Capitalism Threatens Coelacanth

Bad enough international deep sea trawlers have destroyed coastal fishing reserves, like our cod stocks now they threaten the last of the living dinosaurs. The same situation occurs domestically as more and more recreational uses of Canada's fresh water lakes threaten our dinosaur fish, the Sturgeon. See my LiveJournal blog for more on this.

These ships are basically the result of the industrialization of fishing. Like agribusiness, larger is better. What agribusiness has done is destroy the family farm as it industrializes agricutural production. Industrialized fishing has done the same.

These ships are floating factories, that scoop up the bottom of the ocean and then process the fish on board. They are not selective, they scoop up everything taking what they need and tossing the rest, as the old saying goes letting God sort them out. Of course that mythical higher being is invoked cause the fish that are not needed are injured, tortured in fact, if not killed out right from crashing from nets to the depths of trawlers belly.

Trend for deep-sea trawling puts rare fish species on the ocean's critical list

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Published: 05 January 2006

'There is a real danger that slow -growing, deepwater species will take centuries to recover from current fishing, if they can at all'

Deep-sea fish are being taken to the brink of extinction because the dramatic collapse of shallow-water stocks is sending fishing trawlers further out to exploit deeper waters.

Scientists believe the overfishing that has caused the demise of the traditional catch of fish, such as cod and plaice, is now causing an equally severe, long-term decline of more exotic, deep-water species.

Since the first Coelacanth was discovered in 1938 by local fishermen, village based sustainable fishing has been threatened just like this dinosaur fish. Around the world these large industrial fleets of the G8 countries threaten domestic fishing villages and peoples.

If this is not a damned good reason to ban deep sea trawler fleets, then it should at least give one pause. A ban on deep sea trawlers is something environmentalists have been demanding for sometime now. It is an issue that brings together environmentalists and fisher folk who often are on opposite sides.

Notice the difference between the find of a rare Coelacanth in 1998 and the current story of how they have now become endagered. In just eight years.

Save Our Dinosaurs! I say.

Dinosaur fish pushed to the brink by deep-sea trawlers After surviving for millions of years, the coelacanth is threatened by commercial fishing fleets Inigo Gilmore in Tanzania Sunday January 8, 2006 The Observer It is not every day that you come face to face with a dinosaur dating back 400 million years, but for the fishermen in Kigombe on Tanzania's northern coast it has become almost routine. In the middle of Kigombe, a village of simple huts on this breathtaking edge of the Indian Ocean, a young fisherman stood proudly before a large green plastic container. Ceremoniously he reached inside and hauled out a monster of a fish, slapping its 60kg (132lb) of flesh on a table, where three children gawped at its almost human-like 'feet'. This is a living fossil, a fish with limbs, a creature once believed extinct: a coelacanth. Now it seems that man may have discovered the fish just to eradicate it, as ever deeper trawling throws up serious fears for the already dwindling populations of the fish, which lives at depths of between 100 and 300 metres (328ft to 984ft). The appearance of these creatures off the Tanzanian coast is a dramatic and as yet unfinished chapter in the extraordinary story of the coelacanth, an ancient fish that was 'rediscovered'. The coelacanth evolved 400 million years ago - by contrast Homo sapiens has been around for less than 200,000 years - and was believed to have gone the way of the dinosaurs until one was caught off the coast of South Africa in 1938.

New sighting of 'living fossil' intrigues scientists

A coelacanth
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CNN's Don Knapp reports on the exploits of this ancient aquatic dweller
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September 23, 1998
Web posted at: 11:40 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT)

From Correspondent Don Knapp

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- An ugly fish known as the "living fossil" has made another appearance in the ocean, surprising scientists.

A coelacanth has been found in Indonesia -- 7,000 miles (11,200 kilometers) from its only previously known location near Madagascar.

The ancestors of the coelacanth (pronounced SEE-la-kanth) date back 400 million years. Until 1938, scientists knew the coelacanth only as a fossilized relic from the dinosaur era.

"So in 1938, it was almost a shock when one showed up, that you get this, what's called a living fossil basically, this fish that's known only from the fossil record and here it is, some 80 million years later, you get a live one," said Douglas Long of the California Academy of Science.

The second coelacanth known is exhibited in 1952

A fisherman pulled the first-known modern coelacanth from the waters near the Comoros Islands near Madagascar. South African biologist Marjorie Courtenay Latimer came across it in a fish market.

History repeated itself in the latest discovery. University of California-Berkeley biologist Mark Erdmann was in Indonesia on his honeymoon when he visited a fish market in Manada, Sulawesi, to look for manta shrimp, the animal he studies.

"His wife pointed out a large, ugly fish going by on a hand cart, which he looked at and immediately recognized as a coelacanth," said Roy Caldwell, a biologist at UC-Berkeley.

The fleshy fins of the coelacanth earned it the nickname of 'fourlegs'

Caldwell said the coelacanths recently found in Indonesia apparently live in the same type of environment as those found in the Comoros, caves about 600 feet (18 meters) deep along the steep sides of underwater volcanoes.

One reason for the coelacanth's ancient popularity was its fleshy fins that reminded people of human limbs, Caldwell said. Those fins led to speculation that the fish were direct ancestors of land vertebrates.

The fish did not turn out to be the ancestor of humans, but did manage to outlive the dinosaurs.

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UK Scientist Discovers Dinosaur Fossil While Running Along Shore Of Eigg Beach

The 166 million-year-old dinosaur fossil was discovered by Dr. Elsa Panciroli, who was with her team members looking for remains of other animals.

Written By Vishal Tiwari


In a bizarre but yet exciting incident, a scientist discovered a dinosaur fossil while running along the shore of Hebridean island in Scotland. The dinosaur fossil was discovered by Dr. Elsa Panciroli, who was with her team members looking for remains of other animals. Panciroli, while talking to the press, said that she stumbled upon the bone of the dinosaur while running and trying to catch up with other members of her team. The dinosaur fossil is reportedly 166 million-year-old, dated to the Middle Jurassic period.

