sea creatures

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Off the Florida Keys, 'Emergency Response' Over Spinning Fish

NOAA has implemented an 'emergency response' to strange behaviors of dying smalltooth sawfish

(Newser) - Endangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are exhibiting erratic spinning behavior and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced what it calls an "emergency response" focused on the Florida Keys starting next week. A NOAA news release...

Bird Flu Continues to Wreak Havoc, Killing Seals Worldwide

Tens of thousands of seals, sea lions have died, and scientists aren't sure how to slow the spread

(Newser) - Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don't see a clear way to slow the devastating virus . The worldwide bird flu outbreak that began in 2020 has led to the deaths of...

For Green Sea Turtles, a Big Problem: Too Many Girls
Pollution Has Unexpected
Effect on Green Sea Turtles
new study
Nov 27, 2023 11:48 AM CST

Pollution Has Unexpected Effect on Green Sea Turtles

Researchers say it's helping create too many females

(Newser) - For male green sea turtles, it's the second part of a double whammy they could ill afford. A new study suggests that ocean pollution is contributing to a serious gender imbalance—way too many females are being born and way too few males, reports Science Alert . As the Washington ...

Starfish 'Arms' Are Really Something Else Entirely

Scientists say the 5 appendages are 'more like extensions of the head'

(Newser) - If you ever end up on Jeopardy! and your clue is "This star-shaped marine creature has five arms," you may want to pause before you offer what seems like the obvious answer. That's because those appendages you see sticking out from the bodies of starfish aren't...

When Seattle Phones Ping, It's a Sign Whales Are Near

The AP looks at a popular WhatsApp chat group that alerts members to sightings

(Newser) - Peter Bates was dropping his car at the mechanic this month when a notification pinged on his phone: Killer whales were approaching his Seattle neighborhood. He hopped on a bus toward the water, then an electric bike. He was pedaling along a shoreline trail when orcas' black fins and white...

Diver Captures Amazing Giant Octopus Encounter
Diver Captures 'Mind-Blowing'
Giant Octopus Encounter
in case you missed it
Nov 13, 2022 7:13 AM CST

Diver Captures 'Mind-Blowing' Giant Octopus Encounter

It 'was giving me a hug,' she says

(Newser) - Canadian high school teacher Andrea Humphreys has done almost 700 dives, and she says she's never experienced anything as "mind-blowing" as her encounter with a giant Pacific octopus. She says that when she started filming the creature during a dive off the east coast of Vancouver Island, it...

Since Russia War Began, These Creatures Are Dying in Droves

Scientists think loud noises from invasion may disrupt navigation of dolphins, porpoises, whales

(Newser) - The human death toll from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is believed to be in the tens of thousands so far. But marine mammals in the Black Sea, directly to the south of Ukraine, are also dying in droves, and scientists think the loud sounds that accompany battle are to...

'Dragon Booger' Emerges From Lost Lagoon

It's the first time bryozoans have been seen in Vancouver

(Newser) - Pectinatella magnifica, a water-dwelling blob, has long confounded scientists trying simply to categorize them. The brown-green snotty lumps are called bryozoans, and sometimes "moss animals," "dragon boogers," and "ectoprocta," which means, "anus outside," reports Popular Science . The blobs, which are actually whole...

Teen Emerges From Sea With Legs Drenched in Blood

Doctors are stumped, but one marine expert points finger at sea fleas

(Newser) - If Jaws left you fearful of going into the water, this story about a much, much smaller predator may only reinforce your fright. The Australian Associated Press reports on the case of Sam Kanizay, a Melbourne 16-year-old who spent about a half-hour soaking his legs, sore from sports, at Dendy...

Montana Fossil Reveals Ancient Sea Creature

A long-gone inland sea still has secrets to give up

(Newser) - A fossil found by a Montana elk hunter nearly seven years ago has led to the discovery of a new species of prehistoric sea creature that lived about 70 million years ago in an inland sea that flowed east of the Rockies, the AP reports. The new elasmosaur species is...

