Prehistoric Shark Follow-Up

After only three weeks of discovering the deep water, prehistoric, frill shark in Japan; another creature from the deep, the goblin shark, turned up off the coast of Japan. The researchers needed to get their hands on this guy too, and wouldn’t you know he died in his new, unfamiliar home after only a few days! It is explained in the video that the goblin shark may have died due to such a drastic change in water pressure when it was “pulled up” from around 1200 meters to only 160 meters; and/ or due to the stress of an alien environment in the marine park. Perhaps if another shark or creature from the deep decides to show it’s self in shallower waters, researchers will not take it from its home but find some other way to gather information without aiding in its death.

Hagfish

I was intrigued to learn of the Hagfish’s defense mechanism in today’s class. I’ve heard of squid spraying ink, sea cucumbers releasing their insides, and deep sea creatures that live in what is called the “twilight zone” discharging bioluminescent chemicals to distract and confuse predators, all of which amazed me. It was something about the slime, however, that tempted me to check out some interesting videos of hagfish. This one was the slimiest!



I also found it quite interesting that hagfish, which are mainly scavengers, have the ability to latch onto slow moving fish with their round suction mouths that contain many pointed teeth, and eat their way into the victims’ body leaving only skin and skeleton.

Prehistoric Shark

I thought the bi-cuspid tooth we saw today in class was pretty amazing until I saw the tri-cuspid tooth of this prehistoric frilled shark! It's species name, anguineus, means "eel-like", referring to the long, slender, eel-like body which appears to be highly flexible in this video. The frilled shark was thought to be extinct until just this year when the shark in this video was discovered off the coast of Japan in January! Apparently the researchers were so excited they decided that even though the shark was in rough shape when they found it, it would be ok to put it through the stress of trying to move it to a research lab. Surprise, surprise it died hours after arriving. At what price is the research worth it? Kind of reminds me of the man who dedicated his life to giant squid and then killed the first baby he caught. What a sin.

Jellyfish Stings/ Remedies

I was interested in some jellyfish sting remedies after discussing Jellyfish in class the other day. We’ve all heard of urine being a cure for the pain (also, unfortunately, the most readily available) but according to all the websites I checked out, urine is not on the list for soothing the pain. In fact, many sources reported that urine can create more pain by causing tentacles or nematocysts that have not been activated, to release their stinging toxin. Rubbing the wound, pouring ammonia and/or freshwater on the wound can also cause the same reaction. Alcohol was on the fence, recommended by some and discouraged by others, which leads me to believe that it must work for some.
White vinegar and saltwater were the most commonly recommended treatment, along with removing the tentacles with tweezers or protective gloves, then shaving the wound using shaving cream, mud, or baking soda paste to stop the release of venom while shaving. Meat tenderizer was my favorite suggestion for a sting remedy… how do people come up with these things?!!? It was surprising how many websites actually recommended this treatment. One website did discuss the fact that a scientific study has never been done to disprove meat tenderizer as a cure for jellyfish stings but that it has in fact been tested in labs on rats stung by bees and bitten by ants. They found no difference in welt size.
I can’t remember the last time I was stung by a jellyfish but I think I’ll stick with vinegar from the fish and chips stand!

Anisakiasis

In Japan anisakiasis is a recognized public health problem due to the substantial amount of raw and under cooked fish eaten in the Japanese culture. A lot of the time anisakiasis is misdiagnosed as appendicitis, peptic ulcer, or stomach cancer. It can be avoided by freezing the fish before letting it thaw and eating it raw or by simply cooking it. Many sushi restaurants perform a “safety” act called “candling” to eliminate any herring worms/ larvae before serving up the raw fish, but according to the Centre for Disease Control this is totally useless (“the efficacy of this method is on par with rain dancing”).
The whole cycle of an anisakias’s life is quite disturbing, especially when it is ingested by humans and makes its way to the intestine where it can take up permanent residence. This video clip shows the only way to get rid of the worm once it has made its way to the intestine. Amazing that we have the technology to find and extract this little guy and thank goodness, how terrible would it be to have a WORM living in you! Gross!

Antifouling Paints

After a bit of research I discovered that antifouling paints aren’t necessarily all that bad, as long as they do not contain the chemical TBT.
The International Marine Organization (IMO) has banned the use of antifouling paints that contain TBT. This is a step forward but enforcing this law is what really matters.
One company, said to be the largest paint company in the world, Interlux, has created a TBT free paint product that offers the same level of protection as TBT based products. This offers boat owners a legal, environmentally friendlier way to protect their boats from fouling. The new and improved “Biolux SPC” paint, however, continues to release biocide into the water as it protects the boat. I found mixed reviews on the impacts of TBT free biocide to the environment, some reports say its fine and others, damaging. Not to disregard biocide as an issue, but to point out something that may outweigh its impacts is the fact that, without antifouling paints (TBT or not) the amounts of fossil fuels, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere due to drag created by fouling, is enormous. So perhaps with this in mind, released biocides from TBT free antifouling paints are bearable considering the alternative? Yes in a perfect world neither would be acceptable, but unfortunately and fortunately we are still trying to live in a world of compromise.

check out sources here and here

The beach clean up this weekend was a total success! Even though we were hoping for more people to show up, with the amount of garbage collected… we all felt better about what we had done for our ocean.The items we collected surprised us all. On Saturday, at Point Pleasant Park, there was a ridiculous amount of tampon applicators! We were so disgusted that some of us are now working on a poster to put up in women’s public washrooms around the city, showing women exactly where their applicators end up. On Sunday we found a lot of garbage along the trails at Crystal Crescent as well as on the beach. Everything from smashed lobster traps and tires to rusted propane tanks and a dirt bike helmet! It is saddening to think that we collected this much trash in March. With the “off season” for beaching just ending who knows what the summer crowd will bring. Scary thought. Hopefully this won’t be the last beach clean up for this group of students!