Read: Fossil Embryo Reveals New Details About ‘sauropods’ That Lived 80 Million Years Ago



🚨JURASSIC DISCOVERY KLAXON🚨

A 166 million-year-old dinosaur bone has been found on the isle of Eigg!

Dr Panciroli (@gsciencelady) made the discovery on the Hebridean island. The find has since been identified as belonging to a stegosaurian dinosaur – like Stegosaurus pic.twitter.com/ri5nnLyqAb— National Museums Scotland (@NtlMuseumsScot) August 26, 2020

Read: Fossil Of 13-ft-long Marine Predator Found Inside Larger Animal: Study
First on isle of Eigg

The bone has been kept in the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, where it has been displayed for visitors. According to reports, scientists in Scotland have been searching dinosaur bones for more than 200 hundred years. Until now the only dinosaur fossil discovered in Scotland was on the Isle of Skye. This is the first time that a dinosaur bone has been found os isle of Eigg, where previously only marine reptile and fish fossils were discovered. The dinosaur fossil found on the small island is a limb bone, which is about 50 centimetres long in size.

Read: Fossil Of Long-necked Ancient Reptile Reveals The Spices Was Adaptable, Lived Underwater

The find has since been identified as belonging to a stegosaurian dinosaur, like Stegosaurus. Panciroli discovered the bone on a National Geographic funded fieldwork in 2017. The bone was badly eroded, but paleontologist and Panciroli's colleague Nigel Larkin carefully prepared it for the team to study. It was probably a juvenile, and bite marks show it was scavenged after death, said Panciroli.

Read: Fossils Reveal Dinosaur Predecessor Kongonaphon Kely Was Smaller Than A Cellphone


Dinosaur bone discovered on Scottish island the 1st of its kind in the country

Paleontologist Elsa Panciroli was running to catch up with her colleagues when she spotted the rare fossil

CBC Radio · Posted: Aug 28, 2020 5:57 PM ET | Last Updated: August 28

Researchers believe the discovery is a lower back leg bone of a stegosaurian dinosaur, a species not seen in Scotland before. (N. Larkin)

A rare dinosaur bone from the Middle Jurassic was discovered in Scotland, thanks to the keen eye of a local paleontologist.

Elsa Panciroli got separated from her colleagues while searching for fossils on the Scottish Isle of Eigg. She was hopping from boulder to boulder on the shoreline to catch up with the rest of the team when something caught her eye.

"I suddenly realized the boulder I had just hopped onto and run past, it had something in it. But I wasn't sure quite what," Panciroli, who is a paleontologist at National Museums Scotland, told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.

"So I turned around, went back to look, and it was a dinosaur bone sticking out of the boulder on the shoreline I'd just literally stepped on."

Her discovery turned out to be a 48-centimetre dinosaur bone, belonging to a species that has never been seen in Scotland before.

Scottish paleontologist Elsa Panciroli discovered a fossil that turned out to be a leg bone from a Jurassic-era stegosaurus. (S. Brusatte)

1st dinosaur on Eigg

Panciroli was so surprised to find the dinosaur bone, she says she downplayed her discovery to her colleagues at first.

"I was a bit reluctant to say the d-word, so I just kept saying I found something," she said. "And eventually they teased [it] out of me, and of course the moment I said 'dinosaur' everyone ... wanted to come and have a look."

Hundreds of people have likely walked over the boulder without noticing anything, she said, and finding the fossil was a matter of luck as much as training.

"I think a lot of the time for people who search for fossils, it's about pattern recognition. You're looking to recognize something. And it was almost unconscious, because I wasn't looking anymore; I was running."

Panciroli said Eigg has been extensively studied, and the purpose of the trip was to look for fossils seen on the island before, like those of marine reptiles and fish.

How a paleontologist and dentist solved the mystery of dinosaur tracks on a cave ceiling

The researchers never expected to find signs of something as big as a dinosaur — and it turns out that Panciroli's discovery is even rarer than that.
Rare fossil from the Middle Jurassic

After months of extensive tests on the bone, its owner was established to be a young stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic period. This is the first time this type of dinosaur and a fossil this old have been found in Scotland.

"It's 166 million years old, and this is a time when fossils — globally speaking, not just in Scotland — are very, very rare," Panciroli said.

"So just finding it in the first place is really quite significant."

Panciroli imagined the last moments of the young stegosaurus, whose fossilized bone she discovered, in her painting. (Elsa Panciroli )

It's also the first time a dinosaur fossil has been found on Eigg; all other dino fossils in Scotland were discovered on the Isle of Skye.

The newfound bone was likely a back lower leg bone of a stegosaurian dinosaur, a large quadruped species with distinctive plates on the back.

Previously, only fossils from two different types of dinosaurs — "the big, long-necked, very heavy dinosaurs" and "the meat-eating dinosaurs that walk on two legs" — have been found in Scotland, Panciroli said.

Storm surge unearths 'incredible' trove of dinosaur fossils in U.K.

Researchers will now continue looking for fossils on Eigg and Skye in hopes of building a more complete picture of the ecosystem of that time period.

"We already know that there were also mammals at this time, the very earliest ones, but also things like salamanders, crocodiles, turtles — so we can even look at food chains. It really is only the beginning of research," Panciroli said.

The researcher also said she was happy to find something so close to home. "It's always lovely to find something in your home country. I think I expected that I would probably have to travel abroad to look for something like this, so it's a big surprise."

Written by Olsy Sorokina. Interview produced by Jeanne Armstrong.

SOS SAVE OUR STURGEON
Angler Catches Super-Rare 'Dinosaur' Fish in Kansas River, Throws It Back

Story by Pandora Dewan • Yesterday 

An extremely rare species of fish was recently caught in the Kansas River by an angler. This was only the 16th reported catch of the endangered lake sturgeon in Kansas in over 25 years, the state's Department of Wildlife and Parks said.


