Our Seamonsters are real.lol

Friday, October 12, 2012 11:45am PDT

Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

In Florida, scientists have their hands on a large and mysterious eyeball, which washed ashore Wednesday, and are trying to determine what kind of sea creature it belonged to. That could take a few days.

But in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, another bizarre find was made Friday: that of an oarfish, which washed ashore on bustling Medano Beach, which features a view of the end of the Baja California peninsula.

Oarfish are deep-water denizens that are rarely seen. But because of their long, slender appearance, and their bright-orange dorsal fins and manes, they helped spawn myths of sea serpents and sea monsters among ancient mariners.

They've been known to reach lengths of 30-plus feet.

Pisces Sportfishing reports that an employee from Pisces Real Estate helped discover an estimated 15-foot specimen that washed up in the gentle breakers.

Gonzalez "was working very hard, sitting under an umbrella on the main beach of Cabo-El Medano at an open house we are hosting today at Hacienda," states the Pisces blog. "He was right in front of Villa 2 when he saw a commotion on the beach and a small crowd gathered at the water's edge. His first thought was, 'There's been an accident.'

"Then he saw three locals supporting what appeared to him as a monster from the deep. He ran down to get a closer look and saw three locals assisting the strange creature, which appeared to be in distress as it struggled for air."

Unsuccessful attempts were made to revive the oarfish and return it to the Sea of Cortez, and ultimately it was collected for scientific study.

Oarfish inhabit the world's oceans but are found in the dark depths between about 600 and 3,000 feet. On the rare occasions one is seen on or near a beach--this happens very rarely and sporadically--it's either sick or injured, dying or already dead.

Their silver bodies have no scales and the fish swim with undulating motions, serpent-like.

Tracy Ehrenberg, who runs Pisces Sportfishing, said this is the first known oarfish to have washed up on Cabo's main beach. She discussed the discovery Friday morning on the "Baja Now" Internet radio show with Phil Friedman.

--Images are courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

DO NOT GO TO SEAWORLD ANYWHERE! ABUSE OF ANIMALS GONE UNCHECKED

It's been just a few days since PETA shared disturbing photos of a serious injury sustained by Nakai, an 11-year-old male orca held in captivity at SeaWorld San Diego. The photograph of the gaping wound, first documented by a whistleblower and showing a dinner platesize chunk of the whale's lower jaw missing, is the latest evidence of the suffering that animals like Nakai endure while in captivity at SeaWorld and other marine parks. Will you stand up to SeaWorld and others that exploit, abuse, or mistreat animals by making an urgently needed gift online right now? According to a marine-mammal expert who visited SeaWorld shortly after we learned of Nakai's gruesome injury, the massive wound appears to be "a clear indication that an altercation between the orcas was involved." The huge chunk ripped from his lower mandible exposed underlying tissue and bone and was large and intact enough that SeaWorld workers were able to scoop it up from the bottom of the small pool prison in which the orcas live. The expert notes that "puncture marks that match orca teeth spacing" are visible in the photos and lend credibility to the conclusion that Nakai's disturbing wound was the result of a bite from another of the young male orcas he is forced to swim with in that tiny tank. Why are these three males kept together? The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) makes it clear that "marine mammals that are not compatible must not be housed in the same enclosure." Yet SeaWorld continues housing incompatible orcas from widely divergent groups together in enclosures far smaller than whales' natural ocean environment. This has resulted—as likely demonstrated by Nakai's wound—in stress, aggressive and bloody raking, serious injury, and even death. PETA is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take action against SeaWorld immediately for its disregard for the AWA by housing these seemingly incompatible orcas together. But even if the federal government decides to act in behalf of Nakai, the miserable, psychosis-inducing captive conditions for orcas and other marine animals at SeaWorld's parks will continue. Please strengthen our work so that no animal suffers as the orcas at SeaWorld have by giving today. Your donation, whatever the amount, will be put to work immediately and allow us to keep the pressure on SeaWorld—and others that exploit animals—long after pictures of Nakai's injuries have dropped from the headlines. Captive orcas like Nakai are forced to perform repetitious and unnatural tricks for screaming audiences and can swim only in endless circles around small barren tanks between shows. In nature, these social and intelligent animals swim hundreds of miles across the oceans, work cooperatively with other animals in their pod, and engage in complex relationships and communication. But in captivity, orcas are denied the opportunity to engage in nearly all this natural behavior, causing some orcas in facilities like SeaWorld to die decades before they would in the wild. Yesterday, dozens of demonstrators joined us in pouring onto the streets in front of SeaWorld San Diego to show their outrage at Nakai's injury and SeaWorld's continued cruel imprisonment of orcas and other marine animals. Many thousands more have taken action through our online alerts demanding that SeaWorld release the orcas held at its locations into transitional coastal sanctuaries. SeaWorld is huge and has a lot of money, but it's clear that the tide of public opinion is turning against such tawdry shows, and we need your support today to help marine animals during our expanding campaign to keep the pressure on. Your gift right now can provide PETA's campaign for Nakai and other animals with the resources that we need in order to stand up to the companies that can outspend us by millions of dollars to promote activities that perpetuate animals' abuse and exploitation. Thank you for everything you do to help orcas and all captive animals. Very truly yours, Ingrid E. Newkirk President P.S. Nakai's horrifying injury is a graphic reminder of the sometimes deadly conditions for animals held captive by SeaWorld and other marine "abusement" parks. By giving online today, you'll immediately be helping us to do even more for orcas and other animals and to stand up to those who deny them all that is natural and important to them.
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Success! We had an amazing campaign and are delivering the signatures. We expect to hear back from the State Department after they review all of the comments. Once we hear from them, we'll be sending an update with our next steps.
Thank you for your ongoing support!

Join us in demanding to know who U.S. businesses are working with in Burma

During her visit to the United States, Burmese pro-democracy leader, Nobel laureate and parliamentarian, Aung San Suu Kyi, asked for help for continued vigilance on new investments, “We want to make sure that investment is democracy friendly, human rights friendly.”
Now we have an opportunity to support Suu Kyi by demanding that the State Department strengthen and promptly implement new rules that will require corporations that are investing in Burma to report on the human rights impacts of their operations.
Time is short! Tell the U.S. State Department by Thursday to require U.S. corporations newly investing in Burma to publicly report ALL of their activities to ensure they do not reward human rights abusers.

Petition letter

As human rights advocates, we are concerned that the United States has rushed to reward Burma for its limited reforms by lifting the import ban and allowing for new investments. Nevertheless, we support strong reporting requirements as an important tool for ensuring transparency of businesses on the ground in Burma.

In order for these reports to be effective tools, the reporting requirements must be mandatory and corporate disclosures must be public. Additionally, clear consequences for those companies that fail to comply with the reporting requirements are needed.

The public must be able to see what business companies are doing in Burma, who they are dealing with and how their activities are affecting the human rights and democratic reforms underway in the country — particularly in ethnic areas, many of which are experiencing conflict and that are rich in natural resources, where investments are most likely.

While the progress that Burma has made is promising, these reforms can also be easily reversed. Implementing strong reporting requirements is a critical step to keep Burma on the right track.

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