Marine risk from skeleton fighting shrimp

A crustacean branded a 'skeletal alien invader' could be threatening New Zealand's marine biodiversity, marine scientists say.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has issued a warning about the spread of skeleton shrimps called Caprella mutica in New Zealand waters.

In a statement it said the crustaceans were migrating around the country by attaching themselves to boat hulls or drifting algae.

They had recently spread to southern waters including around Dunedin, Bluff and Lyttelton Harbour and could pose a risk to other marine life.

NIWA biosecurity scientist Dr Chris Woods said the shrimps, known as the "praying mantis of the sea", would colonise artificial structures - sometimes appearing in huge densities on anchored buoys, fish cages, wharves and vessel hulls.

"Boat owners are saying to us, 'what are these waving things all over the hulls of our boats?' when they slip their craft and discover the hull alive with movement."

"The males often have big fights with each other, it's like seeing swinging handbags at dawn."

He urged boaties to be vigilant for the "marine invaders" and keep their vessels clean.

"It will likely spread to most areas of marine human activity throughout New Zealand in the near future, so please take care this summer when transporting your boat between different areas."

Caprella mutica was first detected by NIWA in the Port of Timaru in 2002.

They grow to 50 mm in length and are known for holding their enlarged claws in a mantis-like pose.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10783905

Claw Machines In St. Paul Bars Boast Live Lobsters

May 5, 2011 5:02 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The claw machines in two St. Paul bars boast something quite different than the typical stuffed animal — they’ve got live lobsters.

For $2 a pop, customers at Shamrocks Grill and Pub can try their hand at winning their very own lobster. If they do, the kitchen staff cooks it for them and serves it with broccoli and bread.

But Minnesota Public Radio reports that can quickly turn into $20, as the lobsters are difficult to catch.

There’s another one at Tiffany Sports Lounge in St. Paul, and the distributor has plans for two more, including one at Burrito Loco in Minneapolis.

Although similar operations have drawn complaints from animal rights groups in other states, distributor Cliff Hentz said they’re treated no differently than the lobsters at Red Lobster.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/05/05/claw-machines-in-st-paul-bars-boast-live-lobsters/

Motor boat turbulence kills zooplankton in estuaries

Tuesday, 19 April 2011 09:32 UK
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

Turbulence generated by speeding motor boats kills significant numbers of zooplankton, a study has revealed for the first time.

Experiments on copepods, tiny crustaceans that live and float in water, show that a third die in waters frequented by propeller-driven boats.

That is significantly more than in bodies of water not used by boats.

Zooplankton play a crucial role in water ecology and their death may have hitherto unknown impacts.

Details of the discovery are published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.

"A number of studies have been performed that looked at the impacts of much smaller scale turbulence on zooplankton," said Samantha Bickel, a PhD student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point, US.

"But to my knowledge, no one had explored the idea that the intense turbulence generated by boats could have an adverse impact on zooplankton."

These prior studies had showed that even a small amount of turbulence can affect a copepod's ability to feed and grow.

So "it seemed intuitive that the sudden and intense turbulence created by a boat could harm or even kill copepods".

With colleagues Kam Tang, and Joseph Hammond of Hampton University, Virginia, US, Ms Bickel conducted experiments to test whether that was the case.

The researchers stained the copepods using a dye, which colours live animals red, while dead ones remain unstained.

That allowed them to quickly identify how many were alive and how many were dead in each sample.

"Regions with high boat traffic exhibited a higher occurrence of copepod carcasses," Ms Bickel told BBC News.

For example, 34% of copepods were dead in a channel while only 5-6% were dead in a marina and along a shoreline.

More copepod carcasses were found inside boat wakes (14%) than outside boat wakes (7%) and the fraction of dead copepods increased with increasing turbulence intensity.

"This suggests that turbulence generated by boats can be an important source of mortality among copepods," Ms Bickel said.

"This could have a number of important impacts within aquatic systems."

Zooplankton are a critical link between phytoplankton and fish in aquatic food webs.

High mortality in copepods could reduce the ability of a zooplankton population to graze down phytoplankton blooms and reduce the amount of food available to smaller fish that eat zooplankton, says Ms Bickel.

Also, if copepod carcasses are not consumed, they could transport high quality organic materials to the sediments or be decomposed by bacteria within the water column, she adds.

"So the zooplankton biomass that would normally go towards feeding fish would be diverted to feed bacteria instead."

The scientists have not yet been able to establish how many boats might cause a problem, and much would depend on their size and speed, which have a large effect on the turbulence they create.

"When viewed at a global scale, the portion of zooplankton killed by boat-generated turbulence is probably minimal," she says.

However, turbulence could have a significant impact on zooplankton, and therefore water ecology, at a local scale.

This may be particularly so in areas of high boat traffic and in closed freshwater systems such as lakes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9449000/9449070.stm
(Via Dawn Holloway)

Researchers discover giant crayfish species right under their noses

The "bearded" setae on the antennae, bright red highlights and
aquamarine tail fins add to the distinctiveness of the new species,
Barbicambarus simmonsi. Photo courtesy of Carl Williams

19 Jan 2011

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —Two aquatic biologists have proven that you don't have to travel to exotic locales to search for unusual new species. They discovered a distinctive species of crayfish in Tennessee and Alabama that is at least twice the size of its competitors. Its closest genetic relative, once thought to be the only species in its genus and discovered in 1884 about 130 miles away in Kentucky, can grow almost as big as a lobster.

The researchers found their first specimen under one of the biggest rocks in the deepest part of a creek that has been a (literal) stomping ground for aquatic biologists for at least half a century. The new species is described in a paper in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

The new crayfish belongs to the genus Barbicambarus, which in addition to being big is very distinctive. Most notably, Barbicambarus have unusual "bearded" antennae; the antennae are covered with a luxurious fringe of tiny, hair-like bristles, called setae, which enhance their sensory function.

"This isn't a crayfish that someone would have picked up and just said, 'Oh, it's another crayfish,' and put it back," said University of Illinois aquatic biologist Chris Taylor, the curator of crustaceans at the Illinois Natural History Survey and a co-discoverer of the new species with Eastern Kentucky University biological sciences professor Guenter Schuster. "If you were an aquatic biologist and you had seen this thing, because of the size and the setae on the antennae, you would have recognized it as something really, really different and you would have saved it."

The new species, Barbicambarus simmonsi (left) is more than twice the
size of a typical crayfish found in Shoal Creek (which drains into the
Tennessee River) -- and yet generations of aquatic biologists who
frequented the area somehow missed it. Photo: L. Brian Stauffer

Schuster first learned of the crayfish in 2009 when a colleague forwarded photos from a man who had seen the animal in Shoal Creek, a stream in southern Tennessee that ultimately drains into the Tennessee River. Schuster immediately recognized it as a member of the genus Barbicambarus, and sent the photos to Taylor, his longtime collaborator.

Both men suspected that this was a wayward member of the originally discovered species, Barbicambarus cornutus. B. cornutus had never been seen that far south, but the researchers knew that crayfish have been moved great distances in the bait buckets of itinerant fishermen or by those interested in commercially rearing crayfishes.

"I was leaning to the easiest explanation," Taylor said.

"Me too," said Schuster. "That's been going on for 50 years in the U.S., moving species around, so it would not be a surprise if that was the case."

The researchers contacted a colleague in Tennessee, who told them that a scientist with the Tennessee Valley Authority, Jeffrey Simmons, had collected a crayfish that looked like the one in the photo – "just a couple of miles from where the original photograph we had gotten was taken," Schuster said.

That was enough to spur a hastily organized field trip to Shoal Creek.

With two other biologists, Taylor and Schuster scoured the creek for more specimens. After two hours of turning over boulders and kicking up the sediment to flush the crayfish into their seine, the researchers had found nothing out of the ordinary.

