Beluga whale mimics a human

Here's a story about the first demonstration of spontaneous human voice mimicry in a cetacean (the collective term for whales and dolphins). Schevill and Lawrence who first studied the sounds of the white whale, or beluga, in the wild wrote that "occasionally the calls would suggest a crowd of children shouting in the distance". Listen to the recording in this article http://inkfish.fieldofscience.com/2012/10/you-have-to-hear-this-beluga-mimicking.html and make your own decision about what it sounds like. 

These sounds were made by NOC, a beluga that lived at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego until he died five years ago. The whale was recognised as the source of the sound when one day a diver surfaced outside the whale's enclosure and asked "Who told me to get out?". Researchers have since done tests to understand how the sounds were made and more details can be found in a new paper in Current Biology http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212010093

Did you know? Moby Dick's birthday

Today is the 161st anniversary of Moby Dick! Check out today's Google Doodle! I hope you have been diligently downloading all those chapters and listening to the audiobook! 

If you missed my last post about this click here: http://whalessrilanka.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/moby-dick-audio-book-get-it-here.html (who can say no to a free audiobook!)

Moby Dick audio book: Get it here!

Herman Melville's Moby Dick, first published in 1851 is considered a piece of Great American literature. The story is about a sailor called Ishmael who works aboard the whaleship Pequod commanded by Captain Ahab. Turns out Ahab's sole purpose (perhaps in life) is to seek out the ferocious white whale, Moby Dick because in a previous encounter Moby destroyed Ahab's ship and bit off his leg.

Many of you will want to argue that sperm whales do not bite (unless you are a giant squid of course), however, enter the world and imagination of Mr. Melville himself by downloading this classic audiobook one chapter a day from http://www.mobydickbigread.com/.

For those of you interested in the origins of this story, it turns out Herman Melville was inspired by a true story about the Nantucket whaling ship the Essex that was struck and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific ocean in 1820. The book describing the incident by Nathanial Philbrick is definitely worth a read and is title, In the heart of the sea. 

Did you know? Coral symbionts.

A photosynthesising animal?

Yesterday I went for a talk titled 'Coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis: evolution, ecology and interaction states' by Dr. Michael Stat. While the title might sound complex, here's a few facts about coral and some new ones based on what I learnt yesterday!

1. Corals represent an endosymbiotic system where an animal (the coral) has single-celled dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium (a type of algae) living inside the corals' tissue. 

2. The relationship is symbiotic because the two species have a close and long-term relationship with one another. In this case, it's mutual as both partners exchange nutrients.

3. The photosynthetic ability of the algae means the coral, in essence, makes its own food. 

4. Turns out, corals have host specific (specific to that particular type of coral) and shared symbionts. The difference is based on the acquisition strategy i.e. whether the symbiont was horizontally transmitted (symbionts expelled into the ocean and picked up) or vertically transmitted (symbiont is passed on from generation to generation).

5. One of the big threats that corals face is called bleaching. Bleaching occurs when the conditions necessary for the coral to thrive change drastically. For example when the ocean temperatures increase beyond what the coral can tolerate. At this point, the symbionts are either expelled or lose their pigmentation.

6. If conditions go back to normal, tolerable levels, the coral can recover. In this case, some corals perform better than others. Scientists were curious as to why this was the case. Basically, if you are the kind of coral that tightly associates with only one type of symbiont, your recovery is likely to be less or not at all (depending on the intensity and duration of the stress).

Here is the abstract of the talk in case you are interested.

Corals form an obligate symbiosis with unicellular photosynthetic dinoflagellates. The diversity of dinoflagellates associated with a host is the result of both evolutionary and ecological influences. While mutualism is the paradigm for coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis, recent evidence shows that not all host-symbiont interactions are equally beneficial. The dynamics of host-symbiont partnerships and the exchange of nutrients that ultimately defines the interaction state of the symbiosis are important factors that contribute to the variability in response of corals to changes in the environment.

Climate change may shrink fish

Climate change will decrease Haddock sizes in the future.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada modelled the impact of rising temperatures on more than 600 species of fish between 2001 and 2050. The results show that warming waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels which would lead to a decrease in body weight of fish. Up to now, scientists were only concerned that climate change would alter distribution and reproductive capabilities of fish but this new finding adds a further dimension to the problems.

"Rising temperatures directly increase the metabolic rate of the fish's body function," said Dr. William Cheung from UBC. 

"This leads to an increase in oxygen demand for normal body activities. So the fish will run out of oxygen for growth at a smaller body size."

The model also predicts that fish will move polewards at a rate of up to 36 km per decade. "So in, say, the North Sea," says Dr Cheung, "one would expect to see more smaller-body fish from tropical waters in the future. The largest decreases of about 24% are predicted to occur in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Dr Alan Baudron, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, who has studied changes in the growth of haddock in the North Sea said "smaller individuals produce fewer and smaller eggs which could affect the reproductive potential of fish stocks and could potentially reduce their resilience to other factors."

While the authors acknowledge some shortcomings in the research, they say it highlights a need to look at the biological implications of climate change and push for further research to be conducted. 

Read the article in Nature Climate Change here: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1691.html

Magical Migaloo: The rare white humpback whale

This may sound like  a page out of Herman Melville's classic, if Moby Dick wasn't a sperm whale.

