Two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies – all previously unknown to science – are believed to have been found in Guyana during the filming of a British TV series.

While working on the three-part series “Lost Land of the Jaguar” for BBC One, a team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks exploring the rainforests of Guyana. “In a short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to science. It was unreal, unbelievable,” says zoologist Dr George McGavin, one of four presenters of the documentary.

The two newfound fishes are both small creatures; one is a small banded fish belonging to the genus Hemiodus and one is a tiny parasitic “vampire” catfish that fell out of the gills of a bigger catfish. The gill dwelling fish is a member of the genus Vandellia and hence a close relative of the feared Candirú catfishes, famous for their peculiar capability of entering the human urethra. They are commonly referred to as “vampire fish” since they feed on the blood of other animals.

The scientists partaking in the expedition will now have to sit down and research all their findings more thoroughly in order find out if this is actually entirely new species, and if so, describe them scientifically and assign them scientific names. As Dr McGavin says “Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and examining the species, comparing them to collections and books – seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal hundreds of hours in the lab.”

In addition to the possibly newfound species, the documentary includes highlights like footage of the world’s heaviest snake, the Anaconda, the world’s bulkiest eagle, the American Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja), and the enormous Goliath spider (Theraphosa blondi) – also known as the Goliath birdeater. The film-makers have also managed to capture on film the elusive Jaguar from which the series derives its name.

BBC aired all three episodes of “Lost Land of the Jaguar” in August 2008.

You can see a film of the small banded fish here

Guyana, previously known as British Guyana, is a small nation located at the Atlantic side of southern South America. It borders to Suriname, Brazil, and Venezuela. Being slightly smaller than the state of Idaho, Guyana is the third smallest country on the South American mainland. The land can be divided into four main natural regions: a narrow strip of fertile plain along the Atlantic coast where most of the population lives, a hilly white sand belt more inland, a highland region covered in dense rainforest across the middle of the country, and a grassy savannah habitat that can be found to the south as well as in the interior highlands.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Marine biologists being filmed for a BBC TV series about the ocean have managed to find no less than 13 species of fish previously unknown to science. The group also reports having 15 other animals in their possession that they suspect to be new species.

The newfound species have been gathered during deep reef dives in Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean during explorations of the so called “twilight zone”. Located at a depth of 60 to 150 meters (500 to 200 feet), the twilight zone forms a transitional region between sunlit shallow waters and the perpetually dark depths of the sea.

One of the findings is of special importance to marine aquarists – a new species of damsel fish. Damsels are very popular among saltwater fish keepers since they are one of the most robust groups of marine fish and generally adapt well to a life in aquaria. The new damsel species was caught 120 meters down off Palau and sports a bright blue colouration.

The bright blue damsel was actually spotted over a decade ago by Dr Richard Pyle, and it has been occasionally seen since then by other researchers as well, but it was during the BBC filming that the species could be captured and brought up to the surface for scientific examination for the very first time. The fish has now been scientifically described and named by Dr Pyle from the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Recreational scuba divers with ordinary scuba gear are not advised to venture any deeper than 40 meters (130 feet), so the researchers of this expedition had to use special closed-circuit rebreathers to access the twilight zone. Even with rebreathers, you quickly run out of air at such a great depth and there is no time for any meticulous investigation of the environment.

The expedition will be portrayed in the BBC series “Pacific Abyss” and the new species of damsel have been appropriately named Chromis abyssus.

Pacific Abyss starts its three-part run on Sunday, 17 August, on BBC One, at 2000 BST.

Video from the dives

Src: bbc.co.uk

Genetic and morphological analysis has now confirmed the existence of a second species of manta ray, and possibly a third one as well. Up until know, the scientific community only knew about one single species of manta ray and all encountered manta rays were viewed as variants within the same species. PhD marine biologist Andrea Marshall did however suspect that there might be more than one species of manta ray luring in the ocean and in 2003 she to a small coastal village located in southern Mozambique to be able to study the manta rays found off the African coast. During the last five years, she has been carrying out a manta ray study sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation and discovered a new species as well as collected invaluable information about the reproductive habits of the manta rays.

The two manta rays species have overlapping geographical ranges, but they have significantly different life styles. One species is migratory while the other one – the smaller and more commonly known species – is resident to particular costal regions where it stays year round. There are also noticeable differences in reproductive biology, skin texture and colouration.

The small, stationary species is commonly encountered by divers and researchers at coral reefs, while the larger, migratory species is much more elusive.