"We had worked so hard and long that we were ready to give up and find another site," Schuster said. "And we saw this big flat boulder underneath a bridge and so we said, 'OK. Let's flip this rock, just for the heck of it; this will be our last one.' And sure enough, that's where we got the first specimen." It was a big male, about twice the size of any other crayfish they had seen that day. And it had the characteristic bearded setae.

The researchers found only two specimens that day, a very small haul for nearly three hours of work. The second specimen, a female, was under a large, flat boulder that was too big for one man to lift alone in the current.

This region of Shoal Creek, where the new species was found, has been
a hotspot for crayfish and the biologists who study them. Photo: Guenter Schuster

In the lab, Schuster quickly realized that the physical characteristics of the new crayfish differed in significant ways from those of B. cornutus. Taylor took tissue samples and compared the specimens' DNA to that of B. cornutus.

"And the DNA said just what the morphology said: This thing is pretty different," Taylor said.

And rare. The researchers made several more trips to the area before they were able to collect enough specimens to confirm what they already suspected: The giant crayfish of Shoal Creek was a new species.

They named it Barbicambarus simmonsi, in honor of the TVA scientist who had collected the first specimen.
Later trips to the region confirmed that B. simmonsi was also present in the southern reaches of Shoal Creek, just north of where it drains into the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama.

Most people are shocked to learn that there are about 600 species of crayfish in the world, Taylor said, with more than half of those occurring north of Mexico. Alabama and Tennessee are hotspots of crayfish diversity, he said.

The discovery of a new species of crayfish in itself is not unusual, the researchers said. About two new species of crayfish are found every year in the U.S. But the discovery of a large, distinctive new species in a region that had been studied for decades is quite astounding, they said.

"We looked at museum collections around the country," Taylor said. "There were no specimens in there masquerading under a different species name. No one had found this thing and called it B. cornutus. This thing had not been seen by scientific eyes until last year."

The fact that a distinct species was overlooked for so long indicates that studies of species diversity in the U.S. are not getting adequate resources, Schuster said.

"We spend millions of dollars every year on federal grants to send biologists to the Amazon, to Southeast Asia – all over the world looking for and studying the biodiversity of those regions," Schuster said. "But the irony is that there's very little money that is actually spent in our own country to do the same thing. And there are still lots of areas right here in the U.S. that need to be explored."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/uoia-rdg011911.php 
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

See also: http://io9.com/5738051/legendary-giant-crayfish-species-discovered-in-tennessee

Researchers discover giant crayfish species right under their noses

The "bearded" setae on the antennae, bright red highlights and
aquamarine tail fins add to the distinctiveness of the new species,
Barbicambarus simmonsi. Photo courtesy of Carl Williams

19 Jan 2011

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —Two aquatic biologists have proven that you don't have to travel to exotic locales to search for unusual new species. They discovered a distinctive species of crayfish in Tennessee and Alabama that is at least twice the size of its competitors. Its closest genetic relative, once thought to be the only species in its genus and discovered in 1884 about 130 miles away in Kentucky, can grow almost as big as a lobster.

The researchers found their first specimen under one of the biggest rocks in the deepest part of a creek that has been a (literal) stomping ground for aquatic biologists for at least half a century. The new species is described in a paper in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

The new crayfish belongs to the genus Barbicambarus, which in addition to being big is very distinctive. Most notably, Barbicambarus have unusual "bearded" antennae; the antennae are covered with a luxurious fringe of tiny, hair-like bristles, called setae, which enhance their sensory function.

"This isn't a crayfish that someone would have picked up and just said, 'Oh, it's another crayfish,' and put it back," said University of Illinois aquatic biologist Chris Taylor, the curator of crustaceans at the Illinois Natural History Survey and a co-discoverer of the new species with Eastern Kentucky University biological sciences professor Guenter Schuster. "If you were an aquatic biologist and you had seen this thing, because of the size and the setae on the antennae, you would have recognized it as something really, really different and you would have saved it."

The new species, Barbicambarus simmonsi (left) is more than twice the
size of a typical crayfish found in Shoal Creek (which drains into the
Tennessee River) -- and yet generations of aquatic biologists who
frequented the area somehow missed it. Photo: L. Brian Stauffer

Schuster first learned of the crayfish in 2009 when a colleague forwarded photos from a man who had seen the animal in Shoal Creek, a stream in southern Tennessee that ultimately drains into the Tennessee River. Schuster immediately recognized it as a member of the genus Barbicambarus, and sent the photos to Taylor, his longtime collaborator.

Both men suspected that this was a wayward member of the originally discovered species, Barbicambarus cornutus. B. cornutus had never been seen that far south, but the researchers knew that crayfish have been moved great distances in the bait buckets of itinerant fishermen or by those interested in commercially rearing crayfishes.

"I was leaning to the easiest explanation," Taylor said.

"Me too," said Schuster. "That's been going on for 50 years in the U.S., moving species around, so it would not be a surprise if that was the case."

The researchers contacted a colleague in Tennessee, who told them that a scientist with the Tennessee Valley Authority, Jeffrey Simmons, had collected a crayfish that looked like the one in the photo – "just a couple of miles from where the original photograph we had gotten was taken," Schuster said.

That was enough to spur a hastily organized field trip to Shoal Creek.

With two other biologists, Taylor and Schuster scoured the creek for more specimens. After two hours of turning over boulders and kicking up the sediment to flush the crayfish into their seine, the researchers had found nothing out of the ordinary.

"We had worked so hard and long that we were ready to give up and find another site," Schuster said. "And we saw this big flat boulder underneath a bridge and so we said, 'OK. Let's flip this rock, just for the heck of it; this will be our last one.' And sure enough, that's where we got the first specimen." It was a big male, about twice the size of any other crayfish they had seen that day. And it had the characteristic bearded setae.

The researchers found only two specimens that day, a very small haul for nearly three hours of work. The second specimen, a female, was under a large, flat boulder that was too big for one man to lift alone in the current.

This region of Shoal Creek, where the new species was found, has been
a hotspot for crayfish and the biologists who study them. Photo: Guenter Schuster

In the lab, Schuster quickly realized that the physical characteristics of the new crayfish differed in significant ways from those of B. cornutus. Taylor took tissue samples and compared the specimens' DNA to that of B. cornutus.

"And the DNA said just what the morphology said: This thing is pretty different," Taylor said.

And rare. The researchers made several more trips to the area before they were able to collect enough specimens to confirm what they already suspected: The giant crayfish of Shoal Creek was a new species.

They named it Barbicambarus simmonsi, in honor of the TVA scientist who had collected the first specimen.
Later trips to the region confirmed that B. simmonsi was also present in the southern reaches of Shoal Creek, just north of where it drains into the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama.

Most people are shocked to learn that there are about 600 species of crayfish in the world, Taylor said, with more than half of those occurring north of Mexico. Alabama and Tennessee are hotspots of crayfish diversity, he said.

The discovery of a new species of crayfish in itself is not unusual, the researchers said. About two new species of crayfish are found every year in the U.S. But the discovery of a large, distinctive new species in a region that had been studied for decades is quite astounding, they said.

"We looked at museum collections around the country," Taylor said. "There were no specimens in there masquerading under a different species name. No one had found this thing and called it B. cornutus. This thing had not been seen by scientific eyes until last year."

The fact that a distinct species was overlooked for so long indicates that studies of species diversity in the U.S. are not getting adequate resources, Schuster said.

