 |
Awesome Animals in the Sea |
News Archive
There must be something in the water! While there are millions of undiscovered species out there, and news ones being discovered every day, two extremely rare animals grabbed the media's attention within days of each other in June 2009.
A prickly shark, also known as Echinorhinus cookei, was caught off the coast of California and brought to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for observation. Named for the sharp scales that cover its body (which have been compared to rose thorns), not much is known about the species because it normally lives at depths of 3,000 feet — in fact, this is only the second time one has ever been captured! The shark was put on display so aquarium visitors could see the new guy up close, but it was soon clear that something wasn't right.
Instead of swimming around normally, the prickly shark seemed to have trouble moving, even turning belly-up and going into what was described as a "hypnotic state." Aquarium staff guessed this difficulty swimming had to do with the fact that the shark had a higher amount of body fat than normal, something that was perfect for living in the high-pressure, low-temperature depths of the ocean, but not so great for a man-made aquarium. Biologists worried that the shark would die if kept in captivity for much longer so, just hours after it was brought in, a team of experts worked together to put the shark back into the ocean.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country near Cape Cod Massachusetts, another just-as-rare animal was found in the unlikeliest of places. Nathan Nickerson, a restaurant owner, was given a lobster as a gift by a friend. Not out of the ordinary in his line of work, but this wasn't any old crustacean. While most lobsters are a muddy brown or green color, this lobster was a bright yellow-orange, a color experts have said is a one in 30 million occurrence!
Nicknamed "Fiona" after Mr. Nickerson's granddaughter, local biologists have estimated that this particular lobster is seven years old, and are amazed at how she has survived that long — being such a light color makes her more attractive to predators, but that's something she doesn't need to worry about anymore! Mr. Nickerson has no plans to serve to her his customers any time soon, and hopes to eventually donate her to the New England Aquarium for study.
A prickly shark, also known as Echinorhinus cookei, was caught off the coast of California and brought to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for observation. Named for the sharp scales that cover its body (which have been compared to rose thorns), not much is known about the species because it normally lives at depths of 3,000 feet — in fact, this is only the second time one has ever been captured! The shark was put on display so aquarium visitors could see the new guy up close, but it was soon clear that something wasn't right.
Instead of swimming around normally, the prickly shark seemed to have trouble moving, even turning belly-up and going into what was described as a "hypnotic state." Aquarium staff guessed this difficulty swimming had to do with the fact that the shark had a higher amount of body fat than normal, something that was perfect for living in the high-pressure, low-temperature depths of the ocean, but not so great for a man-made aquarium. Biologists worried that the shark would die if kept in captivity for much longer so, just hours after it was brought in, a team of experts worked together to put the shark back into the ocean.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country near Cape Cod Massachusetts, another just-as-rare animal was found in the unlikeliest of places. Nathan Nickerson, a restaurant owner, was given a lobster as a gift by a friend. Not out of the ordinary in his line of work, but this wasn't any old crustacean. While most lobsters are a muddy brown or green color, this lobster was a bright yellow-orange, a color experts have said is a one in 30 million occurrence!
Nicknamed "Fiona" after Mr. Nickerson's granddaughter, local biologists have estimated that this particular lobster is seven years old, and are amazed at how she has survived that long — being such a light color makes her more attractive to predators, but that's something she doesn't need to worry about anymore! Mr. Nickerson has no plans to serve to her his customers any time soon, and hopes to eventually donate her to the New England Aquarium for study.