WATCHING A SMALL AQUARIUM TANK FISH DIE : AN UNNATURAL AND IMPRISONED LIFE ALONE

Over the years I've become increasingly against home aquariums for fish that grow bigger.  I recently saw a fish that had lived alone in an aquarium die.  It was horrible.  This fish had lived alone for the amusement of the few people who actually even bothered to notice it.  It swum around a background, plastic made-for-aquarium sea weeds and fake castles and such, and awaited feeding.  I would walk by and go eye to eye with it and sometimes move my fingers as if they were fins and the fish would follow.

I heard that this fish had been in the tank for ELEVEN YEARS and was ALONE because he "ATE ALL THE OTHER FISH IN THE TANK." Well in the sea, fish eat fish, but I wondered if perhaps this was because he had not been fed properly.... And was also in a tank TOO SMALL FOR HIM.

HIM ... it could have been a HER.

The fish started laying low to the bottom of the tank, barely upright.

It's eyes were covered in some sort of white film. 

I immediately informed the owner I thought the fish was dying and to contact their aquarium service.

A week later the fish was clearly having trouble fish-breathing, it's gills working hard.

I had not seen air being pumped into the tank.

The walls of the tank had a green-black film on them.

As a result I'm clearly anti-aquarium tank.

Perhaps the small fish that never get too big can have a better tank life than this?

Other fish in the tank.

Real sea weed.

Proper cleaning and feeding and light cycles....

Siren

LEAVE A COMMENT! ANY IDEAS?

Do you have an idea you'd like to share?  Is there a topic I need to cover here at SIRENS LINK TO SEA?

I do check comments!

If you would like to comment but do not want your comment published, just tell me DO NOT PUBLISH.

THANKS!

Siren

FUNNY

 

CRABS AND LOBSTERS FEEL PAIN UPON BEING BOILED ALIVE : SCIENTISTS CALL FOR A BAN

I have this idea that creatures of the sea have only recently been understood to be animals.  What I almost never eat is sea food.  Siren

EARTH COM : SCIENTISTS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE BAN ON BOILING THEM ALIVE

Excerpt: Dr. Lynne Sneddon, a zoophysiologist at the University of Gothenburg, believes it’s time we reconsider how we treat these animals.

“We need to find less painful ways to kill shellfish if we are to continue eating them. Because now we have scientific evidence that they both experience and react to pain,” she says.

Excerpt:  Until now, the idea that crustaceans feel pain was mostly based on observational studies.

Researchers noticed that when crabs and lobsters were exposed to potentially harmful stimuli — like electric shocks or acids — they would touch the affected area or try to avoid the danger in subsequent encounters.

This behavior led many to believe they might be experiencing pain.

But the team at the University of Gothenburg took it a step further. PhD student Eleftherios Kasiouras led a study where they measured the activity in a shore crab’s brain using EEG-style recordings.

SHARK ATTACK HOT SPOTS? THE INTERNATIONAL SHARK ATTACK FILE!

 FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - SHARK ATTACK FILE

Siren here! This is a new one for me!  Maps and Data!  

This is the world's ONLY scientifically documented and comprehensive database of all known shark attacks.  Beginning in 1958, but going back too, there are now close to 7000 investigations...

CHECK OUT THE INTERACTIVE MAPS...

What are the chances?

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MEETING 2025 DUBAI

IUCN ORG 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. By harnessing the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of some 17,000 experts, IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

|

9-15 October, 2025

Description

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is a once-every-four-years, diverse gathering of nature conservation experts, leaders and decision-makers from around the world. It will help shape global priorities for nature conservation and climate change for the coming decade and beyond.

WHEN ONE HAS BEEN LONG AT SEA .... QUOTED FROM JOHN STEINBECK

"WHEN ONE HAS LONG BEEN AT SEA, THE SMELL OF LAND REACHES FAR OUT TO GREET ONE.  AND THE SAME IS TRUE WHEN ONE HAS BEEN LONG INLAND."

from Travels With Charley: In Search Of America, a book about his 1960 road trip with his dog.