"We spend millions of dollars every year on federal grants to send biologists to the Amazon, to Southeast Asia – all over the world looking for and studying the biodiversity of those regions," Schuster said. "But the irony is that there's very little money that is actually spent in our own country to do the same thing. And there are still lots of areas right here in the U.S. that need to be explored."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/uoia-rdg011911.php 
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

See also: http://io9.com/5738051/legendary-giant-crayfish-species-discovered-in-tennessee

It's the Aflockalypse: More mass animal deaths see thousands of fish found floating in Florida and 200 birds dead on Texas bridge

By Wil Longbottom
Last updated at 1:54 PM on 6th January 2011

• Thousands of fish found floating in Florida after cold snap
• 200 birds found dead on highway bridge in Texas
• 50 dead jackdaws found on city street in Sweden
• 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish wash up dead on Brazilian coast
• Hundreds of fish dead in New Zealand
• And in Britain, 40,000 devil crabs join list of casualties

More and more animals are being found dead as the mysterious spate of mass bird and fish deaths has turned into a global phenomenon.

The latest two separate incidents saw thousands of fish found floating in a creek in Florida and 200 birds found dead on a highway bridge in Texas.

Experts were yesterday carrying out tests on around 50 jackdaws found dead in a street in Falkoping, Sweden, that appear to have suffered the same fate as thousands of their cousins who fell from the sky in separate incidents in the U.S.

Swedish experts have said the shock of fireworks being let off near the city, in the south-east of the country, and difficulty finding food may have led to the deaths of the jackdaws.

Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over by vehicles while disoriented.

And scientists have also been left baffled by at least 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish washing up dead along the Brazil coastline near Paranaguá.

There were more fish deaths reported today in New Zealand, while in England, the carcasses of 40,000 devil crabs are strewn across a beach in Kent.

Hundreds of dead starlings and robins were found scattered in backyards in the Kentucky town of Gilbertsville while an estimated two million dead fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

They are the latest in a spate of incidents which are being blamed on New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning.

The internet has been abuzz with conspiracy theories about secret government experiments being behind the deaths, or it being a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.

The mass deaths include:

• 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
• Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
• Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
• Tens of thousands of small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
• Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
• Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
• Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge

Tests are being carried out on the dead animals, but results are not expected for several weeks.

Thousands of Brazilian fishermen are struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered dead in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.

Experts have speculated that cold weather or chemical leaks could be behind the deaths.

Edmir Manoel Ferreira, president of the Federation of Fishermen's Colony of Parana, said the deaths had been discovered since Thursday last week.

'On Thursday we began to find a lot of dead fish. One community had to bury 15 tons alone.

'We are experiencing a very sad situation on the coast.'

Samples of the dead fish have been sent to the Centre for Marine Studies at the Universidade Federal do Parana.

One of the latest incidents saw thousands of fish found rotting and floating in Spruce Creek, Florida, after a period of cold weather.

Mullet, ladyfish and catfish have been washing up as winds cause the carcasses to gather on bends along the creek.

And 200 birds were found dead on a highway bridge crossing Lake O' the Pines in Big Cypress Creek, Texas.

Experts believed the birds had been hit by passing vehicles while walking or apparently trying to roost on the bridge.

The cold weather in Britain has also been blamed for the deaths of 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs - also known as 'devil' crabs - found littering beaches in Thanet.

Last year, the Environment Agency set up an inquiry into unexplained numbers of deaths amid fears a mystery virus could be to blame.

But it concluded the crab deaths were linked to the cold weather.

Tony Childs, Thanet Coast Project Manager, said: 'We had a crash in numbers last year and we hadn't expected such a large population.

'As happens with the circle of life in nature, we expect the crabs to be naturally dispersed from our shores very quickly by our local seagulls.

'We are hopeful the crab population will soon recover.'

Scientists blamed fireworks for confusing blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas, with then crashed into homes, cars and each other as people celebrated the New Year.

Another 450 birds were also found dead along a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They are believed to have hit power lines after becoming disoriented.

Fifty of the creatures were found near a power line 30ft from Louisiana Highway 1. A second group was discovered stretched from the power line across the highway just a quarter of a mile away.

Dan Cristol, a biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies, said the Louisiana birds may have been ill or startled from their roost before hitting the power line.

'They don't hit a power line for no reason,' he said.

New Year's revellers spent the holiday weekend cleaning up dead red-winged blackbirds in Beebe. Some blamed the bad weather, while others said one confused bird could have led the group into a fatal plunge.

Experts in Beebe said fireworks may have caused frightened birds to fly lower than normal, where they crashed into homes and other objects.

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said: 'The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level.

'Blackbirds have poor eyesight and they started colliding with things.'

Wildlife officials in both Arkansas and Louisiana have sent the carcasses to researchers at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and the University of Georgia.

In 1999, several thousand grackle birds fell from the sky and staggered around before dying in north Louisiana.

It took five months to get the diagnosis - an E. coli infection of the air sacs in their skulls.

It comes after 100,000 drum fish were discovered in the Arkansas River, just 100 miles from Beebe.

Officials said the deaths were not related to the birds, and they had likely been affected by illness as it was one species.

They blame the deaths - affecting menhaden, spots and croakers - on the stress of cold water.

Tens of thousands of small fish have also been discovered dead in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

Another explanation was that violent thunderstorms may have disoriented the flock.

Red-winged blackbirds are among North America's most abundant birds, with somewhere between 100million and 200million nationwide, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.

A few grackles and a couple of starlings were also among the dead. Those species roost with blackbirds, particularly in winter.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344345/Animal-death-mystery-Jackdaws-Sweden-fish-Brazil-New-Zealand-crabs-England.html

It's the Aflockalypse: More mass animal deaths see thousands of fish found floating in Florida and 200 birds dead on Texas bridge

By Wil Longbottom
Last updated at 1:54 PM on 6th January 2011

• Thousands of fish found floating in Florida after cold snap
• 200 birds found dead on highway bridge in Texas
• 50 dead jackdaws found on city street in Sweden
• 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish wash up dead on Brazilian coast
• Hundreds of fish dead in New Zealand
• And in Britain, 40,000 devil crabs join list of casualties

More and more animals are being found dead as the mysterious spate of mass bird and fish deaths has turned into a global phenomenon.

The latest two separate incidents saw thousands of fish found floating in a creek in Florida and 200 birds found dead on a highway bridge in Texas.

Experts were yesterday carrying out tests on around 50 jackdaws found dead in a street in Falkoping, Sweden, that appear to have suffered the same fate as thousands of their cousins who fell from the sky in separate incidents in the U.S.

Swedish experts have said the shock of fireworks being let off near the city, in the south-east of the country, and difficulty finding food may have led to the deaths of the jackdaws.

Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over by vehicles while disoriented.

And scientists have also been left baffled by at least 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish washing up dead along the Brazil coastline near Paranaguá.

There were more fish deaths reported today in New Zealand, while in England, the carcasses of 40,000 devil crabs are strewn across a beach in Kent.

Hundreds of dead starlings and robins were found scattered in backyards in the Kentucky town of Gilbertsville while an estimated two million dead fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

They are the latest in a spate of incidents which are being blamed on New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning.

The internet has been abuzz with conspiracy theories about secret government experiments being behind the deaths, or it being a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.

The mass deaths include:

• 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
• Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
• Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
• Tens of thousands of small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
• Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
• Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
• Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge

Tests are being carried out on the dead animals, but results are not expected for several weeks.

Thousands of Brazilian fishermen are struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered dead in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.

Experts have speculated that cold weather or chemical leaks could be behind the deaths.

Edmir Manoel Ferreira, president of the Federation of Fishermen's Colony of Parana, said the deaths had been discovered since Thursday last week.

'On Thursday we began to find a lot of dead fish. One community had to bury 15 tons alone.

'We are experiencing a very sad situation on the coast.'

Samples of the dead fish have been sent to the Centre for Marine Studies at the Universidade Federal do Parana.

One of the latest incidents saw thousands of fish found rotting and floating in Spruce Creek, Florida, after a period of cold weather.