Photo of Kevin Zirjacks with the rare lake sturgeon. After taking the photos he returned the endangered animal back to the water.© Kevin Zirjacks/Kansas Wildlife and Parks

THAT IS CLEARLY A JUVENILE

The department shared the news of the catch in a post on Facebook. "I knew I had a special fish once I landed this fish," fisherman Kevin Zirjacks said in response to the post. "Never thought I would ever see one of these dinosaurs, let alone be able to actually hold one. Definitely a catch I will remember for the rest of my life."

After taking photos with the fish, Kirjacks released it back into the water.

Lake sturgeon can be found throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Mississippi River. They are the oldest and largest species native to the Great Lakes, first appearing in the fossil record about 135 million years ago, 70 years before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Lake sturgeon themselves can live very long lives, with females reportedly living for as long as 150 years, the National Wildlife Federation said. They are also massive, growing up to 6.5 feet long and weighing up to 200 pounds.


Before the 19th century, lake sturgeon were abundant throughout the Great Lakes. However, overfishing in the 1800s and 1900s dramatically reduced their populations. Today, the species is dwindling in its northern territories, and it is considered endangered in the southern parts of its range.

Efforts to reintroduce this freshwater fish have been slow because of their long life cycle. Females usually do not start producing eggs until they are at least 20 years old.

Zirjacks detailed how he used special equipment to avoid injuring the endangered fish. "The green thing is an unhooking cradle," he said, referring to the green tarpaulin seen in his photograph. "It's a great tool when catch and release fishing. Gives you a padded place to put your fish after landing them.

"It's raised off the ground to keep them nice and clean.... Makes handling the fish way easier and lets you get them back in the water quicker. Really comes in handy when handling bigger fish," he said.

While efforts continue to attempt to revive this population, the lake sturgeon is facing other environmental threats. Water pollution and invasive aquatic species have made their habitats less hospitable, and climate change is expected to decrease the quality and quantity of nursery and spawning sites and exacerbate existing problems.

ADULT STURGEON

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Mackenthun: Texas fishing trip includes chasing dinosaur fish

By Scott Mackenthun Special to The Free Press
Aug 22, 2021

Columnist Scott Mackenthun shows the 5 1/2-foot alligator gar caught on the Trinity River in Texas.
Photos by Scott Mackenthun, special to the Free Press



Covered in tough, armor-like ganoid scales, alligator gar are incredible to behold in person.
Scott Mackenthun, special to The Free Press

A random game of chance brought about last week’s first encounter with an alligator gar.

While I get outdoors as much as possible, there still was a rut forming through the familiarity of time spent homebound during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I started getting the itch to travel a couple months ago, and I dared to dream about a destination fishing trip.

Alligator gar came to my mind, and I spent idle time googling the giant fish and following Texas gar fishing guides on social media. Whether it was browser cookies or social media algorithms, I came across a lot of alligator gar content that got the angling juices flowing.

One night, I saw a post from one of the Texas gar guides that his outfit would raffle a guided fishing trip. Entries were $10 with 20 spots available.

I figured that the entry fee was a ticket to daydream, just like a lot of people buy a Powerball ticket when the jackpot runs large. If I didn’t win, and the odds were against me, it hadn’t cost me much and it permitted me to imagine a getaway trip.

A week went by and I forgot about the raffle. One night, I took my brother-in-law fishing on the Mississippi River and was flipping through my phone when I came across the raffle being conducted live. I turned it on just in time to see my number and name get called. I’d won the trip!

Carlos Guerrero of Trinity River Gar Fishing got me on the schedule for a mid-August date, and I booked my airfare. I managed to schedule some other fishing and exploring while in Dallas.

On the eve of the big trip, I waited out a torrential downpour inside the Texas Parks and Wildlife Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. Guerrero messaged me that the rain had hit Dallas hard, ending with just under two inches. The Trinity River rose four or five feet.

Being a river angler, I knew what it meant — the river would run high and dirty, throwing off the fish and fishing until things settled down.

The day started with a 25% chance of storms and ended in a deluge. Had my luck turned? Would my trip be cancelled or a bust? Guerrero had an idea — there was a spot he could take me, not in his boat but walking in, where we’d have a chance at some gar on a part of the river that may have missed much of the rain.

Not one to be afraid of a little hike, I was ready to give it a try and, at the very least, go down swinging.

Alligator gar have had a persecuted existence in the post-settlement United States. Long misunderstood as a nuisance or trash fish, they were wiped out of a large part of their native range by indiscriminate killing recommended by state or federal natural resource authorities, as well as habitat loss.

In the early 20th century, anglers would catch alligator gar via hook and line while another in the boat would shoot the fish with a bow or rifle when it jumped.

Today, a segment of the angling public targets the giant fish for catch-and-release fishing, and management agencies have taken steps to protect and preserve the predator, recognizing it as a valuable member of the native ecosystem.

A number of states value the alligator gar for its potential role in helping control invasive carp. Alligator gar are euryhaline, meaning they can adapt to various levels of salinity in marshes, swamps, brackish estuaries and bays in the Gulf of Mexico.

Alligator gar have ganoid scales, a specialized scale that is nearly impenetrable and tough like a covering of hard armor. These gar are living dinosaurs, an earned title since the fish is relatively unchanged in the fossil record dating back over 100 million years.

As with other primitive fishes, they have retained many ancient characteristics, like the ability to breathe atmospheric air through their swim bladder. Alligator gar is the largest species in the gar family, can grow up to 10 feet long and are estimated to live up to 100 years.

Guerrero came to north Dallas from Mexico at the age of 3. He learned English, holds a work visa for residency and has plans to pursue full citizenship.

