The rare Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica) has been declared National Aquatic Animal of India. A few days after the formal declaration, which took place at a National Ganga River Basic Authority meeting in New Delhi earlier this week, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced that he has directed state authorities to put a halt to dolphin hunting in the Ganga.

“A close watch is being kept on the ghats of river Ganga by the magistrates, police officials and block development officers to stop hunting and fishing of the mammals,” senior officials said.

Patna District Magistrate J K Sinha said that instructions from chief minister has been passed
to senior officials, including sub-divisional officers, magistrates, police officers and block development officers to ensure close surveillance and act swiftly to stop hunting of the aquatic animal.

“Schools will take steps to aware the students about the gangetic dolphin which would

boost eco-tourism in the region,” he added.

Although the Wildlife Protection Act of India mandates dolphin conservation as a priority, little has been done at the government level to implement or enforce the law.

Where is Bihar?

Bihar is an Indian state located in the eastern part of the country. It is bordered by Nepal to the north, Jharkhand to the south, Uttar Pradesh to the west, and West Bengal to the east. The state is bisected by the Ganga River which flows through the middle of the state from west to east.

What is Ganga?

Outside India, the Ganga River is more commonly known as the Ganges River.

What is the Gangetic dolphin?

The Gangetic dolphine, also known as Ganges dolphin, Ganges river dolphin, Blind dolphin, and Side-swimming dolphin, is a dolphin endemic to the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. Its scientific name is Platanista gangetica and it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The current population consists of 1,200-1,800 individuals, and roughly half of these are found in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

It is referred to as the Blind dolphin due to its poor eye-sight which is probably an adaptation to the murky waters of the Ganga River.

A previously unknown field of endangered Staghorn coral has been found in Florida waters by scuba divers belonging to the non-profit group Palm Beach County Reef Rescue.

“We’ve found the largest field (of the coral) in the county,” says Reef Rescue’s director Ed Tichenor. “We’re really surprised by this.”

The field, which is located roughly a mile east of Palm Beach island, is significant since Palm Beach town officials have objected to federal protection of the area.

Last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service designated roughly 1,300 square miles of ocean floor – ranging from the Florida Key to the Boynton Beach Inlet – as critical habitat for staghorn. This prompted the Palm Beach County Reef Rescue to petition the government to extend the protected area northwards to the Lake Worth Inlet, thereby including the coast off Palm Beach.

The Palm Beach County Reef Rescue estimates the newfound staghorn field to be between 100 and 300 feet long.

“I was expecting to see it but not as much,” said Connie Gasque, a Palm Beach resident who led the dive group. “My reaction was ‘Wow!

Everywhere you looked, there it was.”

Before this discovery, only small pockets of staghorn coral was known to exist in the waters off Palm Beach.

Palm Beach County Reef Rescue now hopes that the discovery will convince the National Marine Fisheries Service to include the region in the protected coral zone.

What is Staghorn?

Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) is a branching coral that can reach a length of up to 2 meters (almost 7 feet). It is the fastest growing species of all West Atlantic corals and can grow 10-20 cm per year in favourable conditions. The natural range for Staghorn coral stretches from Florida, USA through the Bahamas and the Carribbean Sea, down to Venezuela in South America.

Acropora cervicornis was placed on the U.S. Endangered Species List in 2006, and it is also listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, staghorn is not found north of Boca Raton.

First of, let me tell everyone how sorry I am that I have been posting a bit sporadic lately. Things have been crazy but hopefully they will improve even though it still might be a couple of weeks until they do. Until then you will unfortunately have to be content with the host I do manage to post. But now, without further ado, on to the Asian arowana

Asian Arowana – Scleropages formosus. Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

Bristol Zoo Gardens have bred the rare Asian Arowana (Scleropages formosus). The spawning resulted in 15 fry which are now estimated to be nine weeks old. The staff did not witness the spawning which is why they can only estimate the age of the fry for this mouth-breeding species. It is not the first time the Asian Arowanas have spawned in Bristol Zoo Gardens, but it is the first time the fry have survived.

Bristol Zoo Gardens has kept four Arowanas, also known as Dragon fish, for 13 years. They received the specimens from the UK custom services who had confiscated them after revealing an attempt to smuggle them into the country.

The zoo has recently taken steps to improve the Arowana exhibit by using reverse osmosis, and has also increased the temperature in the holding tanks. The assistant curator of the aquarium at Bristol Zoo Gardens, Jonny Rudd, believes that one of these actions might be the reason behind the successful breeding. This might very well be true but I also wish to mention the possibility that it might simply have to do with the parents getting more mature and learning from past failures, a well known phenomenon in mouth brooding fish and other fish that care for their young.

This is as far as I know the first time this species have been bred outside Asia.

The Asian Arowana is very rare in the wild and is on the brink of extinction in Thailand. It is red listed by Cites and can not be imported to many countries. This species is bred in farms in Asia where it is a popular exclusive aquarium fish, believed to bring luck due to its resemblance to a dragon. It is today available in a variety of different colorations and morphs. In Asia you can by farm bred fish with certifications stating that they are farm bred and not wild caught, and some countries allow you to import such specimens. You can read more about the Asian Arowana here.