Mullet, ladyfish and catfish have been washing up as winds cause the carcasses to gather on bends along the creek.

And 200 birds were found dead on a highway bridge crossing Lake O' the Pines in Big Cypress Creek, Texas.

Experts believed the birds had been hit by passing vehicles while walking or apparently trying to roost on the bridge.

The cold weather in Britain has also been blamed for the deaths of 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs - also known as 'devil' crabs - found littering beaches in Thanet.

Last year, the Environment Agency set up an inquiry into unexplained numbers of deaths amid fears a mystery virus could be to blame.

But it concluded the crab deaths were linked to the cold weather.

Tony Childs, Thanet Coast Project Manager, said: 'We had a crash in numbers last year and we hadn't expected such a large population.

'As happens with the circle of life in nature, we expect the crabs to be naturally dispersed from our shores very quickly by our local seagulls.

'We are hopeful the crab population will soon recover.'

Scientists blamed fireworks for confusing blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas, with then crashed into homes, cars and each other as people celebrated the New Year.

Another 450 birds were also found dead along a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They are believed to have hit power lines after becoming disoriented.

Fifty of the creatures were found near a power line 30ft from Louisiana Highway 1. A second group was discovered stretched from the power line across the highway just a quarter of a mile away.

Dan Cristol, a biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies, said the Louisiana birds may have been ill or startled from their roost before hitting the power line.

'They don't hit a power line for no reason,' he said.

New Year's revellers spent the holiday weekend cleaning up dead red-winged blackbirds in Beebe. Some blamed the bad weather, while others said one confused bird could have led the group into a fatal plunge.

Experts in Beebe said fireworks may have caused frightened birds to fly lower than normal, where they crashed into homes and other objects.

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said: 'The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level.

'Blackbirds have poor eyesight and they started colliding with things.'

Wildlife officials in both Arkansas and Louisiana have sent the carcasses to researchers at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and the University of Georgia.

In 1999, several thousand grackle birds fell from the sky and staggered around before dying in north Louisiana.

It took five months to get the diagnosis - an E. coli infection of the air sacs in their skulls.

It comes after 100,000 drum fish were discovered in the Arkansas River, just 100 miles from Beebe.

Officials said the deaths were not related to the birds, and they had likely been affected by illness as it was one species.

They blame the deaths - affecting menhaden, spots and croakers - on the stress of cold water.

Tens of thousands of small fish have also been discovered dead in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

Another explanation was that violent thunderstorms may have disoriented the flock.

Red-winged blackbirds are among North America's most abundant birds, with somewhere between 100million and 200million nationwide, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.

A few grackles and a couple of starlings were also among the dead. Those species roost with blackbirds, particularly in winter.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344345/Animal-death-mystery-Jackdaws-Sweden-fish-Brazil-New-Zealand-crabs-England.html

Ancient squidlike creature's final meal revealed

X-ray scan shows tiny crustaceans stuck between ammonite's teeth

By Stephanie Pappas Senior writer
LiveScience

Millions of years ago, a squidlike creature called an ammonite died with the remains of its last meal wedged between its teeth. Now, new high-tech images reveal that meal — a mini-snail and three tiny crustaceans — and shed light on the diet of these once-common creatures.

"It gives us an insight because we never knew what these ammonites were eating," study researcher Neil Landman, a curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, told LiveScience. "They were such a big part of the ocean biota ... Now, for the first time, we think, 'Oh, we've got them. They're eating plankton in the water.'"

There's nothing in today's world quite like an ammonite. Like the squid and the octopus, ammonites were cephalopods, a type of mollusk, but that's about as far as the similarities go. They roamed the seas from 407 million to 65 million years ago, when they went extinct. Ammonite fossils are common, especially in South Dakota where Landman and his colleagues found their specimens.

Unlike today's squid and octopus, ammonites had external shells. Some species' shells were spirals, much like that of their closest-living look-alike, the nautilus. Other species had shells shaped like unicorn horns. It was one of these long-shelled groups, the baculites, that Landman and his colleagues examined.

Delicate specimens

Because baculite jaws are small and delicate, it's difficult to examine them without destroying the fossil specimen. Even if you were willing to slice up a specimen for examination, the process is likely to destroy the very structures you're trying to study, Landman said.

So the research team turned to a new technology, synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The technology is much like a very detailed CT scan. X-rays create virtual slices of the specimen, which are then stitched together into a three-dimensional image by computer software.

"You rely on all of this sophisticated software that puts all of these slices together and, my god, you're just astonished at what you see," Landman said.

In this case, the researchers saw a large lower jaw with thin teeth. Like many mollusks today, baculites had radula, or tonguelike structures covered with teeth like a comb. These structures stretch out like a conveyer belt to shepherd food to the esophagus, Landman said.

For ancient prey, the effect would have looked like something out of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Landman said.

"If you were the size of a crustacean swimming in the water and you would see what looked to be a giant ammonite coming at you with a giant, beaklike jaw, you'd worry, I think," he said. "If you had the capacity for worry."

The last supper

One of the most amazing images revealed by the scans shows fragments of planktonic, or floating, crustacean stuck between the teeth of one of the ammonite fossils. The ammonite died with its last meal still in its mouth: three crustacean pieces just a few millimeters in length and a tiny larval snail. [ See a photo of an unfortunate crustacean]

That's fairly strong evidence that baculites were swimming in the water column snacking on plankton, said David Jacobs, a paleobiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. The find makes sense, considering that the baculites' environment likely wouldn't have had much oxygen to support plant life on the bottom, Jacobs told LiveScience. It's also hard to imagine a 2-foot-long shelled animal shaped like an ice-cream cone chasing down large prey, he said.

"It really is a nice confirmation of what people might have thought but didn't have a lot of supporting evidence for," said Jacobs, who was not involved in the study.

The find also helps researchers better understand how ammonites fit into their ancient ecosystem. The question of what baculites ate has been a "hot debate," said Peter Harries, a paleontologist at the University of South Florida who was not involved in the study. The findings may not apply to other species of ammonites, he said, but they're important for understanding the ancient food web.

"It tells us a lot about the baculites, which during that time were extremely dominant," Harries told LiveScience. "So I think there it really has helped nail down their life habits."

Landman already has some theories about baculites' role in the circle of life. Baculites in the water column may have excreted fecal pellets (i.e., poop) that then fell to the ocean floor and provided snacks for bottom-feeders, he said. And the animals' habit of feeding on plankton may have spelled their downfall during the catastrophe that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

"Lots and lots of plankton became extinct at the time and, curiously, so did the ammonites," Landman said. "This is one of those 'aha' moments. Maybe the ammonites were relying on plankton as a food source, and when the plankton suffered ... maybe this had a direct consequence on the ammonites."

The researchers detailed their findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Ancient squidlike creature's final meal revealed

X-ray scan shows tiny crustaceans stuck between ammonite's teeth

By Stephanie Pappas Senior writer
LiveScience

Millions of years ago, a squidlike creature called an ammonite died with the remains of its last meal wedged between its teeth. Now, new high-tech images reveal that meal — a mini-snail and three tiny crustaceans — and shed light on the diet of these once-common creatures.

"It gives us an insight because we never knew what these ammonites were eating," study researcher Neil Landman, a curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, told LiveScience. "They were such a big part of the ocean biota ... Now, for the first time, we think, 'Oh, we've got them. They're eating plankton in the water.'"

There's nothing in today's world quite like an ammonite. Like the squid and the octopus, ammonites were cephalopods, a type of mollusk, but that's about as far as the similarities go. They roamed the seas from 407 million to 65 million years ago, when they went extinct. Ammonite fossils are common, especially in South Dakota where Landman and his colleagues found their specimens.