Fishing was always in his blood. Once he became smitten with alligator gar, he didn’t want to fish for anything else.

Alligator gar anglers run in small circles, and he kept bumping into a friend that wanted to learn more. Over time, he came to trust Walter Murga, and together, the pair guides anglers through Trinity River Gar Fishing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Murga came to Irving, Texas, from El Salvador at the age of 6. Like Guerrero, he learned English as a second language and plans to turned his visa into citizenship.

The sun has just risen as Guerrero and Murga met me on a nondescript road beyond the outlying southern suburbs of Dallas. It was steamy and hot, a product of the rain the evening before.

A half-mile walk took us along an isolated stretch of the Trinity River. There was just enough light to make out dark shapes just below the river’s lazily flowing, olive-drab surface — the black outlines of schools of buffalo fish.

Rebar mounted rod holders were pushed into the viscous Texas mud on the stream’s banks at openings in the treeline that gave us a good view upstream and down. Long, heavy action rods with 100-pound braided line cast huge chunks of cut up carp on small treble hooks on wire leaders, loosely equivalent to northerners using quick strike rigs for northern pike on tip-ups.

“Now we wait,” Carlos said as the last rod is cast.

Texas has no limits on fishing rods used, but to keep things from getting tangled, we launched six baits into the river at equally spaced intervals. Guerrero and Murga watched line and rod tips carefully, the mark of good live and dead bait anglers.

The baits were bumped frequently, but it’s often being played with by softshell turtles. The turtles have telltale behavioral signs, like constant pecking or swimming off short distances with the bait.


After an hour and a half, we moved to a clearing further downstream, hoping to be rid of the pesky turtles.

Throughout the morning, alligator gar are rising to the surface, rolling around or gulping air before descending into the river’s murkiness. One large individual takes away Guerrero’s and my breath.

“That was a seven-footer for sure,” Carlos said.

After seven years of guiding, he’s still in awe of these fish. The river is teeming with gar, but we can’t seem to convince any to take our bait.

Another hour passed when suddenly one of the lines shot out. We scrambled to the rod and pull line of the spinning reel arbor, hoping the fish didn’t detect any resistance and drop the bait.

Alligator gar must be given time to carry the bait off in their mouth. For four or five minutes, we gave the fish line as it started to cut upstream.

We neared the end of the spool, when Carlos announced that even though the fish hadn’t stopped running with the bait, we had no choice but to set the hook.

I reeled up the slack, felt the weight, then swung the rod tip backward while reeling in an attempt to drive the hook into the fish’s bony mouth.

The line tightened and began running out. I added a couple more hard pulls to ensure a set hook.

The fish kept moving upriver, unabated. Eventually, I stopped the fish and began gaining line, but it came close to the nearshore bank.

I worried that it will find some unseen snag. I worked to guide the fish toward deeper water and suddenly, she jumped out of the water and gnashed her teeth.

Fearful she’d thrown the hook, I was relieved to find her still attached.

The fish pushed out to the main current and the fight continued, with Guerrero and Murga reminding me to keep the rod tip down so I don’t encourage another jump.

Because alligator gar have such incredibly sharp teeth, guides don’t carry landing nets as the fish would simply tear holes through them.

Instead, everyone relies on the most Texas thing you can think of — a rope is used to “lasso” the fish around it’s hard, bony head and haul it to shore.

Guerrero worked the rope around my fishing line as we brought in the gar.

The tensest moments of the entire battle was trying to attach the rope. On three occasions, as Guerrero slid the rope over the rostrum, the tired fish found the energy to dart back into the river, pulling drag each time and making our hearts race.

We spotted the treble hook in the bony corner of the mouth and feared it would pull out. Finally, we got the 5 1/2-foot gar ashore and took a few pictures.

Despite the appearance of hanging precariously, we found the treble hook was well-seated. Because gar can breathe atmospheric air, the fish can be kept out of water far longer than other sport fish.

I took a few pictures of the incredible fish’s head and back, then Guerrero picked up the fish to hand it to me.

While Guerrero picked up the fish, the gar opened its mouth and a fold of Guerrero’s T-shirt fell inside just as the fish closed its mouth. After waiting a second, the fish opened its mouth again and the shirt fell out with several fresh holes.

You wouldn’t want your hand in that girl’s mouth!

After a couple quick pictures, the fish was released to fight another day.

Eventually the humidity broke as well as the overcast skies, and the hot Texas sun came out of hiding to warm and dry the muddy ground and usher in the conclusion of the day’s trip.

Two more bait pickups happened, but each time, the gar dropped the bait. Such is life for alligator gar anglers — you battle turtles, you hope the gar keep the bait long enough to get hooked up, and you get snubbed by many fish.

All for a chance to reel in an incredible fish in an incredible place.

Scott Mackenthun is an outdoors enthusiast who has been writing about hunting and fishing since 2005. He resides in New Prague and may be contacted at scott.mackenthun@gmail.com.

Scientists Discover 380-Million-Year-Old Heart, Stunningly Preserved

Leslie Katz - CNET


A 380-million-year-old fish heart found embedded in a chunk of Australian sediment has scientists' pulses racing. Not only is this organ in remarkable condition, but it could also yield clues about the evolution of jawed vertebrates, which include you and me.


Professor Kate Trinajstic inspects a fossil of an ancient fish at the Western Australian Museum. Curtin University© Provided by CNET

The heart belonged to an extinct class of armored, jawed fish called arthrodires that thrived in the Devonian period between 419.2 million and 358.9 million years ago -- and it's a good 250 million years older than the jawed-fish heart that currently holds the "oldest" title. But despite the fish being so archaic, the positioning of its S-shaped ticker with two chambers led researchers to observe surprising anatomical similarities between the ancient swimmer and modern sharks.

