PINK MEANIES - FLOATING COTTON CANDY? THESE JELLY FISH WASH ASHORE - THEY CAN HAVE 70 FOOT TENTACLES and THEY STING

HART RESEARCH ORG

Excerpt:

The Gulf is the ninth-largest body of water in the world. It’s more than twice as big as Texas. But its vast scale isn’t the only thing that makes it significant. The Gulf is a laboratory to explore all the big challenges facing our oceans today.

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CBS : PINK MEANIE JELLY FISH GULF OF MEXICO

They eat moon jellies!

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In 2011 they were identified as a new species.... They can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, South Africa...

S.S UNITED STATES WILL BE SUNK TO BECOME ARTIFICIAL REEF : MORE THAN 4,300 ARTIFICIAL REEFS OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA

SCIENCE FRIDAY : S.S. UNITED STATES TO BE ARTIFICIAL REEF 

Excerpt:  This week, after a notable career, the SS United States, a 1950s ocean liner, took her sunset cruise. Like many retirees, the ship is heading south—from Philadelphia to Florida—where she’ll be reinventing herself. In this next chapter, the SS United States will have new passengers: fish and other marine creatures. The ship will be sunk to the bottom of the sea and turned into an artificial reef, joining more than 4300 artificial reefs off the coast of Florida.

NBCPHILADELPHIA : S.S.UNITED STATES ARRIVES IN ALABAMA (DETAILED REPORT ON THE PLAN)

Excerpt:  “In the spirit of her record-breaking history, America’s Flagship concluded her journey from Philadelphia to Mobile faster than anticipated. As she moved through the waves for the first time in 28 years, countless onlookers and admirers along the country’s eastern seaboard were inspired by her majesty and beauty," said SS United States Conservancy president Susan Gibbs in a statement on the ship's 401st voyage.

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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!

RARE SEA TURTLE LAYS 84 EGGS ON BEACH IN TEXAS: GALVESTON ISLAND STATE PARK : KEMPS RIDLEY SEA TURLE

HOUSTON CHRONICAL : RIDLEY SEA TURTLE WORLDS RAREST TURTLE LAYS EGGS  

For the second year in a row, a female Kemps Ridley sea turtle, the smallest of sea turtles that is critically endangered, showed up on a beach at Galveston Island State beach ad laid eggs.  The turtle laying eggs was spotted by a volunteer who works with the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research which is associated with Texas A and M University. Sea turtles usually leave the eggs and go back to sea.  The eggs were collected and taken to Padre Island National Seashore for hatching and release.

AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE AQUARIUM NEW ORLEANS

AUDUBONN NATURE INSTITUTE - AQUARIUM  includes sea animals of the Gulf of Mexico and a South African Penguin colony..

GULF OF MEXICO LITTERED WITH CIGARETTE BUTTS and PLASTIC BOTTLES

MARINE DEBRIS NOAA:  Read all about the program of debris removal and the partners.

EXCERPT: Marine debris in the Gulf of Mexico ranges from large concentrations of litter ( i.e. cigarette butts and plastic bottles) that find their way through the storm drains to the beaches to large 190 foot derelict vessels that disturb marshes and seagrass habitats.  The NOAA Marine Debris Program aims to prevent and reduce marine debris in the Gulf of Mexico thorough education, research, removal, and response to large debris events. ...

TWELVE FOOT LONG GIANT SQUID CAPTURED ON FILM in GULF OF MEXICO

NEWSWEEK - RARE VIDEO OF 12 FOOT LONG GIANT SQUID by Aristos Georgiou 

The Medusa Camera System which uses red light in dark waters that won't scare the creatures was used.

EXCERPT: "You feel very alive, " Nathan Robinson, one of the scientists aboard the expedition said in a statement, describing the moment that he saw the footage.  "There's something instinctual about these animals that captures the imagination of everyone - the wonder that there are these huge animals out there on our planet that we know so little about, and that we've only caught on camera a couple of times."

