Scientists tracked a young #whale's journey before he vanished. What they learned could help save his species.
#Bishop’s story, from birth to presumed death, shows the extreme danger facing right #whales, which could be extinct in 3 decades if they continue to disappear at the present rate. Bishop’s species is not doomed to #extinction …but time is running out.
In most ways #Bishop was a normal #RightWhale. For the first year of his life, his mother nursed & protected him, & he learned to feed by swimming, mouth agape, through patches of plankton floating near the surface.
But on Jan 20, 2015, Bishop became something more: a precious source of data that would help scientists better understand the dangers afflicting his species.
So far this year, a dead female turned up off Virginia w/ a dislocated spine, a calf was discovered in Georgia w/head lacerations, & a young female was found — again in Georgia — w/ a fractured skull. All the injuries are consistent with #vessel strikes.
"Bishop’s story, from birth to presumed death, shows the extreme danger facing right #whales, which could be #extinct in three decades if they continue to disappear at the present rate.
A Spiny Starfish (Marthasterias glacialis), a Common Starfish (Asterias rubens) and a Broad Clawed Porcelain Crab (Porcellana platycheles) holding hands/legs.
County Clare, Ireland.
A particularly vibrant colored fragment of a Purple sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) shell. The dots are like small ball joints where it's spines were attached.
County Clare, Ireland.
Chunks of Pink Coralline algae (Lithophyllum incrustans) washed up on the beach. Broken loose from deeper waters by wave action.
County Clare, Ireland.