Yves Bisson, the owner of Yves Bisson Sturgeon Company, hooked and landed a 10.6-foot sturgeon on Canada's famed Fraser River on March 6. He estimated that the massive fish weighed approximately 600 pounds. Bisson estimates the fish was about 100 years old. White sturgeon are listed as endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act. It's mandatory for anglers to release them. As part of a conservation program managed by the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, Bisson tagged his fish before releasing it. The tagging program is done by 60 volunteers and 35 of them are professional fishing guides. Together, they've tagged more than 68,000 sturgeon in recent years.
The 950 different species of sea urchins live in water of all temperatures, warm or cold. Some species prefer to live in the shallows, on coral reefs or among kelp forests, while others find their home in deep, rocky seabeds. The Sea urchin population has grown by 10,000% in the last five years, which saw purple sea urchins ravage the coasts of California and Oregon in 2019. Scientists believe it could take 15-20 years to remove almost 100 million pounds of sea urchin from one large Oregon reef alone!
Banded sea kraits are active predators that specialize on hunting eels, which they are able to locate by snaking through crevices and cracks in the reef. They paralyze their prey with powerful venom and swallow it whole. Sea birds, sharks, and some bony fishes feed on banded sea krait. Other predators follow banded sea kraits and attack any small fishes that the snakes scare out of the reef while hunting for eels. an old wives' tail claims that their mouths are too small to bite a person. This claim is untrue; instead, banded sea kraits are apparently docile snakes that often choose to not bite, even if provoked. Some people, however, are bitten each year (most notably fishermen who accidentally capture them).
Feather stars are unstalked crinoids that live in both shallow water and the depths of the ocean. Their scientific name, crinoid, comes from the Greek words for ‘lily' (krinon) and ‘form' (eidos). Without a stalk, they are able to move ever so slightly across the sea floor. Using modern technology, researchers have recorded feather stars moving at up to 5 centimeters per second. Although this might not seem like an incredible speed, it is essential for their health and survivability. Their speed primarily depends on gender, native tendencies, and vicinity of predators.
In many species, females are attracted to large, conspicuous males. But among animals that mate with many partners, males that manage to mate with more than one female can increases their chances of attracting others, even if they aren't as conspicuous. The scientists published their findings in the journal Biology Letters. In some species of fish, smaller, less flashy males can win over females by flirting with larger males. Researchers worked with the tropical freshwater fish Poecilia mexicana. After witnessing this behavior, the female fish indicated their newly awakened interest by spending more time swimming near the images of the less impressive males. The finding suggests that homosexual behavior can enhance a male's ability to pass on his genes by attracting females that wouldn't be interested in him otherwise. Mollies aren't the only fish that exhibit homosexual behavior. There are documented cases of at least 15 different species doing the same. Whether all of these species do so in an effort to attract more females hasn't yet been determined.
Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island, is an island off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean. The island is the only natural home of the critically endangered, venomous Bothrops insularis (golden lancehead pit viper), which has a diet of birds. The snakes became trapped on the island thousands of years ago following the end of the last ice age when rising ocean levels disconnected the island from the mainland. The ensuing selection pressure allowed the snakes to adapt to their new environment, increasing rapidly in population and rendering the island dangerous to public visitation.
The mata mata (Chelus fimbriatus) is perfectly camouflaged for its preferred habitat of slow-moving streams, stagnate pools, and marshes. With a carapace (hard upper shell) that looks like bark and a head and neck that resemble fallen leaves, this South American turtle is more capable of blending in with its surroundings, ready to sneakily suck up any fish that crosses its path. It has a particularly long and pointy snout that it uses like a snorkel, sticking it just out of the water to breathe.
When a female crocodile lays eggs (of which there can be up to 60 at a time), the temperature of the nest where the eggs are laid actually determines the sex of the baby. If the temperature is less than 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 fahrenheit), the baby crocodiles will be female and if it's above that temperature, they will be male.
We are all familiar with the famous monolithic statues of majestic Easter Island. Built by the natives in approximately 1400-1650 A.D. these huge iconic statues are scattered all around the island's coastline. Known as moai, the squared human head statues weigh up to 86 tons each, and there are about 1000 of them. All of them, except one, sit on the island's dry ground, but the one that is submerged off the coast isn't exactly an ancient wonder. Sadly, it is just a prop from a 1994 Hollywood movie starring Kevin Costner.
The pineapplefish, Cleidopus gloriamaris, is a species of fish. It is also known as the knightfish or the coat-of-mail fish, due to the scales on its body. Some people call it the port-and-starboard light fish, as it has a pair of bright spots that are like a ship's lights. "Gloriamaris" is from the Latin language gloria and maris, means "glory of the sea". Due to its small fins and rigid armor, the pineapple-fish is a weak swimmer. A nocturnal species, it may be found inside caves and under rocky ledges during the day. In the Fly Point Halifax Park Aquatic Preserve, New South Wales, a small group of pineapple-fish has been documented under the same ledge for at least 7 years, and another group under a different ledge for 3 years.