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”. ...

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

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION TICKING TIME BOMB : SEA LIFE CRISIS

THE GUARDIAN : SEA ACIDITY CRISIS TICKING TIMEBOMB 

Excerpt: It found that by 2020 the average ocean condition worldwide was already very close to – and in some regions beyond – the planetary boundary for ocean acidification. This is defined as when the concentration of calcium carbonate in seawater is more than 20% below preindustrial levels.

The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said. At 200 metres below the surface, 60% of global waters had breached the “safe” limit for acidification.

“Most ocean life doesn’t just live at the surface,” said PML’s Prof Helen Findlay. “The waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals. Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought.”

Siren here: Animals and plants cannot live in acidic waters.

DIVER SWIMS IN SEA FULL OF PLASTIC POLLUTION

Diver Rich Horner  Excerpt: Diver Rich Horner has captured video of himself swimming through water densely strewn with plastic waste and yellowing food wrappers, with the occasional tropical fish darting around.

The footage was shot at a dive site called Manta Point, a cleaning station for the large rays on the island of Nusa Penida, about 20km from the popular Indonesian holiday island of Bali. 'Plastic, plastic, plastic': British diver films sea of rubbish off Bali

OARFISH : DO THEY REALLY APPEAR BEFORE A NATURAL DISASTER?

THE GUARDIAN : OARFISH - SAN DIEGO   "Group finds elusive deep sea fish that has washed up in California only twenty times since 1901."

Excerpt: Oarfish have long, ribbon-shaped bodies, and can grow longer than 20 feet (6 meters).  They typically live in an area of the deep sea called the mesopelagic zone, where light cannot reach, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA has described the fish as "strange and mysterious" creatures that scientists know little about.

Oarfish are sometimes called doomsday fish due to their mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters and earth quakes.

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Siren here!  We have earthquakes each and every day all around the earth... We know this because of the technology that can sense them.  Most are adjustments to the earth's crust that are of little consequence to humans.  But what usually happens when a deep sea fish dies?  How is it that this fish made it to the surface of the ocean intact?

MIAMI SEA AQUARIUM's ORCA TOKITAE DEAD : THEY THOUGHT TO RETURN HER TO THE OCEAN BUT SHE DIED BEFORE SHE COULD GO BACK TO THE PACIFIC AND SEATTLE

THE GUARDIAN : ORCA DEAD After half a century in captivity, Tokitae the performing orca could finally go home   WELL SHE DIED BEFORE THEY COULD THROW HER BACK IN THE OCEAN....

SEATTLE TIMES : TOKITAE DEAD  See her performing in the photo.

She was one of very many whales that were captured with the desire to make them into performers.  Many of them died in the capture.... 

UGLY FISH MORE LIKELY TO BECOME EXTINCT BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE COLORFUL AND FANCY ONES

THE GUARDIAN : THE REEF FISH PEOPLE FIND UGLY MORE LIKELY TO BE ENDANGERED 

Basically, people like colorful fish.

Excerpt:  "There is a need for us to make sure that our 'natural' aesthetic biases do not turn into a bias of conservation effort," said Nicolas Mouquet, a community ecologist at the University of Montpellier, and one of the lead authors of the study.  This discrepancy between aesthetic value and extinction vulnerability could have repercussions in the long run, he said.