ICE BERG THE SIZE OF CHICAGO LET GO FROM ANTARTICA

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY - ICEBERG SPEEDS AWAY

Excerpt:  Named A-84 by the U.S. National Ice Center, the berg measures about 30 kilometers (19 miles) long and 17 kilometers (11 miles) wide. It has an area approaching the size of Chicago, Illinois.

Iceberg calving is a normal occurrence for ice shelves. However, factors such as warming air and water along with decreasing protective sea ice can accelerate calving and lead to collapse, as has happened to several ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula.

Observations made by explorers beginning in the early 1940s, and later by remote sensing, show that the George VI has been losing shelf ice. For now, the retreat has been gradual, aided by the stability provided by its unique location, sandwiched between the Antarctic Peninsula and Alexander Island.

*** Siren here! As we know, iceberg melt can raise the sea level. Other, larger bergs have broken off and gone to sea...

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE

 

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION REPORTS ON WARMEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD ADMIST FEDERAL FUNDING CUTS EFFECTING HUNDREDS OF EMPLOYEES

NCEI NOAA : GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT  

Siren here!  Look at those maps.  Is your city going to be under water within your lifetime?

If you took your umbrella today, it may just be because of a scientific report from NOAA.

TIME MAGAZINE : THE TRUE COST OF NOAA CUTS - CLIMATE CHANGE

Excerpt: If you’ve ever avoided a hurricane, ducked a tornado, evacuated ahead of a wildfire, or merely relied on a weather forecast to take an umbrella to work, you likely have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to thank. As America’s—and indeed the world’s—leading weather and climate watchdog and the parent organization of the National Weather Service (NWS), NOAA runs a standing army of personnel and hardware on and off the planet to keep an eye on the Earth’s often stormy temperament. The agency owns or operates 13 weather satellites; manages more than 200 deep-water buoys: and gathers weather and climate information from a storm of data provided by no fewer than 10,600 state, local, and federal governments, as well as universities and private companies nationwide.

Excerpt: But NOAA is now threatened. As the Associated Press and others have reported, the agency’s already stretched workforce of 13,000 people is facing a deep cut of more than 1,000 of those employees mandated by the Trump Administration—a move that follows an earlier purge of about 1,300 in late February. The personnel reductions not only imperil NOAA’s ability to carry out its core chore of tracking and warning about upcoming severe weather events, they also hamper its ability to conduct basic research into climate change—carried out to help humanity better prepare for the sweeping environmental upheaval already evident in a steadily warming world. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CUTS THREATEN SCIENCE RESEARCH : UCLA and USC SCIENCE PROTESTS : STAND UP FOR SCIENCE MOVEMENT

STAND UP FOR SCIENCE 2025

WHY DO YOU STAND UP FOR SCIENCE ? :  ESSAYS WANTED

Graduate Admissions cut...  PhD Grad's delayed... 

ANNENEBERG MEDIA : SCIENTISTS UCLA USC PROTEST

Excerpt:  

Margarid Turnamian, a clinical psychology graduate student at USC and organizer of the event, emphasized that funding cuts could be far-reaching because science is critical to everyday life. 

“Science affects every single person’s life on a daily basis,” she said. “Everything that we use: from our cell phones to the roads that we drive on, to the foods that we eat, to the way that we communicate, is based in science.” 

With the threat of federal funding cuts, Turnamian said she fears many people underestimate just how much they rely on scientific advancements. She pointed out that the economic argument against science funding — that it is not worth investing in — is misleading. 

“At the rally on Friday, one of the speakers, Duke Kahn, who’s a professor of psychology at USC, brought up a great statistic that every $1 that goes to NIH funding is returned into the economy at like $2.50,” she said.

SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE : ONE IN THREE FISH FOR HUMAN FOOD HAS PLASTIC IN IT AND OTHER STATS!

SAS ORG : PLASTIC STATS  For wildlife such as fish, dolphins, seabirds, and seals it can be fatal..  A whale with thirty plastic bags in its stomach....

Immerse yourself in plastic trash and its shocking impact on our blue planet to better understand the big issues at play.