"Evolution is often thought of as a series of small steps, but these ancient fossils suggest there was a larger leap between jawless and jawed vertebrates," said Professor Kate Trinajstic, a vertebrate paleontologist at Australia's Curtin University and co-author of a new study on the findings. "These fish literally have their hearts in their mouths and under their gills -- just like sharks today," Trinajstic said.

The study appeared in the journal Science on Wednesday.

Scientists got an extra good look at the organ's exact location because they were able to observe it in relation to the fish's fossilized stomach, intestine and liver, a rare happening.

"I can't tell you how truly amazed I was to find a 3D and beautifully preserved heart and other organs in this ancient fossil," Trinajstic said.


The white ring shows the spiral valves of the intestine, but the heart isn't visible here. "I was totally blown away by the fact we could actually see the soft tissues preserved in such an ancient fish," says John Long, a professor of paleontology at Flinders University in Australia and co-author of a new study on the finding. "I knew immediately it was a very significant find." John Long/Flinders University© Provided by CNET

Paleontologists encountered the fossil during a 2008 expedition at Western Australia's GoGo Formation, and it adds to a trove of information gleaned from the site, including the origins of teeth and insights into the fin-to-limb transition. The GoGo Formation, a sedimentary deposit in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, is known for its rich fossil record preserving reef life from the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era, including relics of tissues as delicate as nerves and embryos with umbilical cords.



Anatomy of an arthrodire.© Provided by CNET

"Most cases of soft-tissue preservation are found in flattened fossils, where the soft anatomy is little more than a stain on the rock," said study co-author Professor Per Ahlberg of Sweden's Uppsala University. "We are also very fortunate in that modern scanning techniques allow us to study these fragile soft tissues without destroying them. A couple of decades ago, the project would have been impossible."

Those techniques include neutron beams and X-ray microtomography, which creates cross sections of physical objects that can then be used to re-create virtual 3D models.

Recent fish fossil finds have illuminated how "dinosaur fish," a critically endangered species, stand on their heads and how much the prehistoric fish lizard looked like Flipper the dolphin.

And study co-author Ahlberg has a reminder for those who might not consider such finds significant: that life is, at its most fundamental level, an evolving system.

"That we ourselves and all the other living organisms with which we share the planet have developed from a common ancestry through a process of evolution is not an incidental fact," Ahlberg said. "It is the most profound truth of our existence. We are all related, in the most literal sense."

A new discovery could help save this 10-foot-long 'living fossil' fish

The alligator gar is a snaggle-toothed fish longer than a park bench and heavier than a mountain lion. Bony scales covering its body make it look like an armored dinosaur, and for good reason: North America’s second-biggest fish has been thriving since the late Jurassic period, 157 million years ago.


© Photograph by Charles Carpenter/Field Museum Library/Getty Images

Richard Raddatz, of the Field Museum, stands next to an alligator gar in Chicago, Illinois, in 1905.

Jason Bittel - Yesterday 
National Geographic

Many don’t realize that the 10-foot-long alligator gar still exists, but when they do, their first thoughts often turn to fear, says Solomon David, a fish ecologist at Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

But “they’re not like alligators, lions or other animals that can tear off pieces of prey,” says David. “They have to swallow their prey whole, so they’re harmless to humans.”

Alligator gar, which can weigh more than 300 pounds, are like their namesake in one way: They’re apex predators, which means they provide critical ecosystem services to their home habitats—which is mostly the middle and lower Mississippi River watershed in the U.S. The freshwater species keep prey populations in check by hunting smaller fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds, David says. (Learn more about freshwater fish.)

But their role as top hunter has earned alligator gar a bad reputation with anglers and even state wildlife managers, who sometimes tried to exterminate the animals, thinking they were competitors to game fish. In the 1930s, the Texas Game and Fish Commission even built a boat that discharged electric volts into the water. They called it the Electrical Gar Destroyer.


© Photograph by JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

Alligator gars have a wide range that includes Central America and Cuba.

Combine those direct threats with habitat loss due to dam construction and floodplain draining, and alligator gar are now extremely rare in the upper river systems of America where they were once common. In some states, such as Ohio and Illinois, the species has disappeared completely and is considered locally extinct or extirpated. Alligator gar, found as far south as Central America, are more common in the southern parts of their range, especially in U.S. states such as Texas and Louisiana—which is why they’re listed as of least concern by IUCN.


© Photograph by Kent Ozment/Solomon David

The GarLab team—from left, Audrey Baetz, Solomon David, and Derek Sallmann—measures a large alligator gar at the St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi in 2021. All fish are safely released after data collection.

“It’s a matter of scale. What might be of ‘least concern’ globally is definitely not the case on the local scale,” says David.

That’s why David and his colleagues are trying to reverse the fish's decline, for instance by breeding them in captivity and devising ways to learn more about the creatures without harming them. In a January study in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, David and colleagues showed that instead of cutting into the fish’s flesh to gather samples, taking small clips of fin can provide the same information.

“Just the sheer size of these animals blows you away when you're in their presence,” David says. “These are river giants.”
Fin clips, for the win

To protect gar, scientists first need to know basic information, such as where the behemoths roam and what they’re eating. To do that, they’d normally need to take a nickel-size sample of the fish’s tissue, which contains traces of elements scientists can use to track the fish’s whereabouts.

However, because gar have scales like medieval chain mail, the time-consuming and traumatic practice of extracting that amount of tissue can cause stress on the animal, says Thea Fredrickson, an aquatic biologist with the Lower Colorado River Authority in Texas.

“It can definitely be lethal. There’s no way around it.”

Fortunately, in their new study, Fredrickson and David have just proven that fin clipping is much easier on the gar.

“It also allows us to sample organisms repeatedly,” says David, who notes the fins grow back quickly. “Let’s say we catch the same fish a month or two later, or maybe a year later. We can see how that fish might be changing with its growth.”

“I found the results [of] the paper very promising,” says Zeb Hogan, a research biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, who was not involved in the study.