The pectoral fins of a manta ray can span almost 8 meters in width and the weight of this baffling shark relative can exceed 2000 kg. Unlike the stingray, the manta ray is not equipped with a functioning stinging barb, but one of the manta ray species actually has a non-functioning type of sting on its tail.

According to the Save Our Seas Foundation, Andrea Marshall’s new finding is the marine equivalent of discovering an unknown species of elephant.

You can find out more by visiting the Save Our Seas Foundation (http://www.saveourseas.com/manta-rays-a-new-species) and the Mozambique Manta Ray project page (http://www.saveourseas.com/manta-rays-mozambique).

A study done on Perissodus microlepis, a cichlid from Lake Tanganyika in Africa shows that opposites attract. The cichlid is a scale eater that eats scales from other fishes. Specimens have a mouth that either open to the left or the right. This adaptation makes it easier to tear scales from other fishes when feeding. The study showed that this species prefers to pair up with a partner that has a mouth that opens the opposite way of their own. During the course of the researches who completed the study (2004-7) caught 24 Perissodus microlepis pairs. 21 of those pairs had their mouths facing opposite sides. This is the first time disassortative mating have been confirmed in the wild. (Disassortative mating is to choose partners who differ from oneself to avoid inbreeding.)

The study was done by Japanese researchers including Kyoto University researcher Tetsumi Takahashi and was announced Wednesday in the online edition of “Biology Letters” published by the Royal Society.

A 380 million-year-old pregnant fossil has been discovered by researchers from University of Western Australia. The fossil was unearthed in the Kimberleys and contains a 6 cm embryo with its umbilical cord intact. Mother and baby belong to an extinct species of shark-like fish that could be found in lakes and seas for almost 70 million years before it disappeared. This is the oldest example of a mother of any species giving birth to live young.

“This is also the first evidence of sex in vertebrates with jaws resulting in the oldest known example of a fish giving birth to live young rather than expelling a clutch of eggs,” says Dr Kate Trinajstic, Research Associate at the University of Western Australia, to News.com.au.

The fossilized species has been given the name Materpiscis attenboroughi. Mater is the Latin word for “mother” and piscis is the word for “fish”, so the genus name literary means mother-fish in Latin. The second part of the name, attenboroughi, is of course an homage to celebrated broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The fossilized fish belongs to the placoderm fishes, a group of fish commonly referred to as ’the dinosaurs of the seas’ since they dominated lakes and seas during the Middle Palaeozoic Era (c. 420 to 350 million years ago).

The fossil has now been given a new home at the Western Australian Museum.

Read the full story in Narelle Towie’s article at News.com.au. At this page, you can also see pictures of the fossil and drawings of what the fish might have looked like when it was still alive.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21498,23772231-948,00.html?from=public_rss

The fossil find was published in the science journal Nature on May 29 this year.

A newly investigated 290 million year old fossil may be an evolutionary missing link in the amphibian family tree. The fossil was collected in Texas by a palaeontologist with the Smithsonian Institution in the mid-1990s. The fossil eventually ended up at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it was re-discovered and investigated in 2004.

The new analysis of the fossil has been carried out by Jason Anderson, a comparative biologist at the University of Calgary, Canada. According to Anderson, the fossil has an overall amphibian look but with interesting archaic features. The animal resembles a salamander, but the tail is stubby and the ears are similar to the ears of a frog.

“So it’s kind of a frogamander, if you will,” Anderson sais to National Geographic News.

The fossilized species has been given the name Gerobatrachus hottoni. Until recently, scientists believed that frogs, salamanders and the wormlike caecilians all hailed from a common ancestor. Gerobatrachus hottoni suggests that frogs and salamanders are much more closely related to each other than to the caecilians.

Read more in Anne Casselman’s article for National Geographic News.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080521-frog-fossil.html

The study of the fossil appears in this week’s (May 21^st 2008) issue of the journal Nature.

Scientists at Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand’s national museum, have begun dissection of a colossal female squid this week, already the finds are worth documenting. The largest squid ever captured, is providing scientist with astounding insight into this mysterious creature of the deep. The first noticeable wonder on the over 1,000 pound squid was her eyes. Measuring in at 10.6 inches, just about equal to the size of a soccer ball, they are the largest eyeballs ever recorded for any known animal.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing learned thus far are two rows of bio-luminescent organs, called photophores, located under each eye. Scientists state that the “lights”  are used to mask the squids attack of its prey. All the future meal would see was these small lights coming at it, due to the depth of over 3,000 feet; the lights would shield the squid from sight until it was too late. One problem comes from eating at such depths, most things consumed likely “glow” as well. But the colossal squid has a solution to keep its tummy from becoming a neon sign pointing out its location. The squids mantle (head) is filled with deep dark red pigment that shields any predators or prey from seeing anything within its stomach that might be sending out a glowing warning.

