Photos by Wayne Levin of surfers, swimmers, fish and more. (-v-)
posted by vronsky on Nov 4, 2009 - 9 comments

The End of Fish - maybe it's finally time for an environmental accounting, cuz the 'bill' is coming due; stocks and flows, folks.
posted by kliuless on Oct 8, 2009 - 74 comments

The native British white-clawed crayfish is threatened by extinction from the signal crayfish. Today's Guardian features George Monbiot with one approach to the problem: how to catch and prepare signal crayfish, the brash American cousin. Nice use of recycled materials and beer, but needs more paella recipes.
posted by handee on Sep 30, 2009 - 28 comments

A newly identified species of Chimaera is patrolling the waters off of California and Baja California.

California has a new star, the Eastern Pacific black ghostshark. But the newly identified species prefers to stay out of the sun—and the spotlight. And with a club-like sex organ on its forehead, the male ghostshark isn't likely to get any leading man roles.

The Florida Museum of Natural History has better photos of its Australian relative.
posted by darkstar on Sep 24, 2009 - 15 comments

Tongue-eating parasite found (with freak-you-out pic) off Jersey coast. Sweet dreams mefites.
posted by zerobyproxy on Sep 11, 2009 - 59 comments

They slice. They dice. They make tempura shrimp. I'm not exactly sure who or what PF Max Company is, but this collection of YouTube videos -- featuring factory machines designed to cut, slice, sort, and do unspeakable things to fish -- is fascinating to watch. There are dozens of videos; these were selected for their toe-tapping (rolling out imitation crab & scallop) musical accompaniment (shredding fish to make Surimi). ⚠Warning: these videos depict bad things happening to (dead) fish so if that upsets you, don't watch. [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious on Sep 7, 2009 - 49 comments

The amazing story of the coelacanth is one of the wonders of the living world that inspires marine biologists such myself. Coelacanths, part of the offshoot lineage of fishes known as "lobed finned ", are very different from typical "ray finned" fishes that you usually think of. Their bizarre lobed fins are thought to be an intermediate step between fish fins and amphibian legs. Scientists had known that these weird fish existed because of fossils for over a century, but we believed that they went extinct 65 million years ago... until a South African fisherman caught one in 1938. [more inside]
posted by WhySharksMatter on Sep 7, 2009 - 49 comments

In the early 1990s, John Lurie videotaped his vacations with William Dafoe, where they did their own comedic re-interpretation of an early-morning fishing show. From this tape (or possibly so his fishing trips could be tax write-off), Fishing with John was born. The show is a series of six episodes (segmented on YouTube), each at a different location with a different fishing friend (though Lurie's trip through the Andaman Sea with Dennis Hopper spans the last two episodes). The show, called by some fishing as performance art, is pared with a soundtrack that is a mix of sounds, part Lurie's band The Lounge Lizards (discography), part overly dramatic .. something.
posted by filthy light thief on Aug 8, 2009 - 32 comments

RIP Benson The Carp, 'the people's fish'... yes, it's the Silly Season again.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 4, 2009 - 12 comments

Kuroshio Sea HD Video of the world's second largest aquarium tank at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan (via). [more inside]
posted by jontyjago on Jul 22, 2009 - 22 comments

Australian scientists have found the world's oldest penis. Published Monday in the online version of Nature, the discovery of the 400 million-year-old clasper in an ancient fish specimen shows that animals were gettin' it on earlier than previously thought. Says one study author, "We were surprised because it's so big. We were expecting something smaller." SFW
posted by Dilemma on Jul 16, 2009 - 34 comments

Everybody's hugging up the big monkey man. Seriously, everybody.
posted by LSK on Apr 17, 2009 - 37 comments

Stunning Underwater Photography A website filled with incredible underwater photography. Particularly impressive shots of a sardine bait ball being attacked by dolphins, sharks, whales and birds.
posted by srboisvert on Mar 29, 2009 - 19 comments

A single nutrient may have turned early humans into civilized man. Has stripping it from our diet given rise to cancer, diabetes, and other civilized diseases? "There has been a thousandfold increase in the consumption of soybean oil over the past hundred years. The result is an unplanned experiment in brain and heart chemistry, one whose subject is the entire population of the developed world." A series of epidemiological studies showed that populations that consume high levels of omega-3s in the form of seafood are the least afflicted by the major diseases associated with the Western diet. (via) [more inside]
posted by netbros on Feb 24, 2009 - 66 comments

See-through Species! Some quick links to a lovely, transparent fish courtesy of Born Animal and Pharyngula [more inside]
posted by Lipstick Thespian on Feb 24, 2009 - 30 comments

Although the evolution of the eye is often pointed to by evolution's skeptics as evidence of design, biologists have been quick to point out evidence to the contrary. Today, Julian Partridge of Bristol University's Ecology of Vision Research Unit has brought to light evidence of a Pacific fish that has evolved biological mirrors for navigating murky water.
posted by Pants! on Jan 8, 2009 - 14 comments

