News Archives

Week of June 20, 2004

News of the Day

Speaking of red tides...

Two huge blooms of red tide have appeared in China's Bohai Sea. Together the two cover more than 2,000 sq. miles of the area, including a large portion at the mouth of the Yellow River. Officials are watching the local seafood carefully, but say there has been no contamination yet. Red tides are formed by blooms of toxic algae, usually fed by organic pollution from fertilizers and farm runoffs. Fishing in the Bohai has been in trouble for some time, as fish populations drop due to pollution.


Ancient, unknown species found in icy pool

The melting polar ice caps have lent a certain urgency to efforts of scientists taking an inventory of species in the Arctic. In a huge, ice-covered pool there, at least five new species have been found in what is believed to be the earth's oldest existing pool of seawater. The survey is part of a global survey called the Census of Marine Life, which plans to survey many other areas eventually.


Massive deaths of starfish are unexplained so far

Thousands of dead starfish and crabs have washed ashore along Russia's White Sea. Previous incidents of these mass starfish deaths have been linked to brief exposure to extremely toxic materials, perhaps due to radioactive debris and chemical weapons which were dumped in nearby waterways. Scientists are investigating this recent episode.


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Posted by Jennifer on Friday, June 25 2004, 2:04 PM

Some News about the Otters

Over in our forums, Pilikia mentioned that there have been unexplained deaths of otters in large numbers along the California coast, for reasons that seemed unclear. I happened to remember a NYTimes article on the subject, which you can read here. It points to opossum droppings which have passed fatal parasites on to the otters. Opossums are not native to California. They were introduced as hunting game by people in the early 1900s.

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Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, June 24 2004, 11:53 AM

About the Site

It's not that there isn't news, it's just that I haven't felt like writing. But I'll get back to it soon.

Posted by Jennifer on Wednesday, June 23 2004, 10:15 AM

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