Indonesia mimic octopus imitates toxic flatfish for defense
August 30, 2010
How about this for an impersonation… Watch video of the Indonesian Mimic Octopus impersonating a toxic flatfish – sometimes the best form of defense really is to attack!
The Indonesian mimic octopus has the extraordinary ability to pass itself off as many of the toxic fishes or sea snakes that share its habitat.
Instead of blending into the background, the animal impersonator often uses a daredevil strategy of making itself more conspicuous to predators. Scientists believe the behaviour evolved to scare other animals.
By flattening its head and arms, using a bold brown and white colour display and adopting an undulating swimming technique T. mimicus can fool predators that it is, in fact, a poisonous flatfish rather than a tasty meal.
From the BBC. Watch full video HERE.
BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill effects
August 25, 2010
Now that the media hype surrounding the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill has largely died down, we think it would be of interest to track news & findings about the effects of this environmental disaster that might not make it into mainstream consciousness.
The lasting impression we had from the last batch of news released was that, as big as the disaster was (some 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked), there remained hope, even some considerable confidence, that naturally occurring microbes were busy seeing-off much of the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.
It would now appear that previous US government reports on which this “news” was based have to be reconsidered in light of a 22-mile (35-kilometer) long oil-plume that has been discovered:
from National Geographic:
A giant plume from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been confirmed deep in the ocean—and there are signs that it may stick around, a new study says.
Many scientists had predicted that oil-eating bacteria—already common in the Gulf due to natural oil seeps—would process much of the crude leaked from BP’s Deepwater Horizon wellhead, which was capped July 15.
But new evidence shows that a 22-mile-long (35-kilometer-long), 650-foot-high (200-meter-high) pocket of oil has persisted for months at depths of 3,600 feet (1,100 meters), according to a team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts.
Read full article HERE
Returning to the Abyss
January 25, 2010
Ocean ‘X Factor’ to reach deepest point will net £6m.
Fifty years ago today two men sealed themselves inside a tiny steel sphere and were lowered over the side of a ship in the Western Pacific. For the next four hours they dropped steadily down through the ocean depths. A porthole cracked, shaking the craft, but they continued. Within another hour they reached the deepest point in the ocean, 11 kilometres down.
No human has returned since then, prevented by the high cost and technological challenges of withstanding the crushing pressures in the deep. But later this year the X Prize foundation will offer at least $10 million (£6 million) for the first privately funded craft to make two repeat visits to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.
According to Francis Beland, a senior adviser for the Ocean X Prize, among the likely contenders are Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and James Cameron, the director of Titanic, The Abyss and Avatar. Both men are passionate about ocean exploration.
BB-Films comment: Coming soon via live feed to an Imax theatre near you!
From Times online: Full Article
Is there still time to save the seas?
December 30, 2009
The ocean is acidifying and coral reefs are dying. And it will only get worse until we rein in our emissions.
[BB-films note: from time to time I think it's worth stepping back and thinking about how we are amongst the last generation of divers that are going to be able to enjoy the World's oceans as they are today. Given the predictably pathetic lack of global consensus and infantile bickering over agreed effective combined actions at the UN summit in Copenhagen, the sad but true answer is that it is now (and perhaps has been for some time) too late to avoid widespread and permanent catastrophic changes to the World's oceans and seas. What's left for us now is to dive them, enjoy them, document them and teach our grandchildren about our experiences of a natural wonder that they can no longer enjoy, in part, thanks to us. The upside is that the faster we speed our impending extinction, the faster the planet can get back to equilibrium and the next cycle of life can begin.]
The glistening back of a whale sends ripples across the surface of the Arctic Ocean. Terns wheel overhead, while in the crisp, clear water beneath, tiny translucent sea snails flap their feet like butterfly wings against a shimmering backdrop of fish. The ocean is boundless, timeless and about as far away from Man as it’s possible to get. But not far enough.
The waters of the Arctic are changing faster than anywhere else on the planet. Glaciers are melting ever quicker and the sea ice is retreating, but these are only the physical effects of the fumes pouring from humanity’s smokestack. Our emissions are shifting the ocean’s chemistry too, and the combination is shaking the very foundations of its biology.
Just as ocean currents encircle the world, so too will these transformations. By mid-century the reefs shielding the Maldives will be eroding faster than they can grow. And out beyond the reefs’ ash-grey remains, a still more sinister threat will be reaching up from the depths.
Standing on a clifftop gazing out at the wild sea, it’s easy to feel the ocean’s power to recharge. Marine life is at once the lungs and the kidneys of the planet, providing half its oxygen, recycling its nutrients and absorbing its waste. Take a deep breath of that fresh sea air, and your chest swells with the scent of ocean life.
If the UN summit in Copenhagen ends with more half-hearted commitments, come the middle of the century you — and the other 80 per cent of the world’s population who live within 100km of the coast — had better think twice before drinking in that sea breeze. The characteristic scent is the product of microscopic, surface-dwelling plankton, but rival species are on the rise. A lungful of their fragrance leaves not the feeling of freedom but toxic irritation.
From The Times Online.
Full Article here.
Thank you President Toribiong (Palau)
September 25, 2009
President Johnson Toribiong of the tiny Pacific replublic of Palau is to create the world’s first “shark sanctuary”, banning all commercial shark fishing in its waters.
With half of the world’s oceanic sharks at risk of extinction, conservationists regard the move as “game-changing”.
It will protect about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean, an area about the size of France. President Toribiong will also call for a global ban on shark-finning, the practice of removing the fins at sea.
“These creatures are being slaughtered and are perhaps at the brink of extinction unless we take positive action to protect them,” said President Toribiong.
“Their physical beauty and strength, in my opinion, reflects the health of the oceans; they stand out,”
From BBC News