Similar to coral, and much like the individual cells in our body, the individual zooids of Siphonophorae are so specialized that they lack the ability to survive on their own. Siphonophorae thus exist at the boundary between colonial and complex multicellular organisms. The Portuguese Man of War is probably the best known example of a Siphonophore, but there are others out there, some of which may well blow your mind.
posted by furtive on Dec 22, 2008 - 23 comments

In an innovative approach to record breaking, the world-renowned Todd Lamb set a new record for the most images of fish sandwiches looked at in sixty seconds.
posted by Pants! on Dec 20, 2008 - 26 comments

A new 'prose translation' of Milton's classic poem has been written by Prof Dennis Danielson in an effort to help make it available to a wider audience, if they find the original language too difficult. Apparently he wasn't the first to think of it, but considers his a translation rather than a retelling, and it is printed as a dual edition / parallel text. [more inside]
posted by mdn on Dec 1, 2008 - 42 comments

Overfishing - a global disaster: A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish while time runs out for Japan's dangerous obsession with the bluefin.
Blue Ocean Institute’s seafood program helps consumers discover the connection between a healthy ocean, fishing, and seafood. Here is a Guide to Good Fish guides., and some political recommendations.
posted by adamvasco on Nov 19, 2008 - 14 comments

Scientists make fish "vote" by having them choose an artificial fish to follow. Shocker: There's not a lot of individual decision-making.. I always did say some people are as intelligent as fish..
posted by bondgirl53001 on Nov 14, 2008 - 20 comments

Very, er, unusual voting results in Alaska. [more inside]
posted by flotson on Nov 8, 2008 - 90 comments

Fish. They're ugly and they smell. You can't find many calendars with them on, and they lose out to pandas when it comes to zoo adoption. But wait! PETA are going to save fish through canny PR. Say hello to Sea Kittens.
posted by mippy on Oct 22, 2008 - 82 comments

As dollar flounders, inmates stack mackerel
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Oct 2, 2008 - 70 comments

Worms in your fresh fish? We've heard about them in sushi for years, but stories are on the rise of creeping condiments from supermarkets. The FAO says they're actually not uncommon though "worms are unsightly and consumers naturally object to their presence". One theory holds that they're on the rise due to cost-driven onshore processing. Icked-out consumers have been posting videos on YouTube 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, while others have sought solace in discussion forums. But the good news? Cook thoroughly and you'll be safe. Me, I'll be sticking to enchiladas.
posted by crapmatic on Oct 2, 2008 - 71 comments

Welcome to my Study. [more inside]
posted by stresstwig on Sep 22, 2008 - 13 comments

The Jupiter Foundation and the Whalesong Project are both organizations which record humpback whale songs from floating buoys; some of their archived recordings can be found here, here, and here. (Warning, last two may resize your browser.) DOSITS hosts a more comprehensive collection of oceanic sounds, with seals and fish along with its whales and dolphins. It also has a couple of nice sections on how animals use sounds in the ocean. (Previously.) [more inside]
posted by Upton O'Good on Sep 7, 2008 - 9 comments

Tropical fish in New York? The Gulf Stream sweeps immature tropical fish up north, and aquariums scoop them up off Long Island. "Catching the fish up north is cheaper and less disruptive to ocean ecosystems than trapping them in the tropics. And the collections are rescue missions of a sort, because these Gulf Stream travelers are unlikely to survive the winter." (New York Times) [more inside]
posted by moonmilk on Aug 4, 2008 - 11 comments

See Nemo fetch. Want to train your comet to join the Comets? Your Shubunkin to do some dunkin'?

Goldfish training.

A school of fish or a school for fish? You be the judge.
posted by OhPuhLeez on Jul 22, 2008 - 10 comments

A University of Chicago doctoral candidate has shown that the evolution of the flatfish was much more gradual than previously thought.
posted by chuckdarwin on Jul 10, 2008 - 21 comments

Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish. Apparently, they're not the first. Although they might be the first to do so without tools. I, for one, want some sashimi.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal on Jun 10, 2008 - 23 comments

Fly high, little fish!
posted by Burhanistan on May 22, 2008 - 48 comments

A fish with forward facing eyes has been discovered in Indonesia. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Apr 3, 2008 - 47 comments

The partially decomposed sea monster has 4 paws, a tail, and long fur. Is that you, Dagon?
Other famous sea-monster bodies (known as "globsters") include
The St. Augustine Monster ^
The New Zealand globster
Several more recent blobs
And here's how to tell a blob from a sea monster
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Mar 24, 2008 - 14 comments

"Fish Heads" (Lumania, 1980). Produced and Directed by Bill Paxton. Starring Bill Paxton, Barry Hansen; with Billy Mumy and Robert Haimer as Art Barnes and Artie Barnes. The song on which the film was based, by Barnes & Barnes, turns thirty years old this year, and has been retooled for the internet age by Haimer. Haimer and Mumy have also collaborated on some new material. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Jan 23, 2008 - 39 comments