As fish numbers increase in the antarctic so do accidental catching of colossal squid, leaving scientists with the want to set up some form of conservation efforts to protect these mysterious creatures from becoming endangered or worse.

To read this article in its entirity please visit: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080501-giant-squid_2.html

picture provided by: NOAA Ship DELAWARE II

Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has developed a new Right Whale listening buoy for the Massachusetts Bay. The buoys are designed to recognize the distinctive call of the Atlantic Right Whale which migrates throughout the bay. When heard, the buoys emit a signal to a web-site and marine warning system that lets ships know that the whales are in the shipping lanes; thus, they are able to avoid collisions with the endangered species.

These 50 ton ocean wonders were hunted to near extinction, leaving their numbers today, at less than 400 whales. During the winter and spring months the Right Whales gather at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary; near the Boston Harbor. Over 1,500 vessels pass through this area, and collisions with the whales are the leading cause of the animals deaths each year.

The 10 buoys are placed strategically along the inbound and out going shipping lines. Each buoy has a 5 mile radius of listening and alerts analysts of the whale calls its hearing. This gives the workers time to inform ship captains that the whales are in the area they are headed, with time to avoid accidents. The warning call remains in effect for a 24 hour period after the Right Whales have been detected, to further protect them during times where they are being non-vocal. Ships must slow to 10 knots and post whale/sea turtle look outs during an alert.

The buoy alert system is expected to stay operational for the next 40 years while the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal is expected to stay in business. Hopefully, but protecting the whales now, during this vital time in their attempt to reestablish their numbers, they will still be around for future generations.

You can here the whales live through the public alert website at : http://listenforwhales.org

for the complete article about how buoys are being used to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whales visit science daily at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428104518.htm

Just 50 years ago, the Thames River was declared biologically dead. High amounts of pollution from industrialization and mass urbanisation, had literally killed the river. Now, after nearly 2 decades of conservation efforts, the Thames River is slowly making a come back; with over 120 species of fish now calling the Thames River their new home. One new comer stands out from the rest, the short-snouted seahorse. Scientifically defined as the Hippocampus hippocampus, the short-snouted seahorse was first discovered in the Thames back in 2006. However, the Zoological Society of London kept this rare finding under wraps, awaiting legislation’s decision to put the species under the protection of the Wildlife and Conservation Act of 1981.

So what makes this little seahorse so special? The short-snouted seahorse has previously only been found in deep waters around specified locations, and off the coast of France, Spain, and in the Mediterranean. The presence of these seahorse in the Thames River is a sign that the water quality is greatly improving, and that the Thames River will indeed make a come back as a flourishing and diverse community of underwater inhabitants.

For more information and the complete article on the Thames River Seahorse Findings; and to sneek a peak at this fabulous little finding visit:

 http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1659

According to an article in Underwatertimes.com, a strange fish found off the Indonesian coast might represent a family of vertebrate unknown to science. The fish was sighted off the Indonesian Ambon Island and is a type of anglerfish. Finding a new vertebrate family in the ocean is really special, because during the last half century no more than five new families of fishes have been scientifically described. The unusual anglerfish was found and photographed on Jan 28 2008 by Buck and Fitrie Randolph and their dive guide Toby Fadirsyair. Since then, a few more specimens have been sighted in the same waters.

One of the reasons why the fish has managed to remain undetected until now might be its habit of crawling into crevices rather than parading itself in front of divers. The fish is tan to peach coloured and decorated with an intricate zebra pattern. The fish has rippling folds of skin which makes the fins hard to distinguish from the main body. Unlike most other anglerfishes known to man, this new found creature has no lure on its head and must therefore employ a different tactic in order to get its lunch. It will squeeze itself into narrow cracks in coral reefs and search for food inside. Before anyone can know for sure if this fish really represents an entirely new family of vertebrate, DNA testing must be carried out and a specimen must be more closely examined.

If you want to learn more about this intriguing fish, read the full article at Underwatertimes.com http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=64951030827

You can also visit Buck and Fitrie Randolph’s webpage where they have posted images of their discovery: http://www.divingmaluku.com/new-frogfish.html