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AFP – Friday, July 16
TOKYO (AFP) – – A monster tuna caught off Japan turned heads at a Tokyo fish market Friday, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin — the biggest caught here since 1986 — sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars).
“Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a tuna that big,” said an official of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which runs the Tsukiji fish market, the world’s biggest seafood market.
The fish, which was auctioned at 7,200 yen per kilogram, had already been gutted and cleaned of its gills, meaning it must have weighed more when it was caught off Nagasaki prefecture this week, the official said.
“It is extremely rare to see a tuna heavier than 400 kilograms,” he said.
The biggest Japanese tuna sold at Tsukiji was a 496-kilogram beast caught in April 1986 — but the biggest tuna from the world’s oceans to be sold here was a Canadian fish caught in 1995 weighing 497 kilograms.
Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash, pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Japan consumes three-quarters of the global bluefin catch, a highly prized sushi ingredient, known in Japan as “kuro maguro” (black tuna) and dubbed by sushi connoisseurs as the “black diamond” because of its scarcity.
A piece of “otoro” or fatty underbelly can cost 2,000 yen (22 dollars) at high-end Tokyo restaurants.
Attaining an unconfirmed length of 3 m, the Mekong giant catfish grows extremely quickly, reaching a mass of 150 to 200 kg in only six years. The largest catch recorded in Thailand since record-keeping began in 1981 was a female measuring 2.7 m (roughly 9 feet) in length and weighing 293 kg (646 lb). This specimen, caught in 2005, is widely recognized as the largest freshwater fish ever caught (although sturgeon can far exceed this size, they can be anadromous). Mekong giant catfish have been confirmed as anadromous also. Thai Fisheries officials stripped the fish of its eggs as part of a breeding programme, intending then to release it, but the fish died in captivity and was sold as food to local villagers.
Grey to white in colour and lacking stripes, the Mekong giant catfish is distinguished by the near-total lack of barbels and the absence of teeth.
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent, 18 July 2010
Coral reefs are suffering widespread damage in what is set to be one of the worst years ever for the delicate and beautiful habitats.
The phenomenon, known as coral bleaching because the reefs turn bone white when the colourful algae that give the coral its colour and food is lost, has been reported throughout south east Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
Divers and scientists have described huge areas of previously pristine reef being turned into barren white undersea landscapes off the coast of Thailand and Indonesia.
The popular island tourist destination the Maldives have also suffered severe bleaching. Reefs in the Caribbean could also be under threat.
High ocean temperatures this year are being blamed for the bleaching, which experts fear could be worse than a similar event in 1998 which saw an estimated 16 per cent of the world’s reefs being destroyed.
Dr Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, said: “The bleaching is very strong throughout south east Asia and the central Indian Ocean.
“The reports are that it is the worst since 1997/1998. This is a really huge event and we are going to see a lot of corals dying.”
Coral reefs provide refuge and food to nearly a quarter of all marine species, making them among the most biologically diverse habitats on the planet. Bleaching can also rob fish and other species of important shelter and food sources.
Although reefs can often recover from bleaching, it leaves the coral vulnerable to damage from storms, infections and other environmental stress, increasing the risk of deaths.
Coral reef monitoring teams have reported mass bleaching of coral reefs off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia while the Maldives, Sri Lanka and reefs off the coast of east Africa have also been hit.
With ocean temperatures reaching record levels and combined with the end of an El Nino episode, scientists fear there could be even more damage to corals as the year continues.
Scientists in Thailand have reported reefs suffering 90% of their corals being bleached and up to 20% of the corals dead.
Olivia Durkin, who is leading the bleaching monitoring at the Centre for Biodiversity in Peninsular Thailand, said: “This year’s severe coral bleaching has the potential to be the worst on record.
“Extensive bleaching, death and disease are reported not only in corals, but giant clams, sea anemones and soft corals are also losing their symbiotic algae.”