OCEAN PLASTICS POLLUTION : BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ORG

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ORG : OCEAN PLASTICS POLLUTION 

Excerpt:  We're surrounded by plastic. It’s in the single-use packaging we discard, the consumer goods that fill our stores, and in our clothing, which sheds microplastic fibers in the wash.

In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of more plastic end up in the world's oceans. Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans — from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. Not one square mile of surface ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution.

The problem is growing into a crisis. The fossil fuel industry plans to increase plastic production by 40 percent over the next decade. These oil giants are rapidly building petrochemical plants across the United States to turn fracked gas into plastic. This means more toxic air pollution and plastic in our oceans.

We need urgent action to address the global plastic pollution epidemic.

Unfortunately, plastic is so durable that the EPA reports “every bit of plastic ever made still exists.” All five of the Earth's major ocean gyres are inundated with plastic pollution. The largest one has been dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

BOOKMARKING IS COOL - NOT OLD SCHOOL : SIXTEEN YEARS OF PUBLISHING SIRENS LINK TO SEA!

Come back  easily.... just bookmark it!

SIREN IS WAITING FOR YOU!

I created this image years ago when I first began this blog!

Feb 2 2025 was this blogs sixteenth birthday!

PBS BRINGS US "THE MYSTERIES OF THE EARTH'S LARGEST OCEAN - THE PACIFIC : GATEWAY TO THE FULL SERIES

PBS Passport: https://to.pbs.org/2rxTvJS | #BigPacificPBS

Settle in and watch an episode at a time or the whole series! 

SEA HORSE

 

WHALES BODY WAS COVERED WITH THOUSANDS OF BARNACLES - A SCIENCE ADVENTURE

Paws and Hearts YouTube brings us this beautiful video... But is this a Delicious Fiction?

LOST WORLD UNDER THE PACIFIC?

THE DEBRIEF : LOST WORLD UNDER THE PACIFIC? 

Excerpt:  An international team of geophysicists using a new imaging technique that measures the speed of seismic waves caused by earthquakes to locate the juncture of tectonic plates in the Earth’s mantle say they have discovered the remnants of what appears to be a “lost world” beneath the Pacific Ocean.

... According to the published study, the team was particularly intrigued by one zone discovered beneath the western Pacific Ocean. That’s because there should be no material from subducted plates there “because it is impossible that there were subduction zones nearby in the recent geological history.”

***

You'll want to read this article to learn exactly what they mean when they say "lost worlds" and how the new technology has made a difference in understanding what's beneath the earth's surface!

CAL TECH : NEW TECHNOLOGY TO DETECT EARTH'S PLATES BELOW THE SURFACE

CAL TECH : NEW TECHNOLOGY - EARTH'S PLATES 

Excerpts:  Caltech researchers have developed a new method to study the earth's structure deep beneath the surface, at the boundary between Earth's brittle crust and the underlying mantle, a region called the Mohorovičić discontinuity—Moho for short.

.....On continents, the Moho can be found at depths ranging between 20 and 70 kilometers beneath the surface; in Southern California, the Moho is around 45 kilometers belowground. Attempts had been made to image it using conventional seismometers, but these efforts either yield low-resolution results, on the scale of tens of kilometers, or were prohibitively expensive. With the DAS method, researchers can easily observe the structure of the Moho over large regions at a resolution of a kilometer, providing a far more detailed look at this geologically important region.

CHOOSE A SEA CREATURE THAT FASCINATES YOU! THIS YEAR LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT THAT SEA CREATURE!

Fish, whales, dolphins, turtles, worms....

Choose one and learn all you can about it!

What is it's range?  What temperatures does it like to live in? What does it like to eat?  How does it eat?  How long does it usually live? 

So very many things to know!

Siren

MERMAID WEARS BRAIDS

 

DOLPHINS FOUND TO HAVE FENTANYL IN THEIR BODIES and OTHER DRUGS

SCIENCE ALERT : DOLPHINS WITH FENTANYL IN THEIR BODIES 

Excerpts: The researchers found fentanyl — a painkiller 100 times more powerful than morphine – in 24 of the samples, including all post-mortem specimens taken from the six dolphins that had died. The sedative meprobamate and the skeletal muscle relaxant carisoprodol were also found in the marine mammals' blubber.

