Let's Go Wild

Red-faced Liocichla, Liocichla ripponi, Mai Fang, Doi Lang, Chiang Mai Thailand

Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), Bahamas

photos by marine biologist thomas peschak of whale sharks in the gulf of tadjoura, djibouti. his latest book, “sharks and people: exploring our relationship with the most feared fish in the sea,” was released last year. 

as thomas notes, whale sharks are docile, slow moving filter feeders that feed by drifting with their capacious mouths open, drawing in plankton, fish, and small crustaceans. but foreign objects, such as plastic, can also be drawn into the shark’s digestive system, causing them harm.

With its speed and agility, the fisher is a remarkable predator that captures a wide diversity of prey: Rabbits, hares, squirrels, mice, grouse, and so forth. Even the well-protected porcupine is captured by the fisher, using a unique technique designed to tire the porcupine until the fisher can kill the large quilled rodent.

Top Shot: On the Lookout

Top Shot features the photo with the most votes from the previous day’s Daily Dozen, 12 photos selected by the Your Shot editors. The photo our community has voted as their favorite is showcased on the @natgeoyourshot Instagram account. Click here to vote for tomorrow’s Top Shot.

Why Red Coral and Other Deep Sea Animals Can Live Over 500 Years

If you were a red coral, you’d have enough time to fulfill several bucket lists before you died. Though it’s hard to figure out what you’d put on them.

The red coral, which can live for five hundred years, is one of several marine species that make human lifespans look like a blink of the eye by comparison. In a new study, scientists have honed in on what enables some of these marine species to live for hundreds of years.

The stability of the deep sea environment likely helps deep-dwelling species live longer.

Staying put has its merits as well.

“Being sessile seems to correlate with at least the potential for longevity in marine animals as well as terrestrial plants,” Doak says.

The horn shark inhabits the continental shelf of the eastern Pacific Ocean, occurring off the coasts of California and Baja California from Monterey Bay southward, and in the Gulf of California.

During the day, horn sharks rest motionless, hidden inside caves or crevices, or within thick mats of algae, though they remain relatively alert and will swim away quickly if disturbed. After dusk, they roam actively above the reef in search of food. Horn sharks maintain small home ranges of around 1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft), which they may remain faithful to for over a decade, returning to the same shelter every day. The shelter is usually located at the edge of the resident shark's foraging area. The longest documented movement for an individual horn shark is 16 km (9.9 mi).

There are 19–26 tooth rows in the upper jaw and 18–29 tooth rows in the lower jaw. The teeth at the front of the jaws are small and pointed, with a central cusp flanked by a pair of lateral cusplets; those at the sides of the jaws are much larger, elongated lengthwise, and molar-like.

Helmeted Gecko, Tarentola chazaliae, family Phyllodactylidae, from  coastal NW Africa

Ribbon Seal (Histriophoca fasciata)

Weight: about 175 pounds (80 kg)         Length: about 5 feet (1.5 m)         Appearance: dark body and light bands, or “ribbons,” encircling the neck, each front flipper, and hips; pups are born with a wooly white lanugo coat         Lifespan: 20-30 years         Diet: pelagic fish and invertebrates, such as shrimp, crabs, squid, octopus, cod, sculpin, pollack, and capelin         Behavior: alternate their foreflippers and swing their hindquarters to run across ice, rather than using the caterpillar-like movement typically used by most seals

The ribbon seal is one of nine species of ice seals inhabiting the Arctic and is the only species in the genus Histriophoca. They are strongly associated with sea ice for mating, whelping pups and molting from mid-March through June…

Read more: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/seals/ribbon-seal.html

The Greenland shark is one of the world’s largest marine species, reaching lengths over 19 feet. And yet these fish, which prefer the deep, cold waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, have largely eluded scientific study.

Their evasiveness highlights how little we know about Arctic marine ecosystems—and how much we can learn by developing and employing new technologies.

For scientists like us, the observation and monitoring of marine species can be challenging under the best of circumstances. But sampling at extreme depths and in seasonally ice-covered waters is especially difficult…