Why This One Dead Sea Creature Is Such a Big Deal

Only about 30 vaquita are left, with another carcass found in Gulf of California

(Newser) - Not even military dolphins could save this vaquita. The carcass of one of the endangered porpoises, whose Spanish name translates to "little cow," was discovered floating near the Baja California shoreline Sunday in the latest blow to a rapidly diminishing population, NBC Los Angeles reports. The vaquita was...

People Who Saw This Fish Fear a Quake Is Coming

Multiple specimens of rarely seen sea creature turn up in Philippines

(Newser) - Every couple of years, a mysterious rare fish that resembles a serpent washes up on some beach , generating buzz about the bony sea creature and worries about earthquakes until it fades from memory again. In what National Geographic pegs as a "poorly understood phenomenon," it's happened again,...

'Psychedelic Slinky' Spotted for First Time in 100 Years

Weird sea creature of legends found off California coast

(Newser) - In 1899, a Leipzig University marine biologist named Carl Chun came across a see-through "sea blob" in the southern Atlantic, and its existence hasn't been confirmed since—until now. Live Science reports on the Bathochordaeus charon invertebrate (what it describes as a "psychedelic Slinky"), recently spotted...

Weird 'Blobs' Turning Up on California Beaches

One expert links these 'sea hares' to warmer water temperatures

(Newser) - A blob from the sea is invading East Bay beaches and waterways this summer, and some experts say it may be caused by warmer temperatures near coastal waters. These California sea hares are harmless plant eaters. But their big size and unusual abundance this year is turning heads at the...

2nd 'Sea Serpent' Washes Ashore

Rare 14-foot oarfish found in Southern California

(Newser) - When it rains mysterious "sea serpents" in Southern California, it apparently pours: Days after a snorkeler happened upon an 18-foot oarfish —a snake-like fish usually found in waters 3,000 feet deep—a second specimen washed up on the beach in Oceanside, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune . The...

Crazy Ocean Discovery: 18-Foot Serpent-Like Fish

Snorkeler spots oarfish carcass near California's Catalina Island

(Newser) - A marine science instructor snorkeling off the Southern California coast spotted something out of a fantasy novel: the silvery carcass of an 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute needed more than 15 helpers to drag the giant sea creature to shore over the weekend. Staffers...

Scientists Find Fossil of 'Sea Monster'

Ancient 56-foot whale had huge teeth, carnivorous appetite

(Newser) - Scientists have found a fossil of a giant whale of lore—a "Leviathan" as the researchers named it. The creature was similar in size to today's sperm whale but nowhere near as passive, with massive teeth and jaws, the BBC reports. The 12-million-year-old, 56-foot-long beast likely hunted other sea...

Oil Spill May Wipe Out Just Discovered Species

Little pancake batfish could be first victim

(Newser) - Just months after scientists celebrated the discovery of a bizarre new ocean species it's already facing being obliterated by the BP oil spill. The Louisiana pancake batfish, or halieutichthys aculeatus, could be the first victim of the Gulf catastrophe. The tiny blob of a fish, with bulbous eyes and foot-like...

'Monster' Oarfish Found in Sweden
'Monster' Oarfish Found
in Sweden
May 13, 2010 4:45 AM CDT

'Monster' Oarfish Found in Sweden

Swedes haven't seen 'King of Herrings' since 1879

(Newser) - The incredibly rare fish known as the "King of the Herrings" has washed up on a Swedish shore for the first time in 130 years. A hiker found the 12-foot giant oarfish on the country's west coast, Der Speigel reports. The mysterious creature, usually only found in water much...

Fossil Hunter Finds Giant Sea Monster

Colossal pliosaur was big enough to snack on T. Rex

(Newser) - A sea monster big enough to have munched on T. Rex has been found by an amateur fossil collector scouring Britain's south coast. The collector gathered chunks of the prehistoric beast's 8-foot-long skull as they fell from a cliff face over several years. Paleontologists believe the pliosaur skull is the...

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