More than a quarter of Earth's rivers have also been found to contain pharmaceuticals at levels higher than what's considered safe for aquatic organisms, with their waters contributing to concentrations of pollutants in marine environments.

Siren here! I feel sick!

MONTEREY BAY WHALE WATCHERS AMAZED AND WORRIED AFTER SIGHTING OF OLIVE RIDLEY SEA TURTLE

SACRAMENTO BEE : RARE SIGHTING OF OLIVE RIDLEY SEA TURTLE 

It hasn't been seen in the bay since 2013 and it's usually in need of warmer waters.

ROAD TO ATLANTIS NORTH OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS? YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Excerpts: PMNM is one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world, larger than all the national parks in the United States combined, and we've only explored about 3 percent of its seafloor. 

SCIENCE ALERT : YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Go to the website to find out about the fractured rock.

CANADIAN GULLY IS HOME TO NEWLY DISCOVERED FISH WITHOUT A DNA MATCH : ALMOST BLACK WITH BULBOUS HEAD

It’s called the Gully, and it’s a marine protected area under Fisheries and Oceans Canada. More than 9 miles wide, the Gully is “the largest underwater canyon in the western North Atlantic,” the department says, and is filled with endangered and rare species. It was here that in 2009 researchers caught and brought to the surface a mysterious looking fish. The animal had a bulbous head, sleek body and gaping mouth, and was a dark brown, nearly black color, according to a July 24 Facebook post from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “They sampled and analyzed its DNA,” the department said. “Back then, it did not match any known species and was left without a name.”

MIAMI HERALD : DNA MYSTERY FISH CANADA

IT'S A TYPE OF WHALEFISH (check out the videos)

INTELLIGENCE

 

MYSTERY MOLLUSK APPEARS IN MONTEREY BAY DEEP SEA CANYON

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE DEEP SEA MYSTERY CREATURE  

"It is the first nudibranch, a type of sea slug, known to live in the unlit “midnight zone” of the ocean between 3,300 and 13,100 feet.

Watch that video!

RARE NAUTILOIDS FOUND (FOSSILS MIGHT BE EASIER!) IN PALAU

ROVPLANET : AMAZING NAUTILOIDS 

Excerpt:  During a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive in the German Channel in Palau, the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) witnessed four Palau nautilus individuals (Nautilus belauensis). These are the first sightings of nautiloids — the most primitive cephalopods — from E/V Nautilus after 1000+ ROV dives over the last 15 years of operations. This marine mollusk found in the Indo-Pacific is rarely photographed- let alone caught on video -and 2024’s expeditions represent the first of OET’s adventures within the nautilus’s expected distribution range. This expedition (NA169) was funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

Rare!  

"Whenever you see a rare animal in the ocean, there is always a sense of awe. The nautilus isn't a new species, but there is still a certain magic to seeing it move in real-time across the ocean floor and respond to the ROV. And it has no idea that hundreds of humans are staring at it!" says Alice Chou, onboard Science Communication Fellow.

LEAVE THAT SHELL ON THE BEACH AND TAKE A PHOTO INSTEAD : ETHICAL SEA SHELL COLLECTING

Ethical sea shell collecting means:

Leaving any shell that has a living animal alone.

And you may not be able to tell so leave it alone.

Even broken and partial shells are part of the ecosystem.

Some sea creatures will borrow the empty shell of another.

Small fish hide in shells.

Do not buy sea shells by the bag in shops: They have been dredged from the ocean floor which destroys an eco-system. 

It's best not to buy sea shells at all.  You may find some collections for sale or find shells at garage sales and thrift shops, which were found or purchased in the past...

Do not buy plastic reproductions of shells.  Plastic is an overall problem for our environment.

Consider: 

Taking photos of shells to document them.

Draw, paint, or sculpt sea shells.

