MashGet » Marine Biologist

Biologists: Killer whales 'neurotic' in captivity

MashGet — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:33:53 +0000

CNN

(CNN) -- Killer whales can weigh up to 22,000 pounds, and may be as long as 32 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They often travel in groups of up to 50, being highly social.

Confining such an enormous animal in an aquarium tank leads the animal to display neurotic behavior, experts say.

"They get very stressed out," marine biologist Nancy Black of Monterey Bay Whale Watch said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Bending the mind: Fish that causes hallucinations is netted in ...

MashGet — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:40:04 +0000

A fish that can trigger LSD-like hallucinations when eaten has been discovered in UK waters.

The sarpa salpa species of bream is normally found in the Mediterranean and around South Africa.

But fisherman Andy Giles has told how he hauled a sarpa salpa, instantly recognisable by its gold stripes, near Polperro, Cornwall.

Mr Giles, 38, said: 'We were trawling for lemon sole and hauled it up at the end of the day. After taking a photograph, I put it in the fish box and brought it back for experts.

'Perhaps I should have taken it into town to sell to some clubbers!'

There have only been three recordings of sarpa salpa in British waters before.

Experts say they may be being lured north by warmer waters.

Marine biologist James Wright said: 'It could be a single fish shoaling with a different species but it could be there are more in our seas.'

Tragic poet Sylvia Plath's son kills himself

MashGet — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:51:51 +0000

CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The family history of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath took another tragic turn Monday when it was revealed that their son had committed suicide after battling depression.

Nicholas Hughes, whose mother gassed herself in 1963 at her London home while her two children slept in the next room, hanged himself at his home in Alaska, his sister Frieda told The Times newspaper.