In 1958, the SciFi film The Blob terrorized movie goers. Now an actual blob various appendages has been videotaped in the South Atlantic ocean. In this instance, the blob is actually a giant jellyfish first discovered in the 1960’s but rarely observed.

It’s still creepy.



";" alt=""> The Blob Jellyfish from the South Atlantic (credit: YouTube)

WHB







...

Ecological food webs are intricate, remain stable due to their biological complexity, but can be easily disrupted if over stressed. Some the most delicate food webs exist in the oceans where forage fish are the foundation for all life higher up the chain.

Forage fish feeding structures nourish sea birds, tuna, penguins, and marine mammals like whales and dolphins worldwide. Often called “trash fish” or “bait fish” small fish species like krill, menhaden, and anchovies are essential to the life of the oceans. They are under increasing pressure from over-harvesting for industrial uses such as fish meal for feeding commercial aquaculture farms and processed into dietary supplements. Estimates made in 2010 of menhaden populations off the Atlantic coast determined that this species had been reduced to only eight percent of its maximum potential due to industrial overfishing.

The Lenfest Foundation, in association with the Pew Environmental Trust, has just...

Few are likely to have heard of Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis, a white octopus, or the mosh-pit piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs living thousands of feet below the ocean surface living beside massive black smokers. They are just two of the striking marine creatures spotted by researchers using undersea robots off Antarctica. Their discovery was just reported by the online journal, PloS-Biology, and they continue to extend our understanding of extreme life existing next to hydrothermal vents deep in the worlds oceans.

According to the Antarctic expedition leader Alex Rogers of Oxford University, seeing the diversity of life near the undersea hot springs was "almost like a sight from another planet".

Rogers and his team used a robot called ISIS to scout the sea floor to see the springs of black, smoky water that can attain temperatures exceeding 700 degrees Fahrenheit. The hydrothermal vents occur along cracks in the ocean floor where the continental plates grind together and produce scalding temperatures and boiling water rich in dissolved minerals. The vents give rise to huge mineralized chimneys that support a vast diversity of strange life forms. Some of the organisms were observed for the first time in Antarctica because these hot, extreme, ecosystems were only discovered in the late 1970’s near the Galapagos and as this was the first dive near the ice-bound continent. More creatures will surely to be discovered in future dives....

Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are among the smallest sea turtles and the most endangered in the world. They nest on beaches in Mexico, spend much of their lives along the Gulf coastline the United States, and can also be found on the Atlantic coast of the U.S.A. occasionally. One Kemps Ridley turtle made a visit to Europe via the Atlantic Gulf Stream current probably attached to a bit of seaweed carried north during a storm. It was found disoriented, weak, and rescued from a beach in The Netherlands. The young turtle was named Johnny and rehabilitated at the Rotterdam Zoo. 

Johnny moved onto an aquarium in Portugal and then to another zoological park which raised it for release back into its normal Gulf Coast ocean environment. The turtle had traveled so much that the Portuguese named him “Johnny Vasco da Gama,” after the 16th Century Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.

...

Whenever a species believed extinct is rediscovered it is good news. Typically a reported extinct bird, reptile, or rare palm is re-discovered in a remote hiding place to great celebration. Now a gigantic sponge has joined the list, the famous Neptune’s Cup of tropical Asia. Researchers spotted the sponge in shallow waters during a routine diving trip near Singapore.

Neptune’s Cup were huge sponges that were first discovered in 1822. They grew so large they were used as kids bath tubs.



...

The killing of sharks continues unabated. Reports have surfaced from the Malpelo Wildlife Sanctuary, a Colombian marine reserve, that perhaps 2000 sharks were discovered slaughtered for their fins within the reserve. Malpelo National Park and the wildlife sanctuary are consider one of the finest marine national parks in the world and a prime destination for diving and ecotourism. Shark fins are consumed in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and elsewhere in Asia as an expensive soup.

According to Colombian tourist publicity: Malpelo National Park lies 330 miles west of the Colombia Mainland requiring a lengthy journey to reach a volcanic oceanic plateau topped with a rocky island and numerous underwater sea pinnacles. The National Park was established in the year 1995 and covers nearly one million acres of seascape. Malpelo NP is prime wildlife...

Ecological webs start with many small things living at the bottom of the food chain and then expanding upwards to a few large creatures inhabiting the top of the ladder. In between are all nature of species making up the chain. If you disrupt either the bottom feeders or the top predators many other ecological alterations—typically unexpected and negative --can occur. The case of a small and once considered a trash fish, the Menhaden, is a showcase for such potential unintended ecosystem consequences.

Menhaden and their eggs are the basic foodstuff for many Atlantic Ocean species including tuna, bluefish, striped bass, blue crabs, sea birds, turtles, and numerous marine mammals. Menhaden are also commercially harvested and processed into fish meal and oil used in fertilizer, livestock and aquaculture feeds, pet foods, and diet supplements. Menhaden also produce copious eggs which can restore and renew their fisheries. Population estimates vary along...

Good news about coral reefs is rare nowadays but research from reefs in French Polynesia is very encouraging. New studies have uncovered a case where parrotfish and surgeonfish, that clean sea algae from the reefs, also protect juvenile fish and corals as well. These fish have helped reefs recover from damaging cyclones and predators like starfish. The results could be applied anywhere damaged reefs exist.

The research was conducted by UC Santa Barbara and the Moorea Coral Reef Long-Term Ecological Research Program (MCR-LTER) and published in the online journal PLoS ONE. The studies show how the parrotfish nurture reef recovery from Crown-of-Thorns, an invading predatory starfish, that attacks and eats coral.





...