Corals are a delicate combination of animal, algae and rock that form intricate undersea structures, providing shelter for thousands of brightly coloured fish and also acting as nurseries for the young of many larger open sea fish.
Coral colonies are made up of polyps, which secrete a stony skeleton that forms the intricate and delicate looking structures. A microscopic algae known as zooxanthellae live within the coral where they convert energy from the sun into food for the coral animals.
Bleaching usually occurs when ocean temperatures exceed a threshold that is around one degree higher than the average seen during the warmest summer months.
Although scientists do not fully understand why it happens, bleaching is thought to occur when these prolonged periods of these high temperatures combine with excessive sunlight levels.
This causes the symbiotic algae in the coral to become over active, causing it to poison the coral host and leading to the coral expelling the algae into the surrounding water to defend itself.
Without the algae to provide food and nutrition, the corals grow weak and leaves them vulnerable to disease and damage from storms.
In many cases the coral dies, leaving an undersea wasteland that quickly becomes infested with weedlike algae which covers every surface.
It can take corals between 10 and 70 years to recover from such bleaching events. Climate scientists have also warned that bleaching will become more common as global temperatures continue to rise.
Research published on Friday in the journal Science showed that coral growth in the Red Sea has declined by a third over the past 12 years due to rising temperatures and warned that coral there would cease growing entirely by 2070 if warming continues.
Volunteers in Cambodia say this year they have seen bleaching of 90% to 100% of the shallow water reefs around the country’s coast Koh Rong and Koh rong Semleon Islands after water temperatures rose by 3 degrees.
Half of the reefs off Weh, in Indonesia have seen 80% of their corals bleached.
Stuart Campbell, director of marines programs at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, said: “This is an unfortunate situation, as coral reefs of northern Aceh have shown remarkable resilience in the aftermath of the tsunami which hit the area in December 2004.
“In May 4% of colonies were recorded dead. The level of coral mortality that will occur in all is still unknown.”
Many of the reefs in the Pacific that have been hit had survived previous bleaching events with little impact.
The reefs at Lord Howe Island about 370 miles off the east coast of Australia. which are a World Heritage Site for their unique beauty and biodiversity, have also been hit by its largest ever recorded bleaching event.
Reefs in the Maldives have been slowly recovering since high ocean temperatures in 1998 caused widespread bleaching of corals around the world. Biologists fear this new bleaching will damage the already vulnerable reef further.
Mayotte, which is off the coast of northern Madagascar, has suffered high levels of mortality in the wake of the bleaching.
There are also concerns that the bleaching could spread to popular tourist reefs in the Caribbean after temperatures there have been high since the start of the year.
Dr Eakin added: “This year may be a tough year in the Caribbean. It all depends on what the tropical storms do.
“When I visited Thailand a couple of weeks ago, it was an eerie experience to look around to see white in places that should have been full of bright colours and life. It was almost worse than looking at a dead reef, because what we were looking at was a reef that was right on the verge of dying.”
“It doesn’t just effect the corals themselves but the fish that live there. There were anemone fish sitting in the middle of bleached anemone behaving strangely and not defending their territory. It was like they were a little stunned.
“For species that feed on coral, this is even worse for them.”
There are also concerns for the health of native UK corals growing off the coast after species such as the pink sea fan have been devastated by disease.
POULSBO — Floating in the middle of Liberty Bay, Patrick Mus kissed “Mr. Bob,”the giant Pacific octopus, goodbye on Thursday.
The director of the Poulsbo Marine Science Center bid farewell to the octopus nearly a year after it took up residence in a science center tank, the second such octopus to be caught and put on display to show center visitors the diversity of sea life in Puget Sound.
“You can make a lasting impression on kids,” Mus said. “Which is the goal.”
Mr. Bob came to the center last August weighing 1.2 pounds and measuring 22 inches. On Thursday, he was estimated to weigh 50 pounds and measure between 9 and 10 feet from tip to tip.
The life span of the great Pacific octopus ranges from four to five years. Mr. Bob is estimated to be between 3 and 4.
