Ocean of Hope

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Right Whale Mother Adopts Orphaned Calf in Addition to Her Own Calf

Marine Mammals, Whales
”southern right whale
Mother right whale adopts orphaned calf: photo by African Wings

There is no sorrow greater than a mother’s when she has lost her babe. In my case, a calf. I am a Southern right whale, and I live off the Western Cape of South Africa. Recently I adopted a still nursing orphaned calf. This was in addition to my own calf, who is also still nursing. This is a highly unusual act because I am unrelated to this calf, and adopting him goes against all laws of nature.

I did not know this orphaned calf’s mother, and I wonder how she died. Did she die suddenly from a killer whale or human attack? Or was it something more insidious, like cancer from the myriad of toxic chemicals humans have dumped into the sea?

I tried to thwart the orphaned calf’s first few attempts to suckle, but soon my maternal instincts kicked in. I did what I hoped another right whale mother would do for me, which was to make sure that the calf I gave my life for survives to carries on my legacy. So I allowed this new calf to suckle. I could tell he had nursed for several months already, and he was very robust and playful.

My own calf and my adopted calf get along so well that I know I made the right decision. I feel so joyful watching them roll and play together. I also feel secure leaving them alone as they can protect each other. Usually mother and calf pairs are alone except for an occasional courting male.

Fortunately my reserve of blubber seems to be enough to nurse two calves. We are soon heading for our Antarctic feeding grounds, and I am hopeful that I will have enough milk before one of them weans!

I know that my kind was hunted almost to extinction, so I know that each right whale life saved is hope for the future.

This post was based on this article

10 Jellyfish Facts for Kids

10 facts, Other Marine Animals
Jellyfish facts largest & smallest
Lion's Mane Jellyfish: the largest jelly in the ocean

10 Jellyfish Facts for Kids

1. A jellyfish is not a fish at all, it is an
invertebrate (animal without a backbone).

2. Invertebrates make up 95% of all animals on earth.

3. A jelly is made up of approximately 95% water.

4. A jelly does not have a brain, eyes, bones, teeth, or blood.

5. A jelly reproduces by making clones of itself (exact copies of itself) so it technically never dies.

6. There are 2 main stages to a jelly’s life cycle, the sessile (stuck to a surface) polyp, and the free-swimming medusa (what you think of as a jelly).

7. The largest jelly ever found was a Lion’s Mane Jelly with a diameter of 7 feet 6 inches (2.29m) and its tentacles trailed 120 feet behind it!

8. The smallest jelly is the Irukandji jelly which is only 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

9. Jellies are found in all the world’s oceans.

And the last jellyfish fact for kids is:

10. A box jelly (sea wasp) sting can kill you within 2-3 minutes.

10 Facts About the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish
10 Jellyfish Facts for Kids and Jelly Enthusiasts

Guest Post: San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival

Guest Posts
San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival

Calling all aquatic creatures! We need you to motivate the humans who’ve filmed and studied you to submit their films for inclusion in an amazing festival. The San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival (SFIOFF) will take place from March 7-10, 2013, and showcase dozens of inspiring films about the ocean. Whether humans have recorded your migration, your birth, your tricks, or your habitat, we want to see it on the big screen. To submit, humans or other animals can visit the SFIOFF website call for entry here. The festival takes place at San Francisco’s Aquarium of the Bay, so all types of marine animals will be involved. Deadline extended to December 15, 2012.

The 200 year old Bowhead Whale: the Oldest Mammal on Earth

Marine Mammals, Whales
Greenland right whale
The 200 year old Bowhead Whale

I am a bowhead whale. I just celebrated my 200th birthday this year. That makes me the oldest living mammal on the planet! Sure, trees can live thousands of years, and the oldest living tree on earth is a bristlecone pine who is 4,841 years old, but look at me, I am twice as old as a tortoise!

To give you perspective, the year I was born was 1812. That year is known for the War of 1812, and it was when Francis Scott Key wrote the United States’ national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. Also, you may think of Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture.

The most amazing aspect of my life is that I avoided being hunted and killed by any whaling boats. Most of my friends were not as lucky as me. I chalk it up to a sixth sense of knowing when humans are around and avoiding them. Thank goodness bowhead whales were banned from commercial whaling in 1943.

We are also known as Greenland right whales. We can reach lengths of 60 feet (18m) and weigh over 100 tons (89 metric tons). Bowhead whales can live so long because we live in the icy Arctic. One explanation for my longevity is having a core body temperature lower than those animals living in warmer oceans.

Whaling is now low on my list of worries, and ocean pollution is now at the top. Food tastes different now because of all the tiny plastic bits that my food, the microscopic-sized plankton, ingests. Plastic is everywhere in the ocean, and all ocean life is affected by it. See Alby the Albatross’ post for more on plastic ocean pollution.

For more on how humans figured out how old I am, click here

UPDATE: Scientists have found a 507 year old clam named Ming!

Why Atlantic Bluefin Tuna May Become Extinct: The True Price of Sushi

Fish
fishing for bluefin tuna might cause their extinction
Bluefin Tuna photo by Monterey Bay Aquarium

There’s no feeling in the world like swimming at my top speed of 43.5 mph (70 kph), and sensing a bait ball in the water. A bait ball is when small schooling fishes like anchovies or sardines form a tight ball when predators are near. Their instinct is safety in numbers. To top level predators like me, it’s a dream come true! I live in the open ocean where food is scarce, and I have to be opportunistic whenever possible, or else I swim with an empty stomach.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tunny, and I am an Atlantic bluefin tuna. You most likely have encountered me at your local sushi restaurant where I am called “maguro.” Did you know that I am quickly becoming an endangered species? Atlantic bluefin tuna will become extinct if we keep getting fished at current rates. My counterparts in the Black Sea have already become extinct. In the last 40 years, bluefin tuna have declined by 72% in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, and by 82% in the Western Atlantic Ocean.

There are quotas in place to try and prevent overfishing by ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas), but that does not stop illegal fishing beyond those quotas. One record breaking bluefin tuna sold for a whopping $735,000! We can grow to be 990 pounds (450 kg), which is a lot of sushi.

The danger of fishing for tuna is not just that we may become extinct, but many fishing methods kill other animals during the process. This is called bycatch. On land, the equivalent would be hunting for deer, but also killing squirrels, birds, bears, and wolves along the way. Longline fishing sets out bait hooks at fixed intervals over a fishing line that may be several miles long. In the course of targeting tuna, animals such as seabirds, sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, and whales may also be caught. Those animals either need air to breathe, or must swim constantly to breathe, and they die when caught in a fishing line.

You can help! Download the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch App and avoid eating anything (including me!) on their red list.

Watch The Black Fish’s video about bluefin tuna

UPDATE: A single bluefin tuna has sold for a record-breaking 1.7 million US dollars!

UPDATE 2016: Pacific Bluefin population down by 97% Washington Post article “Sushi-alert: grim outlook for bluefin tuna”