No less than 215 anglers from throughout the UK participated in the 2009 Scottish Sharkatag organised by the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN).

The Sharkatag had three goals:

– To highlight the perilous state of the endangered shark species.

– To gather data to support claims for their protection.

– To press politicians and fisheries managers to recognize the needs of the sea angling community and its contribution to the Scottish economy.

The information gathered during the Sharkatag will feed into SSACN’s Scottish Shark

Tagging Programme; a program dedicated to broaden our knowledge of shark, skate and ray stocks in Scottish coastal waters.

Attending anglers caught, tagged and released various shark species from boats, kayaks and the shoreline of Solway in South West Scotland, and what they found was worse than expected.

“It really worries me that many of the tope packs have failed to

show this year“, says Ian Burrett, SSACN’s Project Director. “The whole region seems to be void of the expected male breeding stock and the fish caught were mostly immature females, typically under twenty pounds and a few solitary females in the 50-60 pound range; Luce Bay was especially poor for the time of year.”

The Tope shark (Galeorinus galeus), also known as the School shark, Soupfin shark and Snapper shark, is a type of hound shark found at depths down to 550 metres (1800 feet). It can reach a length of 2 metres (6.5 feet) and is listed as Vulnerable at the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The situation was equally worrisome for several other species of shark and ray.

“Around two hundred tope, smoothhound and bull huss were tagged over the three days and that can only be described as poor compared to what the total should have been, says Burrett. “Combined with the lack of rays tagged, only three throughout Sharkatag, it shows how urgently plans are needed to helpprotect and regenerate the stocks. Twenty year ago virtuallyevery boat would have recorded several mature tope and rays.”

You can find more information at the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network’s website www.ssacn.org and the website of SSACN’s Scottish Shark Tagging Programme www.tagsharks.com.

Eleven of the 18 freshwater stingrays living at the U.S. National Zoo died over the holiday weekened, together with two arowanas. All dead fishes were residents of the zoo’s Amazonia exhibit; a 55,000-gallon (208,000 L) aquarium designed to replicate a flooded Amazon forest. Zoo officials are now suspecting low oxygen levels to be behind the sudden mass death.

Picture of Motoro Sting Ray, Ocellate river stingray – Potamotrygon motoro. Not one of the dead rays.
Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

As soon as the deaths were discovered 7 a.m Monday morning, zookeepers tested the water and found low levels of dissolved oxygen. They immediately started supplementing the aquarium with reservoir water and no more fish have died so far. In addition to stingrays and arrowanas, the Amazon aquarium is also home to discus, boulengerella fish, and a large school of guppies. By 10:15 a.m. Monday, the oxygen levels were back to normal but zookeepers continue to monitor the health of the surviving fish just in case.

Necropsies performed on the dead fish did not unveil any definite cause of death, which makes low oxygen levels even more likely, according to National Zoo officials. They do not believe human error caused the oxygen drop, since all protocols and checks were properly followed Sunday night.

Insufficient levels of dissolved oxygen in the water are one of the most common causes of fish mass death, in the wild as well as in captivity. Last year, 41 stingrays died at the Calgary Zoo in Canada due oxygen scarcity in the water.

Australian scientists have now completed an 18-month long project aimed at scientifically describing sharks and rays, using traditional techniques as well as modern DNA sequence analysis. The ambitious project has resulted in over 100 species of sharks and rays being properly classified, which is equal to about one third of Australia’s known sharks and rays.

Southern Dogfish Image credit – CSIRO

Over 90 of the new species had already been identified by Dr Last and Dr Stevens in their book “Sharks and Rays of Australia” from 1994, but remained undescribed and without scientific names.

Many of the new species are endangered in the wild, such as the Maugean Skate and the Southern Dogfish, and having them properly classified and named is important for future monitoring and conservational work. The new descriptions and names will be included in a revised edition of “Sharks and Rays of Australia” which is planned for release in 2009.

Maugean Skate Image credit – CSIRO

The 18-month long study was backed by CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship. National Research Flagships are large-scale multidisciplinary research partnerships and the National Research Flagships program is one of the biggest scientific research endeavours ever undertaken in Australia.

If you’re interested in the Wealth from Oceans Flagship, you can find more information here. http://www.csiro.au/org/WealthOceansFlagship.html

This is a short post as I think everyone should see these pictures of migrating golden rays. Not all golden rays migrate but there is one population in the Mexican gulf that each year migrate, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan. They migrate in large schools, often up to 10 000 fish strong and color the sea where they swim. Each ray grow to be 7ft (2.1 meters) wide from fin tip to win tip.

Enough talk. Visit this site to see the great pictures

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).

Another stingray has died at the Calgary Zoo, and it could take the zoo up to two months to receive the toxicology reports back from the lab to determine what the true cause was. Gill irritation and lack of eating were the first signs that the rays were in trouble. Now a total of 35 stingrays are dead. The remaining rays will be placed back into the main exhibit and the zoo is not commenting on weather they will be replenishing the original population of rays.

Toxins in the water may have come unintentionally by people in the petting tanks, and this is why some keepers believe this is an improper way to house these animals. Rob Laidlaw, executive director of ZooCheck Canada, was quoted by Cnews stating “”We don’t believe animals should be taken from the wild so people can play with them.” Ultimately questioning the educational value of such ray petting exhibits. As for the remaining eight. They will be released into the main exhibit for observation by zoo patrons, because it is simply the best environment for them, and they are safe from accidental contamination.

to read the entire article about the Calgary Zoos tradgic loss of cownosed rays visit: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/14/5561296-sun.html

(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)