Holy flying sharks Batman! In a story that not even the best golfer could make up (you know the guy that made that 50-foot putt to save par in a hurricane) a 2-foot leopard shark dropped from the sky onto the 12th tee at a golf course in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Apparently the shark was dropped from a bird onto the course but it wasn’t until the course marshal saw something moving on the 12th tee that the shark was discovered. The marshal scrambled and made some homemade saltwater with kitchen salt and delivered the shark back to the ocean. The shark did take off when put in the water so we’re hoping the little guys is OK.
[via KNOX News]
Good news coming from the Great Barrier Reef. After hearing the no-so-good news about the GBR losing over half of its corals the last 25-plus years, the Catlin Seaview Survey (the people behind Google’s Street View of the reef) have discovered thriving deepwater coral reefs. These reefs found between 30 and 120 meters are near the damaged part of the reef. Researchers note this may suggest that the upper and lower corals are part of the same population and have moved between deep and shallow waters, which could be an important part of regenerating the damaged upper reef.
[via Guardian]
Time for a little gratuitous fish p0rn courtesy of Kevin Kohen. You know you have a stunning creature when people who work around rare fish get excited about a specimen. Kevin recently acquired this gorgeous Plectranthias pelicieri. No word on where this fish originated from but they are typically found in the Indian Ocean, from Mauritius to South Africa and possibly also off Madagascar and Mozambique. The one specimen we covered before originated in Tonga.
[via Kevin Kohen]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDQ1GAZZk6E[/youtube]
For the strange ocean-related video of the week, here is an interesting video of some fishermen in Alaska who was on the way to landing a 50-lb. salmon when some killer whales decided differently. You can see a few orca circling and at that point, you can imagine the fishermen are starting to get a little concerned. I mean getting your boat attacked by killer whales is not a fun thing to experience, but fortunately it was just the orca taking its cut of the fish.