Unlike today's squid and octopus, ammonites had external shells. Some species' shells were spirals, much like that of their closest-living look-alike, the nautilus. Other species had shells shaped like unicorn horns. It was one of these long-shelled groups, the baculites, that Landman and his colleagues examined.

Delicate specimens

Because baculite jaws are small and delicate, it's difficult to examine them without destroying the fossil specimen. Even if you were willing to slice up a specimen for examination, the process is likely to destroy the very structures you're trying to study, Landman said.

So the research team turned to a new technology, synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The technology is much like a very detailed CT scan. X-rays create virtual slices of the specimen, which are then stitched together into a three-dimensional image by computer software.

"You rely on all of this sophisticated software that puts all of these slices together and, my god, you're just astonished at what you see," Landman said.

In this case, the researchers saw a large lower jaw with thin teeth. Like many mollusks today, baculites had radula, or tonguelike structures covered with teeth like a comb. These structures stretch out like a conveyer belt to shepherd food to the esophagus, Landman said.

For ancient prey, the effect would have looked like something out of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Landman said.

"If you were the size of a crustacean swimming in the water and you would see what looked to be a giant ammonite coming at you with a giant, beaklike jaw, you'd worry, I think," he said. "If you had the capacity for worry."

The last supper

One of the most amazing images revealed by the scans shows fragments of planktonic, or floating, crustacean stuck between the teeth of one of the ammonite fossils. The ammonite died with its last meal still in its mouth: three crustacean pieces just a few millimeters in length and a tiny larval snail. [ See a photo of an unfortunate crustacean]

That's fairly strong evidence that baculites were swimming in the water column snacking on plankton, said David Jacobs, a paleobiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. The find makes sense, considering that the baculites' environment likely wouldn't have had much oxygen to support plant life on the bottom, Jacobs told LiveScience. It's also hard to imagine a 2-foot-long shelled animal shaped like an ice-cream cone chasing down large prey, he said.

"It really is a nice confirmation of what people might have thought but didn't have a lot of supporting evidence for," said Jacobs, who was not involved in the study.

The find also helps researchers better understand how ammonites fit into their ancient ecosystem. The question of what baculites ate has been a "hot debate," said Peter Harries, a paleontologist at the University of South Florida who was not involved in the study. The findings may not apply to other species of ammonites, he said, but they're important for understanding the ancient food web.

"It tells us a lot about the baculites, which during that time were extremely dominant," Harries told LiveScience. "So I think there it really has helped nail down their life habits."

Landman already has some theories about baculites' role in the circle of life. Baculites in the water column may have excreted fecal pellets (i.e., poop) that then fell to the ocean floor and provided snacks for bottom-feeders, he said. And the animals' habit of feeding on plankton may have spelled their downfall during the catastrophe that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

"Lots and lots of plankton became extinct at the time and, curiously, so did the ammonites," Landman said. "This is one of those 'aha' moments. Maybe the ammonites were relying on plankton as a food source, and when the plankton suffered ... maybe this had a direct consequence on the ammonites."

The researchers detailed their findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

By Wil Longbottom
Last updated at 3:45 PM on 7th January 2011

• Blue stain believed to be sign of poisoning or hypoxia - lack of oxygen that is precursor to altitude sickness
• Cold weather and overbreeding blamed for deaths of two 2million fish in Chesapeake Bay
• Disease behind deaths of 100,000 fish in Arkansas River
• At least nine incidents of mass animal deaths across the globe
• Hundreds of confused birds plummeted to their deaths in multiple locations in the U.S.
• Rapid movement of Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have caused bird deaths

Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

A witness told www.examiner.com: 'We have no idea why this happened all of a sudden.

'The doves just started falling one-by-one then in groups of 10s and 20s.'

Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, is known to cause confusion and illness in animals. It is also a common precursor to altitude sickness.

Experts said results from tests on the doves will not be available for at least a week.

They said that cold weather could have caused the birds' deaths as the flock was swept into a high-altitude wind storm before falling to the earth.

It comes after two million dead fish were found to have washed up on shores in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

The alarming find is being blamed by authorities in Maryland on the stress caused by unusually cold water and overbreeding among spot fish.

That investigation comes just days after the deaths of an estimated 100,000 fish in northwest Arkansas, which is being blamed on disease.

A statement by the Maryland Department of the Environment said: 'Natural causes appear to be the reason.

'Cold water stress exacerbated by a large population of the affected species (juvenile spot fish) appears to be the cause of the kill.'

Preliminary tests of the water in Chesapeake Bay have showed the quality was acceptable, officials said.

The statement added: 'The affected fish are almost exclusively juvenile spot fish, three to six inches in length.

'A recent survey showed a very strong population of spot in the bay this year. An increased juvenile population and limited deep water habitat would likely compound the effects of cold water stress.'

Mass winter deaths among spot fish have occurred twice before in the Maryland area - in 1976 and 1980.

The incident is the latest mass animal death to hit the headlines in the last two weeks.

These include:

• 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
• Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
• Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
• Two million small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
• Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
• Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
• Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge

Experts have speculated that New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning may be behind the deaths.

But conspiracy theorists have also speculated on the internet that secret government experiments could be behind them, with some even claiming it was a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.

Another theory is that the rapid movement of the Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have affected the birds' innate navigation systems.

Inbuilt navigation systems in birds and fish is believed to be affected by magnetism.

Scientists have said the Magnetic North Pole is shifting at an average of around 25 miles a year.

With birds and fish relying on it to travel to breeding grounds and warmed climes, there are fears that the shifting pole could be confusing the animals which means they do not migrate in time to avoid cold weather.

Tests are being carried out on the dead birds and fish, but results are not expected for several weeks.

Scientists have been baffled by the sudden deaths of hundreds of birds which have plummeted to the ground seemingly simultaneously in several locations.

Two hundred American Coots were found dead on a highway bridge crossing Lake O' the Pines in Big Cypress Creek, Texas.

They are believed to have been hit by passing vehicles while walking or apparently trying to roost on the bridge.

Swedish experts blamed the shock of New Year fireworks for the unexplained deaths of 50 jackdaws found on a street in Falkoping, Sweden.

Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over while disoriented.

The largest incident took place in Beebe, Arkansas, were horrified revellers witnessed around 3,000 blackbirds crashing to their deaths into homes, cars and each other as they celebrated New Year.

Another 450 birds were found strewn along a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after apparently hitting overhead power lines.

In both cases, the birds are believed to have become confused and were flying at a lower height than usual.

The deaths of tons of fish across the globe is being attributed to unusually cold water.

Thousands of Brazilian fishermen have been left struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.

Fish were also discovered rotting and floating in Spruce Creek, Florida, after another period of cold weather.

100,000 drum fish were found strewn along the shore of the Arkansas River.

And the cold snap has been blamed for the deaths of 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs - known as 'devil crabs - found littering beaches in Thanet, Kent.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344913/Animal-death-mystery-Two-MILLION-dead-fish-wash-Maryland-bay.html

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

By Wil Longbottom
Last updated at 3:45 PM on 7th January 2011

• Blue stain believed to be sign of poisoning or hypoxia - lack of oxygen that is precursor to altitude sickness
• Cold weather and overbreeding blamed for deaths of two 2million fish in Chesapeake Bay
• Disease behind deaths of 100,000 fish in Arkansas River
• At least nine incidents of mass animal deaths across the globe
• Hundreds of confused birds plummeted to their deaths in multiple locations in the U.S.
• Rapid movement of Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have caused bird deaths

Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

A witness told www.examiner.com: 'We have no idea why this happened all of a sudden.

'The doves just started falling one-by-one then in groups of 10s and 20s.'

Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, is known to cause confusion and illness in animals. It is also a common precursor to altitude sickness.

Experts said results from tests on the doves will not be available for at least a week.

They said that cold weather could have caused the birds' deaths as the flock was swept into a high-altitude wind storm before falling to the earth.

