Cute or not? Golden puffer fish

Photo credit: Dr. Scott M. Lieberman - AP

Texas death row inmate wants to feed the fish

Texas death row inmate Gene Hathorn, who was convicted of killing his father, step-mother and half brother in 1984, has agreed to give his body to Danish based artist Marco Evaristti, for use in an art installation. Mr. Evaristti plans to freeze Mr. Hathorn's body and then turn it into fish food.

Visitors to the as yet unnamed venue would then be able to feed Mr. Hathorn's remains to hundreds of goldfish in a giant aquarium.

This isn't the first somewhat unusual project for Mr. Evaristti. In 2000 he placed goldfish in an electric blender at a Danish art museum, giving visitors the option of turning the machine on and killing the fish. Last year, he also held a dinner party where the main course consisted of meatballs partly made with fat removed from his own body by liposuction.

Source: Dallas News

Georgia Aquarium Acquires And Displays First Manta Ray

The Georgia Aquarium is now home to the only manta ray on exhibit in the United States. The ray, named Nandi, was rescued from shark nets along the South African coast last year.

Most aquariums can't house a manta ray because of how large the animal gets -- up to 26 feet across and weighing about 6,000 pounds. The graceful animal is the largest of the rays.

But the Georgia Aquarium's 6.3 million-gallon salt water exhibit has plenty room for Nandi, who is about 9 feet from the tip of 1 wing to the other and still growing.

Aquarium spokesman Dave Santucci said Nandi had outgrown her home in South Africa, and the Georgia Aquarium jumped at the rare chance to exhibit a manta ray.

Nandi was released into the aquarium's enormous Ocean Voyager tank on Friday and has her official public debut today.

Manta rays are listed as a threatened species. The mammoth diamond-shaped animal has a black top and white bottom with wings that move gracefully up and down as they swim through the water.

Just three other countries house manta rays at aquariums: Japan, Spain and the Bahamas.

Source: Live5News.com

Photo credit: John Bazemore / AP

Here's the ultimate fish story

When Peter Hodge learned he had terminal motor neurone disease, he requested his remains be mixed in with the special groundbait he used to catch fish in his local river.

The 61-year-old, from Puriton, near Bridgewater in Somerset said he wanted to swim with his favorite fish in the spot where he spent 40 happy years angling.

After his death last month he was cremated in a wicker fishing basket coffin, and his ashes were mingled with 30lb of fish food.

"He wanted the fish to gobble him up so he could swim up and down the river after his death."

Source: Telegraph

A fishy story

Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.

Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.

The fish are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.

Source: Boston.com

Joke: Fish Heads

A customer at Green's Gourmet Grocery marveled at the proprietor's quick wit and intelligence.

"Tell me, Green, what makes you so smart?"

"I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone," Green replies, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear. "But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant."

"You sell them here?" the customer asks.

"Only $5 each," says Green.

The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.

"You didn't eat enough," says Green. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads. Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry.

"Hey, Green," he says, "You're selling me fish heads for $5 apiece when I can buy the whole fish for $3. You're ripping me off!"

"You see?" says Green. "You're smarter already."

Amazing mass migration of Golden Rays

Sandra Critelli, an amateur photographer, stumbled across the biannual mass migration of thousands of Golden Rays gathering off the coast of Mexico while looking for whale sharks.


She said: "It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind."

More photos of this phenomenon at the Telegraph

Killer virus threatens fish in in Great Lakes

(Click photo for full-size)

When thousands of bloody, hemorrhaging fish recently turned up on the Lake Michigan shore south of Milwaukee, it confirmed the worst fears of scientists worried that an Ebola-like virus stalking Great Lakes fish would strike closer to Chicago.

Unlike many other diseases that tend to hit one or two types of fish, this viral strain has led to large fish kills involving more than 30 species, including valuable sport fish such as salmon, trout, walleye, muskie, bass and perch.

The infection, called viral hemorrhagic septicemia or VHS, doesn't threaten human health but could be devastating to the $4 billion commercial and sport fishing industry in the Great Lakes.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia is an invasive species. The virus tends to be more destructive and pervasive here than in the lakes and rivers of Europe where it originated, but it's difficult to predict how it will affect Great Lakes species in the long term.

Some fish can resist the virus, but they can still spread it through urine and other fluids. Those that get sick become listless and ultimately bleed to death.

Pregnant for Father's Day

In the weedy sea dragon family it's the dads that carry the eggs, and this one is pregnant for only the third time ever at a U.S. aquarium, Georgia Aquarium officials said.

The sea dragon has about 70 fertilized eggs — which look like small red grapes — attached to his tail. He is expected to give birth in early to mid-July.

Sea dragons, sea horses and pipe fish are the only species where the male carries the eggs.

Source: Newsvine

China prepares for the Olympics in their own cruel way

A cute little cartoon fish is one of the mascots for the Beijing Olympics.

But this sick tourist trinket shows a shocking contempt for the creatures – with a live goldfish stuffed into a tiny plastic bag on a keyring.

The bag is sealed so there is only enough oxygen to last for a few hours at the most. Then the goldfish will simply suffocate.