Some alligator gars live to be 95 years or more, Hogan says, making each individual precious. (Read about Hogan’s quest to find the world’s biggest fishes.)

“We need to understand their biology and their ecology, but you don’t want to sacrifice a fish that’s that old or that grows so slowly,” says Hogan, who is also a National Geographic Explorer.

Though the fin-clipping technique has been shown to work for other fishes, no one had ever tried it with alligator gar. Now that it’s been proven, the scientists have already started using the technique at St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi.

In February, David and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their gar biologist, Kayla Kimmel, caught numerous gar at the refuge, including a massive specimen longer than David is tall. They tagged the animals and captured 10 individuals to be used in a captive-breeding program at the wildlife service’s Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery. If all goes well, the offspring of these 10 fish will be reintroduced into U.S. areas where gar have disappeared.
Evolutionary wonders

There are seven species of gar found worldwide, and all have changed relatively little over time, which is why they’re known as “living fossils.” (Go underwater into the underlooked world of freshwater animals.)

“They found a body plan that worked, and they’ve stuck with it,” says David, explaining that the fish’s long, narrow shape allows them to lunge quickly at their prey.

Alligator gars can also breathe air, allowing them to survive in hot, low-oxygen environments, including brackish estuaries or even salt water.

Another useful adaptation? Poisonous eggs. Interestingly, alligator gar eggs don’t seem to be lethal to other fishes—only mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and especially arthropods, such as crustaceans. This may mean they evolved the poison specifically to protect their eggs from crabs and crayfish, says David.

“But ‘don’t eat gar caviar’ is the take-home message for people,” he laughs

Save the freshwater giants

Freshwater megafauna, loosely defined as species that weigh over 66 pounds on average, are among the most endangered animals on Earth. Global populations have declined by almost 90 percent since 1970—twice as much as the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the oceans, according to a 2019 study in Global Change Biology.

Large fish, such as sturgeons, salmons, and giant catfishes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, have experienced even higher declines, because of overfishing, pollution, and dams. 

(Read more about how dams in Southeast Asia are threatening megafish.)

This is why David is trying to change the perception of these animals any way he can. Sometimes it’s making gar puns on social media, and other times it’s testifying before the Minnesota Legislature in favor of a new bill that would provide gar and other so-called “rough fish” with some protections, rather than allowing them to be killed indiscriminately.

“It's a privilege to work alongside the growing number of conservationists garnering more respect for these charismatic megafish,” David says.

Of course, when he says “garnering,” the emphasis is on the gar.

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FOSSIL  FISH

Texas fisherman's alligator gar earns him 'outstanding angler award' from state: 'Amazing catch'

Cortney Moore
Wed, September 6, 2023 

An alligator gar in Texas has earned one fisherman an award from state authorities.

John Harrington earned an "Outstanding Angler Award" from the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) division for his "GAR-gantuan" catch in July.

The wildlife agency announced Harrington’s noteworthy alligator gar on Friday, Aug. 25, in a public Facebook post.

207-POUND ALLIGATOR GAR CAUGHT IN TEXAS BREAKS LOCAL RECORD, APPEARS LONGER THAN FISHERMAN

"John Harrington caught this GAR-gantuan alligator gar out of the Trinity River on July 18 with a rod and reel," the TPWD wrote in its Facebook announcement.

"He earned an Outstanding Angler Award for his incredible catch," the post continued. "The gar was released to swim another day."

Exact measurements of Harrington’s alligator gar are not known since the fish was caught and released, a spokesperson for the TPWD told Fox News Digital.

"The angler did not have any weight or length data that we could verify, so he earned an Outstanding Angler Award to commemorate his amazing catch," the TPWD’s spokesperson wrote in an email.

Alligator gars are a ray-finned fish that can tolerate a wide range of salinity, according to multiple wildlife encyclopedias and glossaries.

ALABAMA FATHER AND SON CATCH RECORD-BREAKING, 162-POUND ALLIGATOR GAR

Fish identification guides published by the TPWD state that alligator gar have "short" and "wide" snouts that have a "distinct" appearance, which many say resembles that of an alligator when viewed from above.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife reports that alligator gar are species that's "as old as the dinosaurs" and lives in rivers, reservoirs and estuaries throughout the state.

"Alligator gar can be huge, reaching lengths of up to 10 feet and weighing over 300 pounds," the TPWD wrote in its "How to Identify Alligator Gar" webpage.

"It is the second-largest freshwater fish in North America, second only to the white sturgeon," the TPWD continued.

In May 2023, the TPWD recognized a Texas angler for breaking the alligator gar record in Lake Corpus Christi with a 90-inch, 207-pound catch.

Paul Hefner of Texas caught a 7.5-foot alligator gar from Lake Corpus Christi, Texas, which broke the local fishing record for alligator gar.

The Texas state record for an alligator gar caught by rod-and-reel is 279 pounds, and it was established on Jan. 1, 1951, by angler Bill Valverde, who caught the fish from the Rio Grande.

The TPWD also has verified records of alligator gar that have been caught with various methods, including fly rods (56.25 inches, 40.7 pounds), bow and arrows (96 inches, 290 pounds), catch-and-release rod-and-reels (89 inches) and other means (302 pounds, 90 inches).

The current world record for the largest alligator gar belongs to Kenny Williams of Vicksburgh, Mississippi, who accidentally caught a 327-pound alligator gar that was over 8 feet in length from Lake Chotard in 2011, according to the TPWD.

The alligator gar got tangled in Williams’ fishing net before he caught it with a rod and reel. Experts estimated the world-record fish was around 95 years old.

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Cryptozoology Part 2: plawiuk — LiveJournal

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Sea Serpent

Here is an interesting Sea Serpent that actually has been documented in scientific journals. And it is Canadian.

Cadboro Bay in British Columbia claims Caddy, or Cadborosaurus willsi, a serpent-like creature that to this day remains the only monster ever described in a scientific journal.