It comes after two million dead fish were found to have washed up on shores in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

The alarming find is being blamed by authorities in Maryland on the stress caused by unusually cold water and overbreeding among spot fish.

That investigation comes just days after the deaths of an estimated 100,000 fish in northwest Arkansas, which is being blamed on disease.

A statement by the Maryland Department of the Environment said: 'Natural causes appear to be the reason.

'Cold water stress exacerbated by a large population of the affected species (juvenile spot fish) appears to be the cause of the kill.'

Preliminary tests of the water in Chesapeake Bay have showed the quality was acceptable, officials said.

The statement added: 'The affected fish are almost exclusively juvenile spot fish, three to six inches in length.

'A recent survey showed a very strong population of spot in the bay this year. An increased juvenile population and limited deep water habitat would likely compound the effects of cold water stress.'

Mass winter deaths among spot fish have occurred twice before in the Maryland area - in 1976 and 1980.

The incident is the latest mass animal death to hit the headlines in the last two weeks.

These include:

• 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
• Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
• Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
• Two million small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
• Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
• Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
• Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge

Experts have speculated that New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning may be behind the deaths.

But conspiracy theorists have also speculated on the internet that secret government experiments could be behind them, with some even claiming it was a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.

Another theory is that the rapid movement of the Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have affected the birds' innate navigation systems.

Inbuilt navigation systems in birds and fish is believed to be affected by magnetism.

Scientists have said the Magnetic North Pole is shifting at an average of around 25 miles a year.

With birds and fish relying on it to travel to breeding grounds and warmed climes, there are fears that the shifting pole could be confusing the animals which means they do not migrate in time to avoid cold weather.

Tests are being carried out on the dead birds and fish, but results are not expected for several weeks.

Scientists have been baffled by the sudden deaths of hundreds of birds which have plummeted to the ground seemingly simultaneously in several locations.

Two hundred American Coots were found dead on a highway bridge crossing Lake O' the Pines in Big Cypress Creek, Texas.

They are believed to have been hit by passing vehicles while walking or apparently trying to roost on the bridge.

Swedish experts blamed the shock of New Year fireworks for the unexplained deaths of 50 jackdaws found on a street in Falkoping, Sweden.

Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over while disoriented.

The largest incident took place in Beebe, Arkansas, were horrified revellers witnessed around 3,000 blackbirds crashing to their deaths into homes, cars and each other as they celebrated New Year.

Another 450 birds were found strewn along a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after apparently hitting overhead power lines.

In both cases, the birds are believed to have become confused and were flying at a lower height than usual.

The deaths of tons of fish across the globe is being attributed to unusually cold water.

Thousands of Brazilian fishermen have been left struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.

Fish were also discovered rotting and floating in Spruce Creek, Florida, after another period of cold weather.

100,000 drum fish were found strewn along the shore of the Arkansas River.

And the cold snap has been blamed for the deaths of 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs - known as 'devil crabs - found littering beaches in Thanet, Kent.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344913/Animal-death-mystery-Two-MILLION-dead-fish-wash-Maryland-bay.html

40,000 'devil' crabs wash up on Kent coast after dying from hypothermia in freezing sea

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:37 PM on 5th January 2011

Thousands of dead crabs have washed up along the Kent coast, with environmental experts believing the cold weather in Britain is to blame.

The Velvet swimming crabs - also called devil crabs - are thought to be victims of Britain's coldest December in 120 years, which left sea temperatures much lower than average.

More than 40,000 of the crabs - Britain's largest swimming crab - are littering beaches around Thanet, along with smaller numbers of whelks, sponges and anemones.

Coastal warden Tony Sykes said: 'We suspect that climate change and warmer weather has lured the crabs towards the shoreline.

'They could also be attracted to these waters looking for kelp, to feed on.

'We believe the sudden temperature drop causes the crabs to suffer from hypothermia and die.'

It is the second year in a row that icy temperatures have killed sea creatures in such large numbers.

Last year, the Environment Agency set up an inquiry amid fears a mystery virus could be to blame.

But an inquiry concluded the deaths were linked to the cold weather.

Thanet Coast Project Manager Tony Childs says he is surprised at the large numbers of crabs which have died.

'We had a crash in numbers last year and we hadn’t expected such a large population,' he said.

'As happens with the circle of life in nature, we expect the crabs to be naturally dispersed from our shores very quickly by our local seagulls.

'We are hopeful the crab population will soon recover.'

Local resident Nicholas Branson, 43, described some beaches near Margate as being 'littered' with dead crabs.

He said: 'It's very sad to see all these dead crabs being washed up on shore.

'The winter has been very cold and it just goes to show that all animals are affected by freezing conditions - not just us humans.'

Crabs have been reported on beaches at Westbrook, Cliftonville and Kingsgate, while smaller numbers have been washed up between Broadstairs and Ramsgate.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344242/40-000-devil-crabs-washed-British-beach-freezing-conditions-hypothermia.html

40,000 'devil' crabs wash up on Kent coast after dying from hypothermia in freezing sea

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:37 PM on 5th January 2011

Thousands of dead crabs have washed up along the Kent coast, with environmental experts believing the cold weather in Britain is to blame.

The Velvet swimming crabs - also called devil crabs - are thought to be victims of Britain's coldest December in 120 years, which left sea temperatures much lower than average.

More than 40,000 of the crabs - Britain's largest swimming crab - are littering beaches around Thanet, along with smaller numbers of whelks, sponges and anemones.

Coastal warden Tony Sykes said: 'We suspect that climate change and warmer weather has lured the crabs towards the shoreline.

'They could also be attracted to these waters looking for kelp, to feed on.

'We believe the sudden temperature drop causes the crabs to suffer from hypothermia and die.'

It is the second year in a row that icy temperatures have killed sea creatures in such large numbers.

Last year, the Environment Agency set up an inquiry amid fears a mystery virus could be to blame.

But an inquiry concluded the deaths were linked to the cold weather.

Thanet Coast Project Manager Tony Childs says he is surprised at the large numbers of crabs which have died.

'We had a crash in numbers last year and we hadn’t expected such a large population,' he said.

'As happens with the circle of life in nature, we expect the crabs to be naturally dispersed from our shores very quickly by our local seagulls.

'We are hopeful the crab population will soon recover.'

Local resident Nicholas Branson, 43, described some beaches near Margate as being 'littered' with dead crabs.

He said: 'It's very sad to see all these dead crabs being washed up on shore.

'The winter has been very cold and it just goes to show that all animals are affected by freezing conditions - not just us humans.'

Crabs have been reported on beaches at Westbrook, Cliftonville and Kingsgate, while smaller numbers have been washed up between Broadstairs and Ramsgate.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344242/40-000-devil-crabs-washed-British-beach-freezing-conditions-hypothermia.html

Scientists find rare oasis of life on floor of Yellowstone Lake

Monday, October 4, 2010

Montana State University researchers have discovered a rare oasis of life in the midst of hundreds of geothermal vents at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake.

A colony of moss, worms and various forms of shrimp flourishes in an area where the water is inky black, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and a cauldron of nutrients, gases and poisons, the researchers reported in the September issue of Geobiology.

The vent is close to 100 feet below the surface of Yellowstone Lake and a third of a mile offshore in the West Thumb region. The worms and shrimp live among approximately two feet of moss that encircles the vent.

"This particular vent seemed unique relative to all other active vents thus far observed in the lake in that it is robustly colonized by plants," the researchers wrote.

The team explored the lake bottom with a Remotely Operated Vehicle built by the same person who built a much larger rover for exploring the Titanic. The MSU team was led by John Varley in the Big Sky Institute and Tim McDermott and Bill Inskeep in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences and MSU's Thermal Biology Institute.

