English fire crews were called out to aid dying fish in Northampton, BBC News reports. Members of the public noticed that fish had died in a lake in Abington Park and notified the authorities. The fire crews pumped up water from the lake and then sprayed it back in an effort to increase the oxygen content in the water.

The Environment Agency is now investigating the cause behind the incident. According to their tests, the problem was not caused by low oxygen levels and might instead be related to weather or disease. “It could have been low oxygen – although we have since found out this is not the case – it could be the hot weather or it could be disease. We don’t know at the moment.” an Environment Agency spokeswoman said to the BBC. The spokeswoman also caution against releasing aquarium fish into the wild since it can spread disease.

(photo provided by: NOAA Photo Library)

Thirty-four cownose stingrays died in a 24 hour period at the new $250,000 dollar exhibit in the Calgary Zoo. Veterinarians are stating that it must be a water problem for so many animals to die so quickly. The nine surviving stingrays are remaining under close observation while the cause is determined and the exhibit remains closed. In just three hours, on Sunday, 26 of the 43 stingrays had died. The following morning the other eight had passed as well.

Further information on the findings of the cause of death will be posted once provided.

to read the entire article visit: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080512/stingray_deaths_080512/20080512?hub=TopStories

(photo is of a Southern Ray not a CowNose Stingray)

Alligator Snapping Turtles carry a reputation of fear, weighing in at over 200 lbs (90 kg) and packing a bite that earned the word Alligator in its name. Perhaps, the last place you would expect to find such a fearsome reptile, would be in the bustling city of New York. That is unless, like 45lb fluffy, you were housed there to protect the illegal drugs of your owner. Fluffy was rescued during a Long Island drug raid. Since his rescue, he has been relocated to a New England Aquarium as an attraction for their new Killer Instincts exhibit.

So, while Fluffy’s owner may be facing some hard time in the big house, Fluffy will be living a care free life in a turtle appropriate and drug-free environment. Congratulations Fluffy.

For more information on Alligator Snapping Turtles and a picture of Fluffy visit: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1669

picture provided by Creative Commons at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/.

 (disclaimer: Creative Commons has no affiliation to the AC or the views or thoughts published in this article.)

Saibi Ramli, a Malaysian fisherman, has caught a snakehead fish with a 2 cm (0.8 inch) horn on its head, Underwatertimes.com reports. Saibi Ramli caught the fish in a fish pond behind his home in Siburan, Kuching, using hook and bait. Ramli says he has never seen anything like it in his life and refuses to sell the catch since he is positive that the fish will bring him luck. “I have received many offers from wealthy people but I told them it’s not for sale”, Ramli explains.

You can read the full article and watch the picture of the horned creature at Underwatertimes.com. http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=45107920638 (source:http://www.brunei-online.com)

Asian Snakeheads, especially the Arowana Scleropages formosus, are viewed as bringer of luck by many Asians. Snakeheads are often referred to as “Dragon fish” in Asia, not chiefly because they somewhat resemble dragons but because they are seen as an incarnation of the mythological Asian dragon itself. In European fairytales the dragon is normally perceived as something evil that should be slaughtered, but this is certainly not the case in Asia. The Asian dragon is associated primarily with happiness and good fortune and keeping “Dragon Fish” in your aquarium is believed to attract luck to your home and ward of evil.

You can learn more about Asian Snakeheads here and about Scleropages formosus in particular here .

Not exactly news but still interesting: In September 2007, approximately10,000 wilderbeest drowned in a failed attempt to cross Kenya’s Mara River during their seasonal migration, National Geographic reports. Every year, over a million wilderbeest (also known as gnu) leave the Serengeti Plain of Tanzania during late summer and head for Kenya in search of food.

According to Terilyn Lemaire, a conservation worker with the Mara Conservancy, it is common for drownings to occur during migration, but not on this scale. Normally, less then 1,000 wilderbeest will die when they try to cross rivers during the migration. But this year, part of the migrating herd decided to cross the River Mara at a particularly treacherous crossing point. Once they had gotten into the water, they realised that it was impossible for them to clime up either embankment. They could not climb up the embankment on the other side; nor could they climb the embankment they had just jumped off. This trapped the animals in the river where they got swept up by current and drowned.

Living in a herd has many benefits, but the herd mentality can also prove lethal. When the first wilderbeests failed to cross the river and got swept away by current, the rest of the herd just continued to stampede into the water behind them. The deaths could therefore continue over the course of several days until about one percent of the total species population had drowned. This was of course a miserable incident for the wilderbeest, but it was surely a happy time for crocodiles, storks, vultures and other animals that feed on carcasses.

According to Terilyn Lemaire, there was no unusual flooding at the time. The wildebeest merely chose an unsuitable crossing point.

You can read the full article at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071001-wildebeest.html

To the Greek, the Amazons where a mythical ancient nation consisting of females only. According to BBC News, scientists from the University of Edinburgh now believe that the Amazon Mollies – who also live in this type of all-female societies – might occasionally grab some DNA from males of other species to avoid the problems linked to cloning. Just like the ancient Amazons who, according to the Greek, visited a nearby tribe to engage in sexual activity with men once a year, the Amazon Mollies does interact with males – but only males from other species and only to trigger cloning. According to the researchers, the Amazon Molly has survived for 70,000 years without engaging in normal sexual reproduction.

Interestingly enough, the Amazon Mollies interact with males of other species and there are no male Amazon Mollies to be found. This interaction with male fish seems to be required to trigger spawning in the females. According to the scientists at Edinburgh University, the females might also occasionally use some DNA from the males just to refresh their gene pool a bit and avoid the typical problems linked to cloning.

The Amazon Molly does not live in the Amazon region of South America; this species is instead found in north-eastern Mexico and south-eastern Texas, U.S. where they typically interact with males belonging to the species Poecilia latipinna, Poecilia latipunctata, Poecilia mexicana and Poecilia sphenops.

You can read more about the Amazon Mollies and their mesmerizing reproductive methods at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7360770.stm

The Edinburgh-led study was carried out in collaboration with Dr Dunja Lamatsch at the University of Wuerzburg, now at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The research is published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.