Deteriorating water quality, invasive species and the practise of draining lakes is now bringing the axolotl, a neotenic mole salamander native to central Mexico, to the brink of extinction. According to researchers the species could disappear in just five years and it is currently listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

“If the axolotl disappears, it would not only be a great loss to biodiversity but to Mexican culture, and would reflect the degeneration of a once-great lake system,” says Luis Zambrano, a biologist at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is native to no more than two lakes, Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco, and Lake Chalco was drained in the 1970s to prevent flooding. The only surviving wild population of axolotl is therefore to be found in Lake Xochimilco; a lake that is rapidly vanishing due to draining efforts. Today, Lake Xochimilco can not even be accurately described as a lake anymore; it is just a series of canals and scattered lagoons. As if this wasn’t bad enough for the axolotl, this salamander also has to combat severe pollution and the introduction of alien species. Mexico City has been pumping its wastewater into the remains of Lake Xochimilco since the 1980s, and both African tilapia and Asian carp have been deliberately introduced to serve as food fish. These alien species compete for prey items with the axolotl and are also fond of eating its eggs.

The exact number of axolotls left in the wild remains unknown, but a survey conducted by Zambrano shows a sharp drop from roughly 1,500 specimens per square mile in 1998 to no more than 25 per square mile in 2008.

One way of improving the situation for the remaining axolotls may be to create a series of axolotl sanctuaries in canals cleared of invasive species, but this would of course require some type of barrier to keep the aliens from returning. A pilot sanctuary is planned to open in Mexico City in 2009.

Repopulating Lake Xochimilco with captive reared specimes has also been suggested, since the axolotl is a popular house pet known to readily breed in captivity. Unfortunately, it is always risky to re-introduce a species into the wild since captive specimens may be carriers of genetic problems or hosts of malicious organisms like parasites, viruses and bacteria.

During the Aztec empire, the axolotl was an important food item as well as an integral part of numerous myths and legends. According to legend, the Aztec god Xolotl – who was in charge of death, lighting and monstrosities – suspected the other gods of plotting to banish or even kill him, and turned himself into a salamander in order to fool them. He moved to Lake Xochimilco where he could stay hidden from the other gods and Xolotl became a-xolotl, blessing the Aztecs with an important source of food. If you visit markets in Mexico City today you can still find axolotls being sold as food. Cooked axolotl is however becoming a more and more scarce dish on Mexican dinner tables, mainly because fishermen almost never find them.

Outside Mexico, the axolotl is more popular as a pet than a snack. It can today be found in pet shops world-wide, sometimes being offered under other names such as Wooper Rooper or Mexican Water Monster. The axolotl is also famous for its ability to regenerate most body parts and is extensively used in scientific research on regeneration and evolution.

A conservation group named Bush Heritage Australia will spend $3.5 millions on the purchase and ongoing management of 8100 hectares in Central Queensland. The main reason for the purchase is to safeguard the rare Redfin blue-eye fish.

The property, Edgbaston Station, is connected to a network of more than 50 artesian springs that provides Edgbaston pools with spring water from the Great Artesian Basin. The spring-fed pools are surrounded by arid landscape and the isolation has given numerous endemic species a chance to develop, including several species of fish, snails, plants and a crustacean. The entire known population of Redfin blue-eye resides in five spring-fed pools at Edgbaston. In addition to arid grass lands and spring-fed pools, the property also contains woodlands and wetlands and is an important region for migratory birds. The rare Redfin blue-eye fish is therefore not the only species that will benefit from the purchase.

A substantial part of the money used to finance the acquisition of Edgbaston Station – $1.324 millions – comes from the Australian Government’s “Maintaining Australia’s Biodiversity Hotspots” program­. The two departments “Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water” and “Qld Department for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation” have also assisted, together with Bush Heritage Australia volunteers and donors.

Edgbaston Station is located within the traditional country of the Iningai people and Bush Heritage Australia plans to work together with them to understand and protect the cultural values of the property.

“Edgbaston has exceptional biodiversity value and Bush Heritage is proud to own, manage and protect such an important Australian landscape,” says Doug Humann, CEO of Bush Heritage Australia. “This purchase will allow us to closely manage the health of Edgbaston’s incredible artesian springs, which support a variety of life forms unique to the region.”

Bush Heritage Australia currently owns and manages 31 reserves throughout Australia. You can find more information on their site: http://www.bushheritage.org.au.

1 Australian dollar = 0.8 U.S. dollars

Facts about the Red-finned Blue-eye

The Red-finned Blue-eye (Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis) lives in spring fed pools in Queensland and the species has only been encountered in a handful of pools. None of the pools are very large and the average water depth is just a few centimetres. The pools are located in a very arid part of Australia and there is hardly any surrounding vegetation that can shadow the shallow water. During the hot season, the air temperature can reach 50 degrees C (122 degrees F) during the day and the water in the pools can become almost as warm as the surrounding air. The Red-finned Blue-eye is however not only capable of handling a high water temperatures; it is also very tolerant to rapid changes in water temperature since the shallow pools where it lives change temperature rapidly as the surrounding air temperature fluctuates. During the cold season, the water temperature can be as cold as 3 degrees C (37 degrees F).

The Red-finned Blue-eye is listed as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.