased Recycled Content: By 2028, paper bags must contain at least 50% post-consumer recycled content.
Applies To: Supermarkets, large retailers with pharmacies, convenience stores, and food marts. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A WHALE DIES IN THE OCEAN ? : WHALE FALL - NOURISHING AN ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM : UK : WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WHALES DIE 

Excerpt:

Whale carcasses take decades to fully decompose and can provide food for an entire ecosystem on the dark depths of the ocean floor. ...Decay sets in soon after the death of a whale, as the insides begin to decompose. The animal then expands with gas and sometimes floats up to the ocean's surface, where it can be scavenged by sharks and seabirds.

Eventually the ocean giant will begin to sink, falling kilometre after kilometre, until finally coming to rest on the seabed. This is when the carcass becomes known as a whale fall.

Whale falls can nourish an entire ecosystem of deep-sea creatures, from large scavengers to microscopic bacteria. They provide inhabitants of the mostly deserted ocean floor with a sudden and immense source of food...

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Keep reading!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A WHALE DIES BEACHED? THIS IS KINDA GROSS! THEY CAN EXPLODE!

This is an older article from the Guardian in September 2022

GUARDIAN : ENVIRONMENT : WHALE STRANDINGS : WHAT HAPPENS TO DEAD WHALE BODIES?

Excerpt: Two mass strandings in Tasmanian waters in a week has left about 200 pilot whales and 14 sperm whales dead. ... In warmer climates, the internal decomposition of dead whales can result in spontaneous explosions. Gut bacteria in the whales can multiply quickly, producing large quantities of methane gas. “If the rest of the body is still intact – if the outer layer, the blubber, is still intact and not broken up – then it can lead to an explosion,” Meynecke said.

In 2004, the decomposing carcass of a 60-tonne, 17-metre sperm whale expoded on a busy streetin the Taiwanese city of Tainan, “showering cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours”. ...

***

Check out the video of the whale stomach exploding! Ewwwe!

TERRIFYING DEEP SEA MONSTERS ? ARE THEY?

Youtube : SEA MONSTERS

Loved the beauty and creativity of this YouTube video by Bright Side Dark Side station

SANTA BARBARA CALIFORNIA : MORE OFF SHORE OIL DRILLING and ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS? The public comment period for the BLM draft plan ends March 6 2026

NOOZHAWK : FEDS COULD OPEN SANTA BARBARA

Excerpt: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)  announced a new study on Jan. 13 that could open 850,000 acres of land across the state to a new oil and gas leasing program. The program will allow drilling and fracking on previously protected land, including in Santa Barbara and surrounding counties.

If the plan is approved later this year, around 400,000 acres in  Santa Barbara County could be eligible for drilling, including up to 100,000 acres of land around Vandenberg Village.

Surrounding areas like Lake Cachuma, Nojoqui Falls County Park and waterways such as the Sisquoc River could also be affected, according to Los Padras Forest Watch , a group that works to protect land within the Los Padres National Forest.

.................   “Of course, one of our chief concerns is the threat of another catastrophic oil spill,” Hall said. “Which (could cause) immediate and long-lasting harm to wildlife, coastlines, fisheries, and could result in extensive economic damage.”

If the leases are approved, they would be the first ones issued since 1984, according to Hall.

The first oil platforms in the Pacific Ocean were installed between 1967 and 1989 in federal waters, 4 to 10 miles offshore.

“The first major disaster occurred in 1969,” Hall said. “The well blowout at Platform A in Santa Barbara sent an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, devastating wildlife, marine ecosystems and tourism.”

Another oil spill occurred in 2015 near Refugio State Beach, dumping crude oil into the shoreline and ocean. Hall said recent estimates put the cleanup cost at $800 million.

TO COMMENT GO TO THIS LINK:

https://www.regulations.gov/document/BOEM-2025-0483-0001