BBC EARTH'S OCEAN GIANTS : TERRIFIC! FILM OH MY GOSH!

I borrowed this set from the library, but I want my own!  This two DVD set had the most thrilling exciting film of Whales (all kinds - Killer Whales, Blue Whales, etc) and Dolphins that I have ever seen!

We want to save the whales, that is true, but we do need to understand that they are creatures like no other and not all docile.  In this film we get to see the way Killer Whales work together to kill prey.  We learn that male dolphins swim in packs / gangs and compete for a young female's interest.  Some of what we get to watch was a first for the scientists and photographers involved too! 

This DVD just came out in 2012 so rush to get it!  Honestly!  Luckily I found a couple YouTube videos from the program for you to watch! But then - I tried - something was wrong and they would not embed. One of them is called Whale Wars - Ocean Giants - BBC ONE

TOO MANY JELLY FISH?

I've been reading that there is a JELLY FISH AROUND THE WORLD AND THAT IT'S GLOBAL!  While scientists seem to be not worried, I can't help but wonder how or if this ties in with all the changes in the earth's temperature that is melting ice packs and changing the weather.  Be the changes part of a natural cycle, the earth responding to human use of resources, or something more mysterious, I hope to learn more soon!

GIANT SQUID NEWS! DISCOVER CHANNEL!

On January 9th the breaking news was about a giant (very old)squid, said to be 9 or 10 feet in length, which was videoed.

NPR: FOOTAGE OF GIANT SQUID A REAL TEASER!

KEEP ON KEEPING ON!

I'll be swimming into 2013 real soon!

AQUANAUT JAMES CAMERON FINDS DEEP SEA LIFE

CAMERON FINDS WEIRD DEEP SEA LIFE : LIVE SCIENCE from December 6, 2012  Live Science

...The discovery of microbial mats — bizarre-looking, filament- like clumps of microorganisms — living off chemicals from altered rocks 35,803 feet (10,912 meters) beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean comes from samples and video collected by an unmanned lander, part of movie director James Cameron's mission to the bottom of the Mariana Trench..."

Take a look! 

Siren

RED CRAB

DOGS SWIMMING UNDERWATER : PHOTOGRAPHY BY SETH CASTEEL

  Wow! 

MALE BELUGA WHALE MIMICS HUMAN SONG

LIVE SCIENCE : MALE BELUGA WHALE ARTICLE

Sounds like he's singing ANCHORS AWAY to me!?

Seriously, here is the article from LIVE SCIENCE.  I've been looking for an advertisement-free video so you can hear him sing... This is the best one I foun on Youtube!!

SOLVING DNA OF GREAT WHITE MAY HELP PRESERVE SPECIES

WHOSE YOUR DADDY? GREAT WHITE SHARKS PARENT FOUND  link to Fox News article here!

..."Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are the biggest meat-eating shark in the world, with some reaching more than 20 feet long and weighing more than 5,000 pounds. They hunt in more of the world's seas than any other sharks, ranging across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, from the cold waters near the Antarctic to the tropical waters near the equator, cruising up to 43 miles per hour in pursuit of prey.

Their numbers are rapidly declining worldwide, however, mostly because of accidental entanglement in fishing nets.

''You just really don't get fossil sharks preserved this nicely anywhere in the world.'

- Dana Ehret, a vertebrate paleontologist at Monmouth University

The evolutionary history of the great white has been contested by paleontologists for 150 years. They were originally classified as direct relatives of megatooth sharks such as the extinct Carcharocles megalodon, the largest carnivorous shark that ever lived.

Fossils of a newfound species of shark, Carcharodon hubbelli, suggest the modern great white actually may have descended from broad-toothed mako sharks. Researchers say the newfound species represents a possible midway point in the evolution from one to the other."

THE TRIANGLE : THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE :

Bryan Singer and Dean Devlin present THE TRIANGLE. 

A two DVD set, this is a science fiction "event" with an all star cast that filled my evening with adventure. I settled back on the sofa with some hot chocolate and a big bowl of popcorn and watched without getting up - except to put in the second DVD. 

The special effects were outstanding and the proposition - that time and space are different enough in the Bermuda Triangle that old Spanish ships from hundreds of years ago, World War II fighter planes, and modern ships and planes are all out there somewhere, in some sort of time whirl, highly interesting. 

Tied in with a navy experiment intended to make ships invisible, there is a lot of science fact here that is moved towards science fiction.

In the story a Green Peace whaling vessel in a conflict with a whaler when all are lost or disappeared except for one person who is haunted by the memories.  The trouble is, the group hired by the owner of a huge fleet of cargo ships who has lost multimillion dollar vessels in the Bermuda Triangle, which includes a couple scientists as well as a journalist and a psychic, are, like the surviving Green Peace person, are having visions, hallucinations, memories or projections that are confusing them. 

Featuring Eric Stoltz, Catherine Bell, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bruce Davidson, Micheal Rodgers, Lisa Brenner, Sam Neill, and many other actors, there's a human story along with the fast action.


C 2012 Sirens Link to Sea  All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.

REMEMBER to RECYCLE!

If there is ONE THING THAT YOU CAN DO to help keep the ocean environment healthy, to prevent sea life from dying out, that is RECYCLING, in particular the recycling of PLASTICS!  In past posts of this blog, SIRENS LINK TO SEA, I've linked to sites about THE SEA OF PLASTIC in the PACIFIC OCEAN, which is said to be the SIZE OF TEXAS!

Here is what happens when you throw a bottle or can on the sidewalk or street instead of putting it in a recycling garbage bin or taking it to a local recycling center.  The street sweepers come and brush debris and bottles are moved towards storm drains that lead to the ocean.  (In the case of Los Angeles, this means polluting the Santa Monica Bay!)  Plastics, which float, follow the currents, and end up in the sea of plastic, which, in my opinion, needs to be mined!

Back in the day, people did not carry water to drink with them on a daily basis.  They might take water in a canteen when they went hiking.  I know this may sound unbelievable, but people actually drank plenty of water at home, took beverages to school in thermoses, and no one seemed to be worried about dying from thirst! Maybe the earth is heating up, and maybe we are more aware that we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but glasses do not mean massive containers of soda!  Glasses are about 8 ounces, so that's about 64 ounces of water a day. 

Pure water is hydrating and the best beverage we can drink.  Please do your part and responsibly discard your plastic, aluminum, and glass containers!

Siren

SHARK FINNING (CUTTING OFF FINS FOR SOUP and MEDICINE) KILL 70 MILLION SHARKS A YEAR

SHARK FINNING ARTICLE FROM DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMERATS

  "Fishermen across the globe kill as many as 70 million sharks each year for their fins, which can sell for $700 a pound (450 grams), while the soup prized for Chinese banquets and weddings can cost $100 a bowl. The fin trade has devastated several species including hammerheads, oceanic whitetip, blue, threshers and silky and contributed to 181 shark and ray species being listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as threatened with extinction.
The trade is legal, though efforts are being made to ban the practice of "finning" – hacking the fins off of sharks and throwing the rest overboard, often while they are still alive. Four years ago, under international pressure, the UAE joined the growing number of countries banning the practice.