Beached whale

time advocating against whale hunting when there are other conservation issues they should be focusing on such as ocean acidification or the destruction of reef habitats. A study conducted in 2000 by Baker explored what type of whales are being hunted for resources. He found that the fin whale (Balaenoptera Physalus), sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera brydei), blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), sperm whales (Physeter…

The twisting limbs of the sea toss the floating world along it’s back, allowing it to pluck from its depths light to fuel its ventures in search of the scorn of the seas. The “world” spoken of- a damned whaling ship, marked by the foreboding albatross for a watery death at the hands of wrathful God. Captained by wickedness and run by figures of the Old Testament, the ship Herman Melville uses biblical allusions in revenge tragedy, Moby Dick to illustrate the eventual fates of the crew aboard…

In 1975 director Steven Spielberg released the soon to be award winning movie Jaws. The adventure and also thriller movie cost eight million to make. Then racked up two hundred sixty million in the box office during its whole release in theatres. The inspiration for this movie, was brought from a real life story. When four people were killed by a great white in a sequence of attacks near the sea, in 1919, it was later caught and killed by two amateur fishermen. The two lead actors in Jaws are…

Shark attacks are nothing new, but lately the cases of them have been increasing. However, it is not the shark’s fault for the rising number of attacks, it’s ours. According to USA Today, in 2001 there were 79 shark attacks noted around the world. Florida took first with 34 of the 51 attacks in the United States. Next was North Carolina with five, California at three, and Texas, Alabama, and Hawaii with two each. The additional 16 came from Australia, the Bahamas, and South Africa. Of all these…

Cartilaginous fishes provide a notable example of successful evolutionary perseverance with a fossil record extending to at least the Lower Devonian over 400 million years ago (8). Carcharodon carcharias, also known as White Pointer, White Death, or more commonly, White Shark, is one of the greatest predators in the world among marine life. They are usually found in tropical areas but research has been conducted on these sharks from the Northwest Atlantic to Southern Africa to North East near…

Fisher… and, of course, Tilikum, the killer whale who stared in Blackfish. The thirty-five-year-old SeaWorld Orlando “employee” mysteriously died on January 6. Naturally, the death has sparked debate, as Blackfish portrayed the whale as a misunderstood and mistreated prisoner who murdered three people out of anger towards his captors. However, the sensationalist media has made a tragedy out of something inevitable. SeaWorld should not be blamed for keeping whales in captivity because the history…

The giant squid has eluded scientist since its discovery with nothing but pictures and carcasses to go off of. Its deep-sea habitat makes it difficult to study. The first photo of a live squid was not taken until 2004 and the first live giant squid to be brought to the surface was not until 2006. The giant squid belongs to the phylum Mollusca, class Cephalopada, genus Architeuthis, and species Architeuthis dux. Giant squids are similar to their smaller relatives in many ways including, using…

In the year 1828 the first whale shark was discovered by scientists. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea, measuring lengths of up to 40 feet long. That is about the size of a bus. Even though the largest whale shark in the world was 40 feet long scientists think that the species could grow even larger than that. Whale sharks are carnivores so t hey eat meat. That means that they have an giant menu of small sea creatures to choose from. Their favorite meals to eat are plankton, krill,…

Any scientific endeavor must be held to impeccable ethical standards that ensure the safety of all involved. A much better approach to the issue of understanding more about whales is identifying those animals that are injured or sick in the wild and collecting them to be healed and studied. When an animal’s lifespan is quartered and they begin to demonstrate behaviors that are unprecedented in the wild, another approach must…

The Great White Shark that I chose to research was Katherine. She was tagged on August 20, 2013 in Cape Cod Massachusetts. She weighed 2,300 pounds, 14 feet and 2 inches. She was named in honor of Katharine Lee Bates, a Cape Cod native and songwriter—best known for her poem and song “America The Beautiful”. The latest ping for Katharine is off the coast of Florida, near New Smyrna Beach. This area is also known as the shark capital and it consists of murky water that has bait fish within it.…