A Hungarian aquarium is celebrating an extrordinary virgin birth after its lone female shark produced a pup without ever having come into contact with a male shark.
The white-tipped reef shark, named Ibolya by staff, has been on her own at the Nyiregyhaza Centre since she was born seven years ago.
"I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark. The mother is very protective of her pup, but as soon as we can, marine biologists want to get a DNA sample from both."
Parthenogenesis, where an egg starts to divide without being fertilised, occurs in a number of lower animals such as bees and ants but, it was thought, not in higher animals including cartilaginous fish such as a shark.
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Louis the Giant Pacific Octopus at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium is so attached to the Christmas present that was dropped into his aquarium tank, he fights his keepers whenever they try to take the toy from him.
Louis can dismantle and assemble his Mr Potato Head and has even learned to dig out food hidden in a secret box at the back of it.
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Louis can dismantle and assemble his Mr Potato Head and has even learned to dig out food hidden in a secret box at the back of it.
Source
Quagga mussels, an exotic species native to Ukraine that was first found in the Great Lakes 18 years ago, have been found in a fifth San Diego County reservoir.Quaggas apparently were transported from Europe to Lake Erie in the United States in the ballast water of oceangoing ships, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The mussels grow virtually unmolested because they have no natural predators. They clog pipes and screens at power stations, water treatment plants and agricultural irrigation lines.
Photo: New York Sea Grant
A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said.
Domoic acid is produced by microscopic algae. Birds and sea mammals ingest the acid by eating fish and shellfish who dine on the algae.
The algae population increases or "blooms" every year as the ocean waters warm but this year's bloom seems early, extensive and "very, very thick," said David Caron, who teaches in the biological sciences department at University of Southern California.
"In five years of study I have not seen a bloom this large at this particular time of year," Caron said. "It's having an extraordinary impact on pelicans and many other species."
"There are conceivably thousands of animals being affected," Caron said.
The Wetland and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach had received 73 sick or dead birds since Sunday, assistant director Lisa Birkle said.
The toxin has been swifter and deadlier than usual, she said.
Domoic acid is produced by microscopic algae. Birds and sea mammals ingest the acid by eating fish and shellfish who dine on the algae.
The algae population increases or "blooms" every year as the ocean waters warm but this year's bloom seems early, extensive and "very, very thick," said David Caron, who teaches in the biological sciences department at University of Southern California.
"In five years of study I have not seen a bloom this large at this particular time of year," Caron said. "It's having an extraordinary impact on pelicans and many other species."
"There are conceivably thousands of animals being affected," Caron said.
The Wetland and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach had received 73 sick or dead birds since Sunday, assistant director Lisa Birkle said.
The toxin has been swifter and deadlier than usual, she said.