Pick up sea-polished glass off the beach instead. 

Take anything you bring to the beach back out, recycling bottles and cans and anything else you can.

Join a beach clean-up team for a morning or take some bags with you and fill them up with refuse that other people left behind.

Siren.

THINKING

 

CAN WILDFIRE ASH BE A POSITIVE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ? : HERE'S AN ALTERNATIVE OPINION BASED ON RESEARCH

KCLU ORG : WILDFIRE ASH PROVIDES NUTRIENTS 

Excerpt: Debris and ash created issues for many of the region’s waterways. The first instinct is that it might also be a major form of toxic pollution for the ocean. But, researchers say they’ve discovered ash could actually be beneficial.

"There were metals, which can be good or bad, toxic or beneficial for organisms, and then there were a bunch of nutrients that phytoplankton use to grow," said Tanika Ladd.

In this UC Santa Barbara Current  article it's revealed that the ash and debris could be a positive for the ocean's tiniest creatures but negative for fresh waterways....

NEWS UCSB THOMAS FIRE RESEARCH RESULTS

WRITE A FICTION STORY OR A POEM THAT IS ABOUT THE OCEAN OR INCLUDES THE SEA CREATURES FROM A PARTICULAR PART OF THE OCEAN!

Since it's fictions, you may create a sea creature that may not actually exist!  Maybe there are mermaids.

Yes this writing can be Delicious Fiction!

Be creative!

But perhaps you could do the Science Fact research first and then follow your creativity!

Will you write a graphic novel?

What about illustrating your book!

Add to the extensive literature and poetry that includes the sea!

Siren

CALIFORNIA FIRES : SMOKE HUNDREDS OF MILES OUT OVER THE PACIFIC : IMPACT ON WHALES AND OTHER SEA CREATURES

Yes the smoke and debris in the air eventually settle down onto the earth and into the ocean waters.  Here's am article on the impact from the PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION: PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION : WILDFIRE IMPACTS ON OCEAN AND SEA CREATURES

Excerpt:  OCEAN - A large influx of ash and debris, including metals and chemicals, enters waterways, especially following precipitation.  This massive sediment load smothers the coastal ecosystem, covering coral reefs, resulting in significant habitat loss and, eventually, fish and invertebrate mortality.  The resulting water cloudiness reduces light penetration necessary for plants to conduct photosynthesis.  The influx of run-off, which includes nutrients, and sedimentation can induce harmful algae blooms that deplete oxygen levels and cause fish and other animal die-offs.  Subsequently, ash and debris loads are spread wide by tides, currents, and winds, magnifying their effects though nearshore environments.

CAN FIREFIGHTERS USE OCEAN SALT WATER TO FIGHT THE CALIFORNIA FIRES?

The answer is that they do so, but in desperation, because the salt water is corrosive to equipment and the soil in which the salt water has been dumped is not friendly to plant life.  Some areas where ocean water has been dumped to put out a fire remain barren of plant life for years.  When urban sources for water are used up, fire fighters will use ocean water. 

-Siren

FIND A NONPROFIT IN THIS BLOG - SIREN'S LINK TO SEA - AND GET INVOLVED OR DONATE YOUR TIME OR MONEY

Beach clean-ups, whale counts...

There are dozens of non-profits who are linked to from this blog. 

Read through and find one that you would like to participate in.... do more research to be sure it's the best fit for you!

Do your part as a citizen-activist to be for ocean-ecology and marine environments that support sea creatures!

Siren

SMITHSONIAN'S PICK TEN MOST AWE-INSPIRING SEA CREATURES OF 2024! NEW DISCOVERIES

 What a contest!  Truly unique individuals! An awesome list.

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE : 10 MOST AWE-INSPIRING SEA CREATURE MOMENTS OF 2024

Orcas with salmon hats?  300 year old coral?  Whale in the wrong ocean?  Which of these will awe-inspire YOU?

HAPPY NEW YEAR and WELCOME

HAPPY NEW YEAR and WELCOME 

SIREN'S LINK TO SEA!

is a blog all about the oceans and the creatures who make the ocean home!