gracious/marine biology

A ghostly, mutant ratfish caught off Whidbey Island in Washington state is the only completely albino fish ever seen by both the curator of the University of Washington's 7.2 million-specimen fish collection and a fish and wildlife biologist with more than 20 years of sampling fish in Puget Sound.

This fish was almost pure white with a crystalline layer near the surface of its skin that gave it a silvery sheen.

The foot-long female may have been 2 or 3 years old, making her a teenager in the ratfish world. She was caught this summer in about 200 feet of water during a UW research project examining the food web in Hood Canal and Puget Sound.

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A rare albino grey nurse shark has been spotted at Australia's best known diving and fishing spot Fish Rock in NSW.

The photo of the 2.2m male was taken by Fish Rock Dive Centre owner Jon Cragg 2km off South West Rocks.

Mr Cragg was speechless when the amazing creature swam past him.

"I saw the big white shadow in the water with two other sharks then when I saw it I couldn't believe it, it was like a ghost coming out of the darkness," Mr Cragg said.

"No one has ever seen one like this before - it was pretty exciting."

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Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds are invading central California waters and preying on local anchovy, hake and other commercial fish populations.


An aggressive predator, the Humboldt squid--or Dosidicus gigas--can change its eating habits to consume the food supply favored by tuna and sharks.

Before the 1970s, the giant squid were typically found in the Eastern Pacific, and in coastal waters spanning from Peru to Costa Rica. But as the populations of its natural predators--like large tuna, sharks and swordfish--declined because of fishing, the squids moved northward and started eating different species that thrive in colder waters.

Zoologists say it remains a mystery how a 200-kilogram giant squid came to be washed up on Tasmania's west coast.

The squid was found by a member of the public on a beach.

Zoologists from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery say the squid's hood and body is more than three metres long and they estimate its full size with tentacles would have been seven metres, with a weight of around 200kg.

Record numbers of humpback whales are on their annual migration up Australia's east coast, including the rare white whale Migaloo, scientists say.

Migaloo, whose Aboriginal name means "white fella", is believed to be the only completely white humpback whale in the world.

The 14-metre whale was spotted off Heron Island, on Queensland's central coast, by resort staff on a fishing trip.

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A 10-foot long hammerhead shark washed on Paradise Beach in Brevard County, twice.

The female shark first washed up on the beach overnight. A fisherman saw it was still alive, so he pushed back into the water.

The shark, though, washed onshore again late Monday morning and died.

Fish and Wildlife officials said a beached shark in the Paradise Beach area is highly unusual.

"We don't many shark calls. This is maybe the second one we've gotten in a year. But this is the biggest one I've seen so far," said Thomas Samarco, Florida Fish and Wildlife.

Officials will perform a necropsy to find out how the shark died.

Marine biologists were standing watch on Tuesday over a young whale that lost its way in New York harbor and nearly wandered into a narrow waterway notorious for industrial pollution.

The animal, described as a juvenile minke whale about 15 feet long, was cruising around Gowanus Bay, the outlet from the mile-long Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It appeared to be in good health and not distressed, said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

The foundation, based in Riverhead, N.Y., specializes in cases involving whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles.

Durham and other experts were dispatched to the scene after the whale was spotted early Tuesday. A television news helicopter videotaped it leaping out of the water, a behavioral trait common to whales of the baleen species.

A deadly species of jellyfish, translucent and the size of a thumbnail, is spreading along Australia's coastline as a result of global warming, scientists warned today.

Irukandji jellyfish are among the world's most toxic creatures - all but impossible to detect in the water but packing a potentially lethal punch belying their tiny size.

Until recently it was thought that they were confined to Australia's northern tropical waters, but marine biologists have now found them off Queensland's Fraser Island -- a popular tourist spot about 400 miles south of their previously assumed range.

Their discovery has halted production of a Hollywood film, Fool's Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, who were originally due to be filmed swimming in the sea. Dr Jamie Seymour, from James Cook University, said she had found five of the animals off the island.

"You can't now say the waters around Fraser Island are jellyfish safe. I mean, these animals have the potential to kill you," he told ABC radio.

"The ones we were catching weren't any bigger than your thumbnail. They've got tentacles that are probably a half to three quarters of a metre long, and pretty much transparent. So unless you really know what you're looking for, you're not going to see them in the water."

If they migrate south in sufficient numbers, irukandji would threaten the safety of swimmers, surfers and snorkellers along southern Queensland's Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast holiday destinations.

Little is known about their biology but their toxicity is legendary. One of the tiny jellyfish was blamed for killing a 58-year-old British tourist, Richard Jordan, in the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland in 2002. A few months later, a 44-year-old American tourist was stung and also died.