Fish and aquatic news

The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, UK has received some attention in the press after chartering a Boeing 767 to fly in a 42-tonne cargo of Caribbean fish for a new exhibition.

An international team of researchers have shown how one single gene mutation is capable of making the medaka, a Japanese killifish, loose its attractive colours and display a drab grey colour which renders them significantly less attractive to medakas of the opposite sex – unless that potential mate is grey too.

Telling a wild salmon from a farmed one can be tricky, especially if you don’t want to kill or injure the fish in question. To solve this problem, Dr Elizabeth Adey of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) have developed a way of using fish scale analysis to determine the origin of a salmon.

The gar family, famous for containing the largest fresh water fishes in Mexico, is currently at risk of becoming extinct – something which Mexican researchers are working hard to prevent.

If you’ve ever wondered how the eyes of flatfish like flounder and sole ended up on one side of the head, you should take a closer look at a newly published article by Dr Matt Friedman.

According to Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Association chief executive Brian Jeffriess, industry experts expect the tuna stocks to have recovered by 2013.

A team of scientists at the Michigan State University has found a new, more efficient method for cloning zebra fish.

The Floridian town of Wellington used to spend nearly 7,000 USD a month of taxpayer funds to keep the stagnant pools of foreclosed homes sanitary.

The mysterious deaths among dogs visiting the beaches of Auckland have now been solved; they were caused by tropical pufferfish.

aring impairment caused by damage to hail cells in the inner ear is by far the most common cause of hearing loss, but research carried out on Zebrafish might be able to show us how these hair cells can be re-grown.

A Japanese team of scientists are now announcing that they are close to completing genome sequencing of the Bluefin tuna. Once they have reached this goal, their next project will be to use their knowledge to create a tuna breeding program for a new type of tuna specially designed for aquacultures.

Specimens of the invasive Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) have now grown large enough to reach the top of the food chain in James River, Virginia. A catfish weighing 102 lbs (46 kg) was caught from the river not long ago; the largest caught freshwater fish ever to be reported from Virginian waters.

The world’s first public aquarium specialising in clownfish has now opened its door for visitors. The aquarium, which is located in Taitung County in Taiwan, will eventually house 1500 clown fish from 18 different species.

Sea Lamprey spawning sites have been discovered in the River Wear at Chester-le-Street, County Durham, by local anglers. After being alerted by the fishermen, the Environment Agency found no less than 12 spawning sites, known as redds, measuring up to a metre across.

The water was released from the North Pine Dam in southeast Queensland between Monday morning and Tuesday night as heavy rains were threatening to overfill the dam.