Gar are a carnivorous fish found in North and Central America and some parts of the Caribbean. The fish is closely related to its Jurassic ancestors, can live for twenty years, grow to be as big as ten feet or more, and live practically anywhere, breathing through their gills or assisted by their air bladders. Gar are considered a "trash" fish, but people have been catching (or not), cooking, and eating gar for centuries (use the whole fish!). Despite, or perhaps because of, their rows scary teeth, they make great pets.
posted by Pants! on Dec 2, 2007 - 17 comments

In what it calls "the final wake-up call to the international community," a UN report (press release, website, 21 MB PDF) warns that damage to the environment is reaching a "point of no return" and now threatens "humanity's very survival." Oh, c'mon, tell us what you really think.
posted by salvia on Oct 25, 2007 - 118 comments

Garra Rufa treatment, video, before and after pics. Fish that will eat you alive and make you healthy, "when you get over the ick factor, the nibbling can have a calming affect". [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Oct 22, 2007 - 28 comments

"California has a decision to make. We either brace ourselves for long-term [water] cuts that threaten our economy and our very way of way of life, or we invest in a solution to fix the [San Francisco Bay] Delta and expand our water toolbox so we can meet future challenges head-on.” [more inside]
posted by salvia on Sep 16, 2007 - 41 comments

More cuckoo than cuckoos: mate two salmon, get a... trout! Just give the parents a sperm transplant. And the sperm stem cells work in females too:

...Injecting the male cells into female salmon sometimes worked, too, prompting five female salmon to ovulate trout eggs.... The stem cells were still primitive enough to switch gears from sperm-producers to egg-producers when they wound up inside female organs....

posted by orthogonality on Sep 15, 2007 - 10 comments

Armless Hunters [more inside]
posted by dios on Sep 12, 2007 - 47 comments

To call Pat Fish the best British songwriter of the past twenty-five years is an invitation for some awfully suspicious stares. Pat who? But he might be just that. Known since the early 1980s as the Jazz Butcher (Or The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, or JBC, and at times later as Sumosonic, The Black Eg, and Wilson), Fish remained detached enough to avoid the indie-rock vortex of the last decade, dooming himself to obscurity while leaving behind one of the most valuable buried treasures in all of alternative music.
posted by carsonb on Aug 20, 2007 - 21 comments

>(({°>
posted by Effigy2000 on Aug 8, 2007 - 35 comments

27 deep sea fish you've (probably) never seen. Creatures you haven't likely netted lately, as listed by the Bounty Fishing blog.
posted by SassHat on Aug 8, 2007 - 43 comments

Japanese onsen are now offering fish pedicures, where little flesh eating fishes nibble your toes. It's very youtube-genic, but there's a longer video report here.
posted by tombola on Jun 12, 2007 - 21 comments

If you wanted a fish condo but couldn't afford to drop hundreds of dollars on your beta buddy, I have good news for you: Fish Bowl 2.0 is here to revolutionize the lives of your fish.
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Jun 8, 2007 - 12 comments

Sheets of kombu (kelp) covered with herring roe; big white sacs of octopus roe. Among a biochromatic wealth of mysterious mollusks and other sea invertebrates of unknown nature, I see the weirdest creature I've ever seen. Now, that's a fucking organism. Tom Asakawa looks at it awhile, too. Hoya, or sea pineapple. "Sea pineapple," he says. "Attaches to rocks in the ocean. Tastes something like iodine. Sendai people like it." It looks nothing like a pineapple. It looks like something that could exist only in a purely hallucinatory eco-system. It looks like, I don't know, maybe an otherworldly marital aid of inscrutable purpose for the brides of Satan. "I need to eat that," I say. "I'll see what I can do," Tom says.

Nick Tosches visits Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market for Vanity Fair. [previously on mefi]
posted by monju_bosatsu on Jun 3, 2007 - 36 comments

Swimming with the fishes' feces. Too bad it wasn't whale feces. After a hard day at the fish farm you might need a drink. Or maybe all this just makes you hungry. Maybe it's just the ocean's way taking revenge on humans. We do so like to shit where we eat.
posted by spitbull on May 12, 2007 - 29 comments

After two big Antarctic ice shelves broke off several years ago, a world of new species was found underneath. Pictures and a press release came out yesterday, showing spindly orange starfish among other interesting creatures. Here is some more information on the expedition. The fact that the shelves melted when they did is most likely a result of global warming, but having them out of the way gave researchers a golden opportunity to study what lives beneath the ice. Other occassions where a disaster has simultaneously been a great research opportunity include radioactive fallouts: at Chernobyl the evacuated area has been monitored for the past decades to see which species move in and how they thrive (previously on Metafilter)
posted by easternblot on Feb 26, 2007 - 21 comments

A vanishing world... in a bowl of chowder. An extraordinary article by New York Times writer Molly O'Neill about how changes in the recipe for New England's favorite soup reveal sea changes happening at sea. [Images here.]
posted by digaman on Jan 18, 2007 - 52 comments