The researchers said that the Fontinalis moss is not known to grow in the conditions they found on the floor of Yellowstone Lake and that a worm found associated with the moss had never been reported in North America. The researchers also noted that this was the first in-depth published study of the biology associated with any geothermal vent in Yellowstone Lake.

"The proliferation of complex higher organisms in close association with a Yellowstone Lake geothermal vent parallels that documented for deep marine vents, although to our knowledge this is the first such documentation for a freshwater habitat," the researchers wrote in Geobiology.

The vent is evidently responsible for the moss being able to live in what humans perceive as total darkness, but these plants obviously have the ability to somehow find and use very low light, Varley said. At times, the scene around the vent looks like it belongs in a snow globe because of a beige-colored silica and aluminum mineral that flies out of the vent and settles on the moss, which further lessens the ability of the moss to acquire light that is essential for it to photosynthesize. Key to the survival, indeed proliferation, of this moss in this unusual environment are the nutrients contained in the vent water. The nutrients feed the moss, which feed the shrimp and worms. The vent water also contains toxins such as arsenic and cadmium. It's super-saturated with carbon dioxide, hydrogen and other gases.

"If there are gases of that type anywhere else in Yellowstone, it follows that there would be life that has been introduced and evolved there that uses those resources," Varley said.

The researchers explored the bottom of Yellowstone Lake from onboard the R/V Cutthroat, a National Park Service boat, Varley said. Using a map created by Lisa Morgan with the U.S. Geological Survey, they noted that the lake contains hundreds of active and dormant vents. Scientists have mapped the lake bottom three times over the last 136 years, but studies of the biology around the vents have been extremely limited.

The vents are mostly on the northern half of the lake, inside the Yellowstone caldera, and span from the West Thumb region to Mary Bay. The lake bottom is probably the third largest geothermal field in the park. It is estimated to contribute 10 percent of the total geothermal output in the park, as well as 15 percent of the water that's in Yellowstone Lake, Varley said.

Despite the geothermal activity, the lake is "still one cold son of a gun," Varley said, noting that the waters' surface rarely gets above 64 F.

Researchers used a Remotely Operated Vehicle specially designed for the task by Dave Lovalvo of Eastern Oceanics Research. About half the size of a household refrigerator, the ROV is much smaller than the ROVs he built for exploring deep ocean environments, but it can do most of the same sampling, Lovalvo said. ROV's for deep ocean exploration can range from 1,000 pounds to almost 10,000. The ships that carry them are typically 225 to 300 feet long. The ROV for Yellowstone Lake weighed about 250 pounds. The R/V Cutthroat is about 28 feet long.

"I'd like to think that this (ROV) has and will continue to assist the National Park Service and the public in not only better understanding this truly amazing place, but also preserving it for future generations," said Lovalvo, who has been involved in Yellowstone research for 25 years.

Although he built rovers to explore the Titanic; the PT-109 boat made famous by former President John F. Kennedy; and features deep in the ocean, Lovalvo said he is committed to Yellowstone.

"Yellowstone is a very unique environment and one of the few places in the world where one can compare an inland, hydrothermally active lake to an active volcanic area of the ocean," he said.

The study produced other results that will be the focus of future scientific papers, Varley said. The researchers are currently writing five papers about their findings.

The Geobiology paper compared each vent to an island with its own chemistry and conditions. Future research may focus on genetic communication between those islands, Varley said.

Other MSU team members on the Yellowstone project were Rich Macur in the Inskeep lab; Scott Clingenpeel, a postdoctoral researcher with McDermott; and Stephanie McGinnis, a conservation biologist with the Big Sky Institute. Team members from elsewhere were Lovalvo; Janice Glime from Michigan Technological University and K. Nealson from the University of Southern California and the JC Venter Institute in California.

Yellowstone National Park is required to document the park's biodiversity, and the broader study being conducted by MSU at least doubles the list of organisms known to live there, Varley said. He added that understanding how the colony lives in such extreme conditions may lead to the development of new products and inventions.

One example of a Yellowstone organism leading to an industrial product is Thermus aquaticus, a heat-resistant micro-organism discovered in a Yellowstone hot spring in the 1960s. Subsequent research on Thermus aquaticus led to today's modern DNA testing -- a multi-billion dollar industry.

The project at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake has already benefited public school teachers and National Park Service employees who helped conduct field work that contributed to the study, Varley said. Not only did they learn field techniques, but they will share their experiences and scientific findings with students and park visitors.

Varley, who used to work for the National Park Service and ended his NSP career as director of the Yellowstone Center for Resources, said he started inventorying the park's biodiversity in 2003. Now a senior scientist at the Big Sky Institute, Varley said the study that led to the current discoveries began in 2004 as a pilot project. Field work continued in 2008 and 2009, with each field season lasting about 10 days during the fall. The ROV was used during the pilot season and both field seasons.

"What we do is impossible without the ROV," Varley said. "There is no other feasible way to do the work."

###

Montana State University: http://www.montana.edu Thanks to Montana State University for this article.

http://www.labspaces.net/106790/Scientists_find_rare_oasis_of_life_on_floor_of_Yellowstone_Lake

Scientists find rare oasis of life on floor of Yellowstone Lake

Monday, October 4, 2010

Montana State University researchers have discovered a rare oasis of life in the midst of hundreds of geothermal vents at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake.

A colony of moss, worms and various forms of shrimp flourishes in an area where the water is inky black, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and a cauldron of nutrients, gases and poisons, the researchers reported in the September issue of Geobiology.

The vent is close to 100 feet below the surface of Yellowstone Lake and a third of a mile offshore in the West Thumb region. The worms and shrimp live among approximately two feet of moss that encircles the vent.

"This particular vent seemed unique relative to all other active vents thus far observed in the lake in that it is robustly colonized by plants," the researchers wrote.

The team explored the lake bottom with a Remotely Operated Vehicle built by the same person who built a much larger rover for exploring the Titanic. The MSU team was led by John Varley in the Big Sky Institute and Tim McDermott and Bill Inskeep in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences and MSU's Thermal Biology Institute.

The researchers said that the Fontinalis moss is not known to grow in the conditions they found on the floor of Yellowstone Lake and that a worm found associated with the moss had never been reported in North America. The researchers also noted that this was the first in-depth published study of the biology associated with any geothermal vent in Yellowstone Lake.

"The proliferation of complex higher organisms in close association with a Yellowstone Lake geothermal vent parallels that documented for deep marine vents, although to our knowledge this is the first such documentation for a freshwater habitat," the researchers wrote in Geobiology.

The vent is evidently responsible for the moss being able to live in what humans perceive as total darkness, but these plants obviously have the ability to somehow find and use very low light, Varley said. At times, the scene around the vent looks like it belongs in a snow globe because of a beige-colored silica and aluminum mineral that flies out of the vent and settles on the moss, which further lessens the ability of the moss to acquire light that is essential for it to photosynthesize. Key to the survival, indeed proliferation, of this moss in this unusual environment are the nutrients contained in the vent water. The nutrients feed the moss, which feed the shrimp and worms. The vent water also contains toxins such as arsenic and cadmium. It's super-saturated with carbon dioxide, hydrogen and other gases.

"If there are gases of that type anywhere else in Yellowstone, it follows that there would be life that has been introduced and evolved there that uses those resources," Varley said.

The researchers explored the bottom of Yellowstone Lake from onboard the R/V Cutthroat, a National Park Service boat, Varley said. Using a map created by Lisa Morgan with the U.S. Geological Survey, they noted that the lake contains hundreds of active and dormant vents. Scientists have mapped the lake bottom three times over the last 136 years, but studies of the biology around the vents have been extremely limited.

The vents are mostly on the northern half of the lake, inside the Yellowstone caldera, and span from the West Thumb region to Mary Bay. The lake bottom is probably the third largest geothermal field in the park. It is estimated to contribute 10 percent of the total geothermal output in the park, as well as 15 percent of the water that's in Yellowstone Lake, Varley said.