The existence of the species has been suggested by the original specimen-based description in a refereed scientific journal in which the type juvenile specimen is represented by 3 different close-up quality photographs (in the B. C. Provincial Archives in Victoria), in which at least three new-born relatively tiny precocial "baby" specimens have been independently held by at least three pairs of human captors during the past 40 years, and by more than 100 documented sightings, photographs, sonar images, and sketches of live animals made independently at predicted times and places, subsequent to the original description in 1995 and continuing to the present

In the Amphipacifica Journal of Systematic Biology Drs. Paul H. LeBlond and Edward L. Bousfield review the large aquatic reptile known as "Caddy" from the Pacific coast of North America. Bousfield and LeBlond believe the historical records about this creature contain sufficient evidence of "specimens in hand" to conclude "the animal is real and merits formal taxonomic description," and propose it be named and diagnosed with vertebrate class Reptilia as Cadborosaurus willsi, new genus, new species.

Many people have spotted a large marine cryptid from coastal areas of the northeast Pacific Ocean and sporadically these sightings have been reported by the news media. Bousfield and LeBlond describe it as "a large serpentine animal (adult body length 15-20 meters), clearly unlike any whale, pinniped, fish, or other existing vertebrate animal that makes only brief appearances at the sea surface, presenting distinctive head, a long neck, and trunk region that often forms into number of vertical humps or loops. Its swimming speed is astonishing to those who try to approach it, invariably unsuccessfully."

And while the article the first link is from;Sea monsters: Not real, but good for business describes many fresh lake sea monster sightings, it basically claims they are all made up. Of course as per usual I believe many of them may be sightings of the rare and endangered ancient dinosaur fish the sturgeon.


See:

Die Vurm

Snakes Alive

Nessies Relative

Nessie?

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Scientists Find a Mammal's Foot Inside a Dinosaur, a Fossil First

Isaac Schultz
Wed, December 21, 2022 

An illustration of Microraptor chowing down on a mammal foot.

Paleontologists taking a second look at a species of small, four-winged dinosaur have found a fossilized mammalian foot in the predator’s stomach.

It’s the first concrete evidence of dinosaurs eating mammals, the researchers say. Specimens of the dinosaur, Microraptor zhaoinus, have been discovered containing ancient birds, fish, and lizards, so the mammalian find is just the latest known source of protein for this spunky hunter. The team who re-scrutinized the Microraptor fossil published their findings today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“It really demonstrates the generalist diet in this small feathered dinosaur,” said Hans Larsson, a paleontologist at McGill University and the study’s lead author, in an email to Gizmodo. “Adding mammals to the menu shows just how un-specialized this dinosaur was.”

The tree-dwelling Microraptor lived during the early Cretaceous, and specimens have been found across what is now northeast China. The fossil-rich region is called the Jehol Biota, and its well-preserved treasures are a great resource for understanding nuances of dinosaur anatomy, as well as details about different animals’ ecological niches.

Microraptor is thought to have lived in trees, gliding around the Cretaceous forests looking for morsels on branches as well as on the ground. The recently studied specimen is the holotype, meaning it was first of its species to be found and named. It’s only recently been revisited after its discovery back in 2000. The new analysis revealed the mammalian foot—a seemingly unprecedented find.

The mammal foot (center) within the Microraptor fossil.

The researchers couldn’t identify the particular mammal species, but the foot’s preservation within Microraptor allowed them to understand its ecological niche and, obviously, its predators.

“Gut contents are amazing snapshots into the diet of fossil animals, but they are so rare that it can be difficult to figure out whether the preserved ‘last meal’ represents the animal’s normal diet or a weird, one-off event that lucked into getting fossilized,” said Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not affiliated with the recent paper, in an email to Gizmodo.

“Microraptor is shaping up to be a very interesting exception to that rule, with multiple, beautifully fossilized specimens preserving different ‘last meals,’” Drumheller-Horton added. “Taken together, the authors make a compelling case that this little theropod wasn’t a particularly picky eater, eating all sorts of small-bodied animals in its environment.”

Another illustration of Microraptor with its prey.

The mammal foot apparently did not belong to a distant human ancestor; the team said it had similarities to the morphologies of Sinodelphys, Yanoconodon, and Eomaia, all ancient species of early mammals that looked roughly like opossums or rodents.

The foot belonged to an animal about the size of a mouse. The team’s analysis found the critter wouldn’t have been a good climber—an indicator that Microraptor may have occasionally swooped down to the forest floor for feeding.

“The foot seems completely intact, and thus was swallowed whole. How much of the mammal was swallowed is unknown,” Larsson said. “However, there were several other unidentified bones around the foot in the rib cage, so I suspect that more of that mammal was consumed.”

The researchers could not determine whether the animal was hunted and killed or if the feathered dinosaur had scavenged its body.

Given the luck paleontologists have had with the Jehol Biota so far, it may just be a matter of time before another meal-laden specimen offers more insights about the Cretaceous food scene.

More: A Shark, Eating a Squid, Eating a Lobster, in One Fossil

Feathered dinosaur the size of a cat is 'first proven to have eaten a mammal'

Telegraph reporters
Tue, December 20, 2022

A feathered flying dinosaur the size of a cat is the first that has been proven to eat mammals by scientists.

Palaeontologists in the UK have analysed fossil remains from around 120 million years ago, showing a small, feathered dinosaur - known as Microraptor - with the foot of an animal inside its ribcage.

The experts said their findings, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, is “the first record of a dinosaur eating a mammal”.

Dr David Hone, from Queen Mary University of London, who is first author on the study, said: “It’s so rare to find examples of food inside dinosaurs, so every example is really important as it gives direct evidence of what they were eating.

Fossil remains showing a mammal foot in the ribcage of a Microraptor - PA

“While this mammal would absolutely not have been a human ancestor, we can look back at some of our ancient relatives being a meal for hungry dinosaurs.