“He’s not young,” Mus said.
Octopuses die shortly after mating. Mus hopes that with Mr. Bob’s sexual organs fully developed, he’ll mate in his natural habitat.
“I don’t want him to die in a tank,” Mus said.
Mr. Bob was transported from his tank to the bay via bucket. But the process didn’t go completely as planned.
Volunteers raised the bucket — with Mr. Bob’s arms poking out — from the tank. While being lowered to the ground, Mr. Bob managed to climb out of the bucket and on to the marine science center’s floor.
Onlookers, like marine center volunteer Halie Wirth, 18, jumped into action to get him back into the bucket.
“He was heavy,” Wirth said.
The bucket was placed on a cart and wheeled out to a boat as visitors waved goodbye.
Matthew Curry, 3, and his sister, 2-year-old Janie, visited Mr. Bob weekly with their grandparents while he was at the marine science center. As they watched the octopus being loaded on the boat, they waved, shouting, “Bye bye, Bob!”
Mr. Bob was released near the same location that his predecessor, Mr. Sam, was last June.
Mr. Bob’s pale color indicated he was stressed. Mus had to climb in the water to give Mr. Bob some extra convincing. But after forcing him out of the bucket, Mus was able to offer him wishes for a good life and bid him goodbye.
The search for Mr. Bob’s successor will begin immediately. Mus will go diving in search of a new octopus to display this week before he leaves for an extended work absence.
17 July 2010
MADRID – THE Madrid Zoo said on Thursday that it has made an offer to buy Paul, the octopus who became a pop culture sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of as many World Cup matches as he has legs – all seven of Germany’s games plus the Spain-Netherlands final.
The zoo said it made the offer after receiving hundreds of requests from Spaniards for Paul’s transfer from a German aquarium after Spain won the World Cup on Sunday.
Zoo spokesperson Amparo Fernandez said an unspecified amount of cash was offered for the purchase of Paul, now a hero in Spain, which went wild after it won its first World Cup ever.
‘We hope that within the next few days we will be able to confirm news that the admirable Paul will be part of the club of the most loved and charismatic animals of the Madrid Zoo,’ said a statement from the zoo.
Paul’s owner – the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany – declined immediate comment and requested that a reporter send questions by e-mail.
The intuitive invertebrate was retired this week from predicting football game outcomes, and Madrid Zoo officials promised he wouldn’t be used again for similar duties. — AP
17 July 2010
SYDNEY: An Australian newspaper has taken a leaf out of the football World Cup playbook, unveiling its own “psychic” octopus that it says has predicted Prime Minister Julia Gillard will win next month’s poll.
The Sydney Morning Herald showed off “Cassandra” just as Gillard told the Australian people that they would go to national elections on August 21.
The paper hopes Cassandra will rival the predictive powers of “Paul”, a German octopus that called a string of results including the World Cup winner.
“Cassandra’s preference for Julia Gillard was clear,” the newspaper said.
“Despite being a solitary animal, she wrapped her long arms around the Prime Minister,” it said next to a photo of the octopus wound around a picture of Gillard.
But the octopus’s reaction to conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott’s photo was less enthusiastic — she turned a “defensive black colour”, the paper said.
Marine science expert Professor Rob Harcourt however warned that as octopuses have “episodic personalities”, Cassandra could change her eight-tentacled vote at any time.
“On any given day, an octopus may be bold in all situations and then shy and timid the next day,” he told the paper
14 July, By Brooks Peck
International icon and unofficial king of Spain, Paul the Oracle Octopus has officially retired from the World Cup match-predicting racket and may now be used to cash in. According to CNN, the Sea Life aquarium where Paul resides is entertaining offers for Paul’s promotional services and PR people are drooling over his potential to make millions.
PR guru Max Clifford, best known for generating tabloid headlines such as “Freddie Starr ate my hamster,” believes Paul, who was born in England, has ended his soothsaying days at exactly the right time. “Obviously his 100 percent record is remarkable but the minute he gets it wrong it all disappears,” Clifford told CNN.