The keyrings – aimed predominantly at children – are already selling fast in markets in Qingdao, the city that will host the sailing events for this summer’s Games.

(via Critter News)

Sturgeon having a ball in Columbia River

When sonar surveys spotted a vast pile of rubble in the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam late last winter, officials suddenly worried part of the dam structure was eroding into the river.

What they found below the spillways in February was not a giant pile of rock at all, but a humongous pile of thousands upon thousands of sturgeon - some of them 14 feet long or longer - lounging together in frigid water at the bottom of the river.

The mountain of white sturgeon contained around 60,000 fish, according to a crude estimate by Michael Parsley, a research fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Columbia River Research Laboratory in Cook, Wash. He described that estimate as "probably conservative."

It was an aquatic phenomenon nobody had ever seen at such a monstrous scale, offering a startling glimpse into the life of the Columbia's largest and most ancient fish.

Source: Oregon Live
Photo: Columbia River Trophy Sturgeon Fishing

Joke: The game warden

A redneck was stopped by a game warden just north of Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland recently with two ice chests of fish.

The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"

"Naw, my friend, I ain't got no license. These are my pet fish."

"Pet fish?"

"Yep. Every night I take these fish down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then I whistle and they jump right back into this ice chest and I take 'em home."

"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"

The redneck looked at the game warden for a moment and then said, "It's the truth. I'll show you. It really works."

"Okay, I've GOT to see this!"

The redneck poured the fish into the river and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said, "Well?"

"Well, whut?" said the redneck.

"When are you going to call them back?"

"Call who back?"

"The FISH!"

"What fish?"

(via)

Joke: Ice Fishing

A blond decides to go ice fishing one day. She takes her stool and her fishing pole onto the ice, and cuts a big hole. Then a voice says:

"THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE"

Perplexed, the blond moves her stool 100 feet, sits down again and goes to work cutting another hole. Again, the voice said:

"THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE"

Clearly flustered, she moves the stool to one last spot, sits down, and picks up her auger. Again, the voice boomed:

"FOR THE LAST TIME, THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE"

Finally, she can't take it. She cries out, "God, is that you?"

"NO, I'M THE OWNER OF THIS HOCKEY RINK"

Flying fish

(via)

Fish sounds

I never knew fish made sounds. It's hard to believe that they do, but when you think about it, why not? Most other animals make noises, so why not fish?

In "Run Noisy, Run Deep," the New York Times samples of some of the sounds made by five species of fish.


My favorite is the clownfish which are prolific "singers" that produce a wide variety of sounds, described as "chirps" and "pops" in both reproductive and agonistic behavioral contexts. Clownfish sounds were recorded as early as 1930, but it was just recently that scientists discovered the unusual ligament that allows this fish to pull its jaws together quickly to produce the sounds.

The accompanying article, "What’s Making That Awful Racket? Surprisingly, It May Be Fish," tells an interesting story about Cape Coral, FL, where residents were pushing the City Council to pay an engineering firm more than $47,000 to eliminate the nightly noise reverberating through their homes.

James Locascio, a doctoral student in marine science at the University of South Florida, rescued the city from financial folly.

He explained that at 100 to 500 hertz, black drum mating calls travel at a low enough frequency and long enough wavelength to carry through sea walls, into the ground and through the construction of waterfront homes like the throbbing beat in a passing car.

How cool.

Mystery creature in Utah pond

When a pond in Brigham City, Utah, froze over, over 4,000 fish turned up dead - caused either due to the pond being poisoned or lack of oxygen due to the thick ice. The strange, fanged creature was found amid the carp and goldfish which the pond had been stocked with.

Biologists said they are not sure what the creature is and that it could be a type of trout whose tissue decomposed rapidly, making its teeth more prominent.

Aquatic biologists said if they can't figure it out, they'll let the fish decompose fully and then examine the bone structure to determine the species.

Source: Local6.com

via: A Fiend's Folio

Seahorses in London

Short-snouted seahorses have set up residence in the recovering River Thames, which had been declared biologically dead in the 1950s. Various groups have worked to rehabilitate the river for the past two decades. Seals, dolphins, salmon, and sea lampreys have also recently been seen swimming in the healthier river.

via: National Geographic

Joke: Short Animal Jokes - Fish

What day does a fish hate?
Fry day.

What did the fish say when he hit a concrete wall?
"Dam."

What do fish play on the piano?
Scales.

What do you call a fish with no eye?
A fsh.

What fish is the brightest?
Sunfish.

What fish is the most valuable?
A goldfish.

What happened to the shark who swallowed a bunch of keys?
He got lockjaw.

What sea animal can be adjusted to play music?
The tune-a fish!

What type of fish play poker?
Card sharks.

What's the best way to catch a fish?
Have someone throw it at you.

What's slippery, lives in the sea and loves Dean Martin?
That's a Moray!

Where do fish keep their money?
In a riverbank.

Why did the fish cross the road?
Somebody threw it!

Why don't oysters give to charity?
Because they are shellfish

Why don't fish play tennis?
They might get caught in the net.

Why is it so easy to weigh fish?
They have their own scales.