Photos: The Amazing Sunfish in Bali

The sunfish is the largest and most fertile bony fish in the world. It is also the wierdest looking fish you’re ever likely to see.

Some sharks (such as the whale shark and great white) can grow larger, but these are cartilaginous fish, rather than bony fish. Sunfish can produce massive numbers of eggs: one female caught off Florida was carrying 300 million eggs. This makes the cane toad look quite modest, producing a mere 60,000 eggs per clutch.

Sunfish tend to lie on their side close to the surface of the ocean, appearing to bask in the warmth of the sun, say researchers at the Large Pelagic Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire. They may be ‘thermally recharging’ after diving to depths where their bodies have been significantly cooled by the deep water.

From ABC Australia: Read more

Eternal rest in a watery grave….

About 14 metres beneath the ocean’s surface lies a cemetery with gates, pathways, plaques and even benches. The Neptune Memorial Reef, which opened last autumn, is seen by its creators as a perfect final resting spot for those who loved the sea. They hope the reef will one day cover 6.5 hectares (16 acres) and have room for 125,000 remains.

“This is simply as good as it gets,” said Gary Levine, a diver who conceived the reef and is now a shareholder in the company that owns it.

The Neptune Memorial Reef is located in open waters three miles off the coast of Key Biscayne, which means any certified diver can visit. The artificial reef’s first phase allows for about 850 remains.

The ashes are mixed with cement designed for underwater use and fitted into a mould, which a diver then places and secures into the reef. A copper and bronze plaque is installed with the person’s name, date of birth and death. There is also a line for a message.

The cost of a placement starts at $995 (£510) and can go up to $6,495.

From the Guardian: Read more

Shock: first animal on earth was a complex jelly fish

Earth’s first animal was the ocean-drifting comb jelly, not the simple sponge, according to a new find that has shocked scientists who didn’t imagine the earliest critter could be so complex.

The mystery of the first animal denizen of the planet can only be inferred from fossils and by studying related animals today. To get to the bottom of that, scientists analyzed massive volumes of genetic data to define the earliest splits at the base of the animal tree of life.

The tree of life is a hierarchy of evolutionary relationships among species that shows which groups split off on their own evolutionary path first.

The new study surprisingly found that the comb jelly was the first animal to diverge from the base of the tree, not the less complex sponge, which had previously been given the honor.

From Live Science: Read more