Now Paul could star in light-hearted commercials. “If you get it right, and remember Paul has had worldwide success … you’re talking about an earning potential of £2 or £3 million (up to $4.5 million), maybe more. It’s got to bring a smile to everybody’s face. You’ve got the world’s first multimillion-pound octopus here.
Up to $4.5 million for the endorsement of an octopus that ate a clam out of a box labeled with the flag of a match-winning team eight consecutive times? It’s ridiculous, but when you consider the money paid to humans who have done far less than that to endorse a wide range of horrible products, it starts to make sense.
The only problem with Paul? He’s just six months shy of the average three-year lifespan for an octopus. Then again, that’s probably a generous assessment of how long people will remember him anyway.
Another expert agreed, saying there was no limit to the ways in which Paul could be marketed. “Obviously he has a short shelf life but there are many options,” said Allyson Stewart-Allen, director of London-based International Marketing Partners.
“A good use for him would be in adverts featuring two competing brands, such as Coke or Pepsi. Which does Paul prefer?” said Stewart-Allen.
“The gaming industry would be the logical use for Paul, or marketing a service that compares the market. Or he could just be an icon, marketing a company like Octopus Travel, for instance.
So keep an eye out for Paul the octopus billboards, TV ads and Happy Meal toys over the coming months. Followed by the most expensive octopus dish ever.
Photo: Getty Images
Spain to win world cup says octopus oracle
When talking about health and eating habits, fish, as an alternative to other meats, comes up a lot. We all know tuna has good-for-you Omega 3S, but also an abundance of bad-for-you mercury. But for bluefin tuna in particular, there’s another compelling reason to consider ditching the stuff despite its (debatable) health benefits.
The World Wildlife Fund recently warned that Atlantic bluefin tuna will be wiped out completely by 2012 if we don’t halt the overfishing of it. Imagining a world without tuna fish in just three years is frightening to me. That grim prediction is certainly enough to make me never eat tuna again. Or at least for a while. I don’t believe that our eating habits, for health or other reasons, should ever cause the extinction of a species—period.
The WWF reports that the tuna population can only be saved if we halt fishing completely this May and June—which happens to be prime fishing season. Sergi Tudela of WWF said, “Bluefin tuna is collapsing as we speak and yet the fishery will kick off for business as usual. It is absurd and inexcusable to open a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing.”
Behind the problem with bluefin tuna:
The WWF reports that the average size of a mature tuna has been halved since the 1990s along with an increase in demand. This has impacted the population of tuna immensely since bigger fish produce many more offspring than smaller ones.
What you can do to help the bluefin tuna problem
Stop eating tuna. At least for a while. If we can at least give the species a temporary rest from overfishing, they may not have to die off entirely at the hand of our eating habits.
12 July 2010, bossip
In the end, it’s Spain hoisting the 2010 FIFA World Cup trophy. It’s the first World Cup championship for Spain, the pre-tournament favorite, which defeated Netherlands 1-0 in the World Cup final. Spain is the eighth country to win the World Cup, and the first first-time winner since France won in 1998. Andrés Iniesta scored the eventual game-winner in the final minutes of extra time. Spain capitalized on the man advantage, after Netherlands defender John Heitinga was sent off. The win came after a rough game, that featured plenty of yellow cards, but no scoring during regulation.
Spain is now the first country to win the World Cup after losing its first contest. La Furia Roja fell to Switzerland in a shocking upset to open the tournament before regaining form.
Since that loss, Spain — the Group H winner — has won six consecutive matches, including an arresting 1-0 win against Germany in the semifinal to reach the World Cup final. FIFA already recognized Spain’s impressive run by placing three Spanish players on the shortlist for Golden Ball award nominees, more than any other team. Note: The game got off to a curious start when Jimmy Jump, a man notorious for his sporting event invasions, attempted to place a hat on the World Cup trophy.