Migaloo, meaning 'White Fella' in the Aboriginal Australian language is a rare white humpback whale. So rare in fact that he was the only white humpback whale in the world until last September when a white calf was spotted near the Great Barrier reef. On the 27th of September 2012 Migaloo was spotted off the east coast of Australia after 3 years while migrating back from northern waters. 

White humpback whale calf spotted near the Great Barrier reef in September 2011.

Greg Kaufman from the Pacific Whale Foundation based in Hawaii said it was possible that Migaloo the 20-something whale was on the prowl - looking for a mate. 

Migaloo is such a legend that the Pacific Whale Foundation hosts a website that documents the activities of this unusual marine mammal and monitors interactions between the whale and curious humans here: http://www.migaloowhale.org/. 

The only other white cetacean known to be roaming the ocean these days is 'Iceberg' the all white killer whale spotted by Russian scientists in August 2010.

And the good news...whale watch regulations for Sri Lanka

Whale watch boats wait for the re-emergence of a blue whale, Mirissa, Sri Lanka.
Photo credit: Ashvin de Vos

A new set of Sea mammal regulations has been compiled under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of Sri Lanka and will be presented to the Parliament by the Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife. While it seems to cover all angles of the industry, it is interesting to see what the full set of regulations looks like. While I understand that the prices quoted are an effort to maintain consistency amongst operators, it makes one wonder how it will change the industry. 

I agree that prices should be kept affordable for locals to enjoy what lies in our waters but at the quoted prices (Rs 20 per local adult) I question if the boats will be able to run beyond the entrance to the harbour. In addition, in light of our slipping economy $8 for a foreign adult will be next to nothing in no time (if it isn't already). Knowing full well that regulations of this nature remain stagnant over time, the fact that there appears to be no mention of a percentage increase in price from year to year is worrying. While I am aware that the full regulations do have a maximum passenger limit per vessel, at these prices, how will the industry survive and are we undercutting ourselves as a nation? 

There's plenty more to discuss on the snapshot provided by this article http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120916/news/strict-guidelines-set-for-whale-and-dolphin-watching-12755.html but perhaps I'll wait till I have analysed the full document to make my comments.   

Closing note: I have been pushing for whale watch regulations since 2003 when the Odyssey expedition of which I was part, brought media attention to the presence of a great number and variety of cetaceans in Sri Lankan waters. I pushed and argued for having regulations in place before an industry commenced (my first article on this matter was published in the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society journal 'Loris') but was opposed by a number of people, some from the tourism industry. Elsewhere in the world, research is conducted on cetacean populations to gain a good understanding of them and their habitat prior to the establishment of such an industry. That way, it is possible to look out for the impacts of disturbance and mitigate them. In Sri Lanka we are doing things inside out, with The Sri Lankan Blue Whale Project running parallel to a growing whale watch industry. Wish us luck!

Humpback whale heat run in Tonga

Apologies for the long silence. I've been away from a decent connection and working hard on some very interesting data. I hope you all understand and are as excited as I am about what the data is telling us! 

Some of you may remember last year's post about the humpback whale baby boom in Tonga documented by my friend, underwater photographer Tony Wu. He photographed and catalogued 48 new calves in the 2011 season and this year he has already documented 31 with a few weeks to go. Spending lots of time in the water with these giants brings some incredible opportunities and this is no exception - a humpback whale heat run! Click the link to read the story: http://www.tonywublog.com/20120918/humpback-whale-heat-run-tonga-2012.html#axzz26mi59tod

Tracking a Subtle Scent, a Dog May Help Save the Whales

Dogs are incredible companions and pets as many of us will agree. In recent times, scientists have learnt how to use their incredible sense of smell to help protect endangered species both on land and in the water. To learn more read today's NYT article and watch the video.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/us/sniffing-out-a-subtle-scent-to-help-save-some-whales.html?_r=1&hp

Insane in the chromatophore - Greg Gage

The setup

Musically stimulated squid skin as seen through an 8x microscope zoomed in on the dorsal side of the fin.

 

There is no doubt, everyone is intrigued by the fast colour-changing nature of squid's skin. Squids (like many other cephalapods) can quickly control pigmented cells called chromatophores to reflect light. TED fellow Greg Gage's fascination with neuroscience led him to the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA this summer where he experimented on the giant axons of the Longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealei). This species has three different chromatophore colours: Brown, Red and Yellow. Each chromatophore has tiny muscles along the circumference of the cell that can contract to reveal the pigment underneath.

 

Here we see get a peak at some of Greg's tests on the squid's chromatophores using the cockroach leg stimulus protocol they have devised. They used home made DIY suction electrodes to attach to the squid's fin nerve, then connected the electrode to an iPod nano as the simulator. The iPod plays music by converting digital music to a small current that it sends to tiny magnets in the earbuds. The magnets are connected to cones that vibrate and produce sound.
 

Since this is the same electrical current that neurons use to communicate, he cut off the ear buds and instead placed the wire into the fin nerve. When the iPod sends bass frequencies (<100hz action="action" an="an" axons="axons" cause="cause" charge="charge" chromatophores="chromatophores" contract.="contract." enough="enough" fire="fire" font="font" have="have" in="in" muscles="muscles" nerves="nerves" potential.="potential." the="the" this="this" to="to" turn="turn" will="will">

 

More details of this and other super interesting but accesible neuroscience conducted by Greg and his team can be found at http://news.backyardbrains.com/2012/08/insane-in-the-chromatophores/

For a better explanation as well as a few more demos watch Greg's TED talk: http://on.ted.com/Gage.