“This study paints a picture of a fascinating moment in time - the first record of a dinosaur eating a mammal - even if it isn’t quite as frightening as anything in Jurassic Park.”

Microraptors lived in the ancient forests of what is now China, somewhere between 125 and 113 million years ago.

While it moved on its two legs, experts believe some species may have been capable of guided flight.

About the size of a crow or a small cat, Microraptors would have been gliding from tree to tree to prey on small animals.

Although the specimen was first described in 2000, the researchers said the previous team had failed to see the remains of another animal inside the dinosaur.

Further analysis suggests the prey was a mammal about the size of a mouse, which likely lived on the ground and was not a good climber.

A mammal foot in the ribcage of a Microraptor may be first known incident of a mammal being eaten by a dinosaur - PA

Previous research has shown other Microraptor specimens with preserved food in their stomachs, such as a bird, a lizard and a fish.

However, the team added that it is not certain if these dinosaurs had directly preyed on these animals or found them already dead and had scavenged them.

Dr Alex Dececchi, from Mount Marty College in South Dakota, US, and one of the study authors, said: “The great thing is that - like your housecat, which was about the same size - Microraptor would have been an easy animal to live with but a terror if it got out, as it would hunt everything from the birds at your feeder to the mice in your hedge or the fish in your pond.”

Missing Link Missing Funding

Ok here are two stories on evolution that come from Canada. The irony would be delicious, except for the idoicy.

It's a story of two kinds of dinosaurs. One that is a real fossil and one that is political.

The first is the discovery of a possible missing link between fish and amphibians coming from the Canadian arctic. Proof of evolution. Empirical fact.

The fish that crawled out of the water

A crucial fossil that shows how animals crawled out from the water, evolving from fish into land-loving animals, has been found in Canada. The creature, described today in Nature¹,², lived some 375 million years ago. Palaeontologists are calling the specimen from the Devonian a true 'missing link', as it helps to fill in a gap in our understanding of how fish developed legs for land mobility, before eventually evolving into modern animals including mankind.

Tetrapods did not so much conquer the land, as escape from the water. John Maisey American Museum of Natural History, New York

Tiktaalik - the fish that found it's feet

The fossil record is full of 'missing links', transitional forms between organisms on either side of a phylogenetic tree, but with Tiktaalik, a fish that shows striking features of a limbed vertebrate (tetrapod), one of these rare missing links has been found. Nature presents a FREE ACCESS story from news@nature.com alongside the discovery and analysis of this incredible animal, and a discussion of its significance in a special News & Views article.

The other story is how a Canadian scientist who wants to study the influence of the Intelligent Design debate in the US is having on Canadian students. He is denied funding.

No he is not a creationist, he is a scientist who accepts evolution as a fact. Which is why he is being denied funding. Right-o that makes alot of sense.

Professor denied federal research funds for assuming evolution to be scientific fact

Hmm do ya think SSHRC is being influenced politically by the Regime change in Ottawa? Doing their masters bidding and denying funding to 'controversial studies' (sic), that might upset the social conservative fundamentalists in the Conservative government. Like the Rev. Stockwell Day, who is a creationist?

Or are they just jumping the gun anticipating an ideological change now that the vociferous critics of SSHRC/Canda Council are in charge.

The last time the Conservatives were in charge they dismantled large sections of SSHRC/Canada Council.

The government's budget was therefore constructed to show that the federal cabinet understood the Reform Party agenda--that it too was determined to cut government fat and slash away at those parts of the bureaucracy most seen to providing useless services and not helping the ``just plain folks back home.'' Indeed, to conceptualize this view it is useful to look at the National Citizen's Coalition document of a few years ago--we might think of the Coalition as being part of the organic intellectuals of the Reform party. The document was entitled ``Tales from the Tax Trough'' and it listed a whole series of useless government services including a hit list of what the NCC saw as particularly stupid research projects. Who was mentioned? SSHRC projects were the first on the list--followed by those of the Canada Council, the Canadian Institute on International Peace and Security, and IDRC. On the hit list were projects on the analysis of yard art, the fool in Western civilization, the wife's role in food shopping for the family, and the participation of women in trade unions in Argentina. Some of us, myself included, may react by thinking what interesting projects these are--and in fact how socially pertinent--but this is clearly not the intent of the pamphlet. The tone of the pamphlet and indeed the way it is likely to be read is of a totally profligate government flinging out dollars to finance absurd projects without any regard for, and even as an insult to, the hard-pressed taxpayers. In rereading this pamphlet one can easily conjure up the image of Don Mazankowski consulting it in preparing his budget. The ``little people'' speak and Big Don listens.

Evolution of the Reform Alliance Conservative Party

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Godzilla Croc

You know that urban myth about gators in the New York City sewer system....well it ain't New York and it ain't in a sewer and it's a croc not a gator.

A small crocodile called Godzik, or Little Godzilla, which escaped from its cage in southern Ukraine at the end of May, is still at large and apparently enjoying itself, an official said Friday.

The 70-centimetre (two-foot, four-inch) long Nile crocodile, which swam away during a publicity show on a beach on the Sea of Azov, is defying attempts to recapture it.

Dariel Adjiba, of the local office of the emergencies ministry, said the reptile had apparently made its home on an abandoned barge which ran aground in the shallow sea, where it could often be seen sunning itself.

AFP Photo: Close up of a nile crocodile in captivity. A small Nile crocodile called Godzik, or...

Godzik had been with a travelling circus for about a year when it escaped at Maryupol on the northern shore of the inland sea.

In the old days this kind of thing would give rise to the myth of dragons, sea monsters and die vurm.


SEE:

Strange Sea Creatures

I Thought I Saw A Putty Cat

Congo's Ghosts

The Fountain Of Youth

Turning Off The Nile

I Don't Do Mornings

Nessie was an Elephant?

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