GLOW IN THE DARK SHARK IS TINY and NEWLY DISCOVERED

SMITHSONIAN: TINY SHARK SPECIES by Brigit Katz

It may look like a tiny WHALE but it's a SHARK and it GLOWS IN THE DARK!

EXCERPT: The animal stretches just five and a half inches long and because of its bulbous head, looks a bit like a tiny whale,  It has rows of small but sharp teeth, and like the 1979 specimen (which proved to be a different creature) two small pockets that produce a luminous fluid - a feature that may aid in attracting prey or eluding predators," according to the authors of the new study...

EYELESS SHRIMP? SEA CREATURES APPEAR TO BE SICK FROM BP PETROLEUM SPILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

Petroleum spilled and there were chemicals in use to "clean up." We've been assured by British Petroleum that this disaster wouldn't have long term effects.

won't cut and paste...PACIFIC FREE PRESS STORY ON SHRIMP AND SEAMONSTERS IN THE GULF

BP GULF OIL SPILL A KILLER - LINK TO DISCOVERY NEWS UPDATE

"McKinney said he believes that as a result, the oil spill may have increased the size of the so-called "dead zone" of oxygen-starved water off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. Much of the dead zone -- which is toxic to all marine life -- is caused by agricultural runoff from Midwest farms flowing out the Mississippi River."

4th of JULY HOLIDAY UNITED STATES

We are officially into SUMMER here and the 4th of July is our most patriotic holiday. We the people of the United States need to think about our ecology and how we can as individuals have impact on a problem that's been getting worse for years, and is now even more horrible because of the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico... WATER as we know travels all around the world, making this spill a WORLD WIDE ISSUE!

BAILEY MATTHEWS SHELL MUSEUM focuses on GULF COAST SHELLS and MOLLUSKS

Here's the link to a SEA SHELL and MOLLUSK MUSEUM in Florida that focuses on the sea creatures of the GULF OF MEXICO.

Now we would suggest that if you go to a beach to clean up and you find some washed up shells that you ASK someone - a teacher or the director of the clean up effort what you should do if you find sea shells. The scientists may want to study these rather than let you take them home.

REMEMBER THAT A GOOD SEA SHELL COLLECTOR ALWAYS identifies not only the shell, but the location it was found and the date.

AUDUBON INSTITUTE and Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program

Be a good mermaid and check out this site because it's about how we are trying to rescue the sea turtles that are dying - congested with oil.

"The Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program (LMMSTRP) is a volunteer organization based out of Audubon Aquarium of the America in New Orleans. Funded in part through the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Prescott Grant Program, this project rescues, cares for and relocates injured, ill or out-of-habitat marine mammals and sea turtles."

WHEREVER THERE ARE BEACHES some MARINE life is going to come ashore dying or dead. There are other organizations in which volunteers come to the aid of these creatures.

NEW YORK TIMES reports THE GULF OF MEXICO OIL DISASTER LARGER THAN THOUGHT

Link now to this New York Times article that explains that instead of 1000 barrels of oil escaping into the sea it's more like 5000.


Sea Turtles and other dead sea creatures are washing ashore.

TELL THE SCIENTISTS HOW TO STOP THE OIL LEAK IN THE GULF

This is the best we can do! The scientists don't know how to cap the disastrous oil spill that you have probably seen on TV or the Internet every night. THIS IS THE LINK TO SUBMIT YOUR ORIGINAL IDEAS. Don't be shy!

Your "crazy" idea may just work!

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION on the OIL SPILL CLEAN UP

Here's the link to the National Wildlife Federation.... CAN YOU HELP CLEAN UP THE BEACHES and the wild life - the plants and animals that are being destroyed?

GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL KILLING MARINE LIFE

Dolphins and other sea life killed by oil in the Gulf of Mexico, after a undersea well sprung a leak, are washing ashore... that's according to the reading on line that I've been doing these last few days. It makes me very sad, because it seems like there is no way to easily stop millions and millions of gallons of oil from spewing...

I often wonder if all that oil is not the earth's lubricant... if we use it all up will it stop softening the blow of earthquakes or is that why there have also been so many very big earthquakes this year?