Despite the geothermal activity, the lake is "still one cold son of a gun," Varley said, noting that the waters' surface rarely gets above 64 F.

Researchers used a Remotely Operated Vehicle specially designed for the task by Dave Lovalvo of Eastern Oceanics Research. About half the size of a household refrigerator, the ROV is much smaller than the ROVs he built for exploring deep ocean environments, but it can do most of the same sampling, Lovalvo said. ROV's for deep ocean exploration can range from 1,000 pounds to almost 10,000. The ships that carry them are typically 225 to 300 feet long. The ROV for Yellowstone Lake weighed about 250 pounds. The R/V Cutthroat is about 28 feet long.

"I'd like to think that this (ROV) has and will continue to assist the National Park Service and the public in not only better understanding this truly amazing place, but also preserving it for future generations," said Lovalvo, who has been involved in Yellowstone research for 25 years.

Although he built rovers to explore the Titanic; the PT-109 boat made famous by former President John F. Kennedy; and features deep in the ocean, Lovalvo said he is committed to Yellowstone.

"Yellowstone is a very unique environment and one of the few places in the world where one can compare an inland, hydrothermally active lake to an active volcanic area of the ocean," he said.

The study produced other results that will be the focus of future scientific papers, Varley said. The researchers are currently writing five papers about their findings.

The Geobiology paper compared each vent to an island with its own chemistry and conditions. Future research may focus on genetic communication between those islands, Varley said.

Other MSU team members on the Yellowstone project were Rich Macur in the Inskeep lab; Scott Clingenpeel, a postdoctoral researcher with McDermott; and Stephanie McGinnis, a conservation biologist with the Big Sky Institute. Team members from elsewhere were Lovalvo; Janice Glime from Michigan Technological University and K. Nealson from the University of Southern California and the JC Venter Institute in California.

Yellowstone National Park is required to document the park's biodiversity, and the broader study being conducted by MSU at least doubles the list of organisms known to live there, Varley said. He added that understanding how the colony lives in such extreme conditions may lead to the development of new products and inventions.

One example of a Yellowstone organism leading to an industrial product is Thermus aquaticus, a heat-resistant micro-organism discovered in a Yellowstone hot spring in the 1960s. Subsequent research on Thermus aquaticus led to today's modern DNA testing -- a multi-billion dollar industry.

The project at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake has already benefited public school teachers and National Park Service employees who helped conduct field work that contributed to the study, Varley said. Not only did they learn field techniques, but they will share their experiences and scientific findings with students and park visitors.

Varley, who used to work for the National Park Service and ended his NSP career as director of the Yellowstone Center for Resources, said he started inventorying the park's biodiversity in 2003. Now a senior scientist at the Big Sky Institute, Varley said the study that led to the current discoveries began in 2004 as a pilot project. Field work continued in 2008 and 2009, with each field season lasting about 10 days during the fall. The ROV was used during the pilot season and both field seasons.

"What we do is impossible without the ROV," Varley said. "There is no other feasible way to do the work."

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Montana State University: http://www.montana.edu Thanks to Montana State University for this article.

http://www.labspaces.net/106790/Scientists_find_rare_oasis_of_life_on_floor_of_Yellowstone_Lake

Lost and found: Census of Marine Life turns up hundreds of species

'The deep sea creature found in the Coral Sea, the Jurassic Prawn, was previously believed to be extinct.'

by Jeni Bone
1:48 AM Tue 5 Oct 2010 GMT

A species that had previously been deemed extinct, was discovered on an underwater peak in the Coral Sea, along with hundreds of new species, in a $669m decade-long global marine survey, 'Census of Marine Life', conducted by scientists across the area between Australia and New Caledonia.

The 12cm long Neoglyphea neocaledonica, or 'Jurassic shrimp', was turned up among more than 30 million observations of 120,000 species, showing the study team just how much there is still to learn about ocean life.

Launched in London last night, the First 'Census of Marine Life' aimed to establish a baseline against which 21st century changes can be measured. It found more than 6,000 potentially new species, describing 1200 of them in detail. But scientists said they estimate more than 750,000 species remain undiscovered.

The report says little is known about four out of five species in Australian waters, a greater proportion than any other continent. Between a third and half of the hundreds of soft corals described on the Great Barrier Reef and Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef in the past decade were new finds.

The chairman of the census steering committee, Australian Ian Poiner, said the researchers 'systematically defined for the first time both the known and the vast unknown, unexplored ocean'.

'Sea life provides half of our oxygen and a lot of our food and regulates climate,' he said.

Researchers tracked migratory routes using sound, satellites and electronics. They found that, by weight, up to 90 per cent of marine life was microbial. But more than 20 per cent of the oceans volume remained unmapped by scientists.

More at http://www.coml.org/

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=75437&refre=y&ntid=0&rid=3

Lost and found: Census of Marine Life turns up hundreds of species

'The deep sea creature found in the Coral Sea, the Jurassic Prawn, was previously believed to be extinct.'

by Jeni Bone
1:48 AM Tue 5 Oct 2010 GMT

A species that had previously been deemed extinct, was discovered on an underwater peak in the Coral Sea, along with hundreds of new species, in a $669m decade-long global marine survey, 'Census of Marine Life', conducted by scientists across the area between Australia and New Caledonia.

The 12cm long Neoglyphea neocaledonica, or 'Jurassic shrimp', was turned up among more than 30 million observations of 120,000 species, showing the study team just how much there is still to learn about ocean life.

Launched in London last night, the First 'Census of Marine Life' aimed to establish a baseline against which 21st century changes can be measured. It found more than 6,000 potentially new species, describing 1200 of them in detail. But scientists said they estimate more than 750,000 species remain undiscovered.

The report says little is known about four out of five species in Australian waters, a greater proportion than any other continent. Between a third and half of the hundreds of soft corals described on the Great Barrier Reef and Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef in the past decade were new finds.

The chairman of the census steering committee, Australian Ian Poiner, said the researchers 'systematically defined for the first time both the known and the vast unknown, unexplored ocean'.

'Sea life provides half of our oxygen and a lot of our food and regulates climate,' he said.

Researchers tracked migratory routes using sound, satellites and electronics. They found that, by weight, up to 90 per cent of marine life was microbial. But more than 20 per cent of the oceans volume remained unmapped by scientists.

More at http://www.coml.org/

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=75437&refre=y&ntid=0&rid=3

Rare albino 'devil crab' is caught off the Cornish coast

Friday, September 03, 2010

A fisherman was stunned yesterday after snaring this "extremely rare" albino crab off the coast of Britain.

The all white crustacean – which has bright red eyes – was caught half a mile out to sea near Mylor in Cornwall.

Experts say it is a velvet swimming crab, which is also known as a devil crab.

The crab was snared by fisherman Cameron Henry and is being cared for at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.

Spokesman David Waines said: "Albino crustaceans are extremely rare, however no one here has ever heard of an albino swimming crab.

"Normally these types of crab are a deep blue or purple colour so to get one like this is very unusual indeed.

"As well as being rare, white or albino crustaceans do not tend to survive for long in the wild as they rely on their natural camouflage to protect them from predators.

"However, devil crabs are renowned for their extremely aggressive behaviour and it may be that – in spite of being such an obvious target – this particular crab was able to fight off would-be hunters.

"Although they rarely exceed 10cms in length they will try and attack even the largest intruder – including humans – waving their claws violently from side to side."

Velvet swimming crabs get their name because their shells are covered with dense, velvety hair and they use their paddle-like hind legs to swim away from attackers.

They are found from northern Norway to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Rare-albino-devil-crab-caught-Cornish-coast/article-2601842-detail/article.html

See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8962000/8962960.stm