#marine life

[deepdwellingsteamboat]

BLUE PLANET II 2017・1x03 Coral Reefs

[materterrae]

[fluffychubbydragon]

Saving this for a story I've wanted to write for a long time now. One that I've made a post to as well.

Hmmm I know octopuses are generally sweet and gentle and are just curious sea puppies (and I love them!), that being said, the thoughts of being dragged by my feet by one of them into the deep and dark ocean is… safe to say new fear has been unlocked

Source

[shark-a-day]

Todays shark is...

The Bluegrey Carpetshark!

Fun Fact: The Bluegrey Carpetshark, is a species presently known from only 50 records, mainly found in the east coast of Australia!

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: vaquita

This is the 2-year anniversary of me writing weekly posts about the biology and ecology of aquatic animals. The very first one I ever wrote was on the vaquita, the world's smallest and most endangered cetacean. That post was pretty clumsy and I didn't settle into my style until later, so for the anniversary, I'm going to redo it. This may be shorter than many of my WBW posts because there's not a whole lot we know about these animals.

(Image: a vaquita swimming just below the surface of the water. It is a small, grey porpoise with a rounded, snoutless head. There are black markings around its eyes and mouth. and a dark strip that runs from the cheeks to the pectoral fins. End ID)

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is a tiny porpoise that reaches a maximum of 150 cm (5 ft) and 68 kg (150 lbs). Porpoises are the smallest of the cetaceans and vaquitas are the smallest of them. Vaquitas have a dolphin-like shape, but without a noticeable beak, giving them rounded heads. Their dorsal fins are unusually long for a cetacean of their size. Vaquitas have light grey bodies with white underbellies that provide countershading. When something looks down on a vaquita from above, its darker body blends in with the sea floor. When something looks up at a vaquita from below, its white underbelly blends in with the sunlight. Vaquitas can be recognized by the dark markings around the eyes and mouth and a dark stripe that runs from the cheek to the pectoral fins.

(Image: a close-up of a vaquita's head poking out of the water. The dark markings around the yes and mouth and the stripe are clearly visible. End ID)

Vaquitas are found only in the northernmost reach of the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. The Gulf is one of the most ecologically diverse seas in the world, with vast quantities of life fed by the output of the Colorado and other rivers. Vaquitas have a range of roughly 3885 square km (1500 square miles), the smallest of any cetacean. They may have spanned the length of the Gulf before they became endangered. Vaquitas live in shallow, coastal waters, rarely living in water more than 50 m (164 ft) deep. They will enter and hunt in estuaries and lagoons so shallow the do not fully submerge the animal. Vaquitas are unique amongst porpoises for inhabiting warm water and being able to tolerate a wide range of temperatures. They are predators of fish, squid, and other invertebrates. Juveniles hunt fish in the water column while adults primarily target bottom-dwellers. They play an ecological role of transporting nutrients from the seafloor back into thee water column. Vaquitas are found either alone or in small pods. It is common among cetaceans for females and juveniles to form pods while makes either swim alone or with other males. This may be the case with vaquitas as well. Mating occurs in spring and summer, with a gestation period of 11 months. Calves are born one at a time weighing as little as 9 kg (20 lbs) and nurse for less than a year before weaning. Females mate every other year and the estimated life span is 21 years.

(Image: a pair of vaquitas swimming. Both have their heads poking out of the water to breathe. End ID)

The vaquita is one of the least well-known cetaceans. It was only formally classified as an animal in 1958 based on the discovery of their skulls. We know very little about them and may soon lose them forever. The total population is estimated to be less than 10 as of this year, making them the most endangered marine mammal in the world. The biggest threat to vaquitas is gill nets. The Gulf of California is home to major poaching operations for the totoaba drum (Totoaba macdonaldi), whose swim bladders are considered a delicacy and used for quack medicine in China. Totoaba are a similar size to vaquitas and so the gill nets used to catch them are also very likely to entangle vaquitas, who then drown. The vaquita's range was legally protected from gill net fishing by the governments of Mexico and the United States, but poaching continues despite patrols and the placing of structures intended to damage nets. Current conservation efforts largely focus on population monitoring and the detection and removal of illegal gill nets as well as attempted disruption of the black market totoaba trade. Colossal Biosciences, a company that is trying to revive recently extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and thylacine, has announced a plan to obtain and store Vaquita DNA to possibly revive the species if it goes extinct. Previous attempts to capture and breed vaquitas in captivity failed after the animals died of stress. Shrimp nets also pose a risk of bycatch and 80% of shrimp caught in the northern Gulf are eaten in the USA. It is useful to research where the fish and shrimp you eat comes from to avoid buying shrimp caught in Vaquita habitat. Other threats include habitat change driven by the damming of the Colorado River and pollution. Some biologists consider the vaquita to be functionally extinct, meaning that even if conservation efforts are immediately effective, the population is so low that they are below the minimum viable population needed to sustain viable genetic diversity and will go extinct anyway.

(Image: a vaquita being handles by conservationists. Two people are holding it out of the water. End ID)

I've had a lot of fun doing this series and have learned a lot about new and interesting animals. This series, (especially the bonnethead shark post) helped me expand from a nobody blog to having lots of followers and making friends. I started the series to encourage me to use Tumblr more and its safe to say that worked out. Thanks for reading and enjoying these posts. Here's to year 3.

[mothfernss]

Manta Ray Bag live April 1st -> link 🫧

[seasideseals]

" a gift to u . . . " ( ^ w ^ ✿⁠) *⁠.⁠ ✧

[creds to aguhiyori]

[kahuna-64]

🌊🌊🌊🌊

[little-red-fool]

Doing important research for DS2 Higgs (ties into my theory that he’s being possessed by a quasi-divine octopus in the second game)

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

And whoever edits their videos chose excellent music!

I'm enjoying the amazing high-quality images of these sea creatures that an expedition sighted in the underwater mountains off the coast of Chile. Over 100 suspected new species were found in February 2024.

[shark-a-day]

Todays shark is...

The Banded Wobbegong!

Fun Fact: The Banded Wobbegong shark is found in bays, on rocky reef areas, coral reefs, including lagoons and reef flats, reef faces, and reef channels, as well as around offshore islands!

[comeguessmethisriddle]

well? can you?

[grayrazor]

Bonus extra ones I thought of later: Video games!

LEGO THEMES!

The Submarine Exploration Adventure Genre