Crowds thrilled as whales feast on birds

A POD of four killer whales kept a crowd of wildlife watchers entranced for hours on a still afternoon in Shetland on Sunday.

An adult female orca led one immature whale and two even younger whales from the south west tip of Shetland at West Voe round to the east of the islands, swimming up to Mousa Sound where they were last seen in the afternoon as it got dark.

Shetland Wildlife tour operator Hugh Harrop said upwards of 200 people were watching the whales by the afternoon, causing gridlock on the roads in the area as more people heard about their arrival.

Mr Harrop said the most exciting part of the experience was observing the two youngest whales catching small birds, an unusual but not unheard of spectacle.

“We witnessed the two young ones turning on a sixpence, diving and slapping their tails and watched a long tailed duck come to a bitter end. When I got home and downloaded the images I could see there were loads of black guillemots there too,” he said.

“The youngest whales were certainly hunting birds, which is unusual but not unknown in Shetland where there have been at least two documented cases.”

He suggested it was probably play rather than hunger that brought about such behaviour. “Pretty much anything marine is on their diet,” he added.

Killer whales are regular visitors to Shetland waters and Mr Harrop said he would be sending details of this latest sighting to Dr Andy Foote of the North Atlantic Killer Whale ID (NAKID) Project to add to the growing information base on these creatures.

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 http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/2969-crowds-thrilled-as-whales-feast-on-birds.html

Rare stingray caught off Shetland

A specimen of the Violet or Pelagic stingray, Pteroplatytrygon violacea, has been caught by fishermen in the Shetland Isles.

The crew of the Guardian Angell hauled their nets near Whalfirth, at the north end of Yell Sound, Shetland when they noticed the ray still alive among the catch.

Realising that the fish was unusual, they took it to the nearby NAFC Marine Centre at Scalloway, Shetland where they confirmed that it was not the already rare locally common stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca but in fact the most northerly recorded catch of a Violet stingray.

The fish was a female, measuring 55cm from wing tip to wing tip, 47cm in body length and the total length including tail,(which was partly missing) was 112cm.

The Violet stingray gets its common name from its purplish colouration which is unusually on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the fish.

Possibly uniquely among stingrays, these fish swim in the middle of the water column rather than near or on the sea bed, feeding on jellyfish, squid, crustaceans and fish. They are more typically resident of tropical and sub-tropical waters and are distributed worldwide.

Bob Mehen
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=3280

Rare stingray caught off Shetland

A specimen of the Violet or Pelagic stingray, Pteroplatytrygon violacea, has been caught by fishermen in the Shetland Isles.

The crew of the Guardian Angell hauled their nets near Whalfirth, at the north end of Yell Sound, Shetland when they noticed the ray still alive among the catch.

Realising that the fish was unusual, they took it to the nearby NAFC Marine Centre at Scalloway, Shetland where they confirmed that it was not the already rare locally common stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca but in fact the most northerly recorded catch of a Violet stingray.

The fish was a female, measuring 55cm from wing tip to wing tip, 47cm in body length and the total length including tail,(which was partly missing) was 112cm.

The Violet stingray gets its common name from its purplish colouration which is unusually on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the fish.

Possibly uniquely among stingrays, these fish swim in the middle of the water column rather than near or on the sea bed, feeding on jellyfish, squid, crustaceans and fish. They are more typically resident of tropical and sub-tropical waters and are distributed worldwide.

Bob Mehen
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=3280