Sea Life

Colorful Lobsters in the News

Friday, 17 October 2008 04:55 Mike Marks

Fall is in full swing. The air is turning colder and the leaves are changing colors. Do lobsters change colors with the season too? No. But recent news might make you think so. During the past week lobsters in bright shades of yellow, blue and red have been hauled out of North Atlantic waters. Colorful lobsters are rare and the ones caught this month may be headed to aquariums rather than pots.

Toronto, Canada, October 16th - Here's a video of a blue lobster in a tank from CNN.
Bristol, RI - October 9th. - A blue lobster caught off Point Judith has been moved to a new home at the local Audubon Environmental Education Center. Here's the story.
Owls Head, Maine, October 9th - A bright orange and red lobster was caught by F.J. O'Hara. Here's the story and photo.
New Brunswick, Canada October 4th - A yellow lobster was hauled in by Danny Knockwood. Here's the story and photo.

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Dennis the Manatee Dies

Monday, 13 October 2008 01:19 Mike Marks

Dennis the Manatee died enroute to Florida yesterday. At 1:30 pm Sunday his vital signs were good. By 3:00 pm he was dead. When Dennis was removed from Sesuit Harbor his core body temperature was 73 F, twenty degrees below normal. The Seaworld team had succeeded in raising his temperature to 89F before he died. Here's more from Boston.com.

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"Dennis" the manatee headed south for the winter

Sunday, 12 October 2008 04:55 Mike Marks

Dennis, Cape Cod - On Saturday crews from IFAW and Sea World Orlando successfully captured the wayward manatee who had been lodging in Sesuit Harbor and started him on his journey south. The manatee named "Dennis" was in danger from water that is far colder than that of his native home. When he was removed from the water his body tempertaure had dropped 24 degrees below normal but he was breathing normally. He is being relocated to a rehabilitation clinic at Sea World in Orlando. Here's the full story from David Abel at Boston.com.

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Virginia shark was set for virgin birth

Friday, 10 October 2008 04:25 Mike Marks

Virginia Beach, VA - DNA testing confirms that a female Atlantic blacktip shark at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center was carrying a baby that came into being without fertilization from a male. The 5' shark, named Tidbit, lived at the Aquaruium for eight years without the presence of males of the same species. Tidbit died after being removed from the tank for a veterinary examination. A subsequent necropsy revealed that she was carrying a fully developed shark pup nearly ready to be born - the pup had been reproduced by a process known as parthenogenesis ("the development of an individual from an egg without fertilization"). In 2002 a hammerhead shark gave birth to a parthenogenetic pup at a zoo in Omaha.

Here's more from Will Dunham at Reuters.

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Manatee Swims in Sesuit Harbor

Thursday, 09 October 2008 03:04 Mike Marks

Cape Cod Manatee

Sesuit Harbor, Dennis - A manatee has been seen swimming around Cape Cod since last Sunday. First sighted near the Cape Cod canal the animal was most recently seen near Sesuit Harbor. The 8' creature is native to warm Florida waters. With winter around the corner, concerns about the manatee's long term health have prompted plans to return it to Florida. Here's more from Boston.com.

Manatees, also known as sea cows, are thought to have evolved some 60 million years ago. They are related to elephants. Here's more from Wikipedia.

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