Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) Photos

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Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus)

Steller sea lions range along the North Pacific Rim from northern Japan to California. Pupping and breeding occur late May to early July throughout their range. Males set up territories on rookeries in late May, females arrive shortly thereafter and give birth to a single pup. They alternate between nursing their pup and feeding trips; most pups are weaned by the end of their first year. The species is not known to migrate, but individuals disperse widely outside of the breeding season, particularly adult males and juveniles. Adult males are up to 3.25 m long and weigh up to 1120 kg; females are considerably smaller at up to 2.9 m and 350 kg. Pups weigh about 23 kg at birth. Two separate stocks of Steller sea lions are recognized within U. S. waters: an eastern and western stock. As a result of a precipitous decline in numbers beginning in the 1970s, the western stock is presently listed as Endangered under the ESA.

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Weird Deep-Sea Creatures Found in Atlantic

With a fearsome grin fit for a movie monster, this viperfish is a real-life predator that lurks in one of the world's most remote locations.An international team of 31 researchers found this and other strange animals while exploring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range that runs from Iceland to the Azores islands west of Portugal (see Europe map).Over the course of five weeks, the team cataloged a host of exotic worms, colorful corals, unusual sea cucumbers, and weird fish. Clearly, viperfish has plenty to eat. Many of the species found on the ridge are rare and had only been discovered in recent years, scientists said. At least one species found during the survey—a tiny crustacean called a seed shrimp—is thought to be new to science. "It was like going to a new country," said expedition leader Monty Priede of Britain's University of Aberdeen. The survey was coordinated by the Norway-based MAR-ECO project and the Census of Marine Life program.

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Mysterious Greenland Shark lives in polar waters-Photos

Photographs by Nick Caloyianis

Huge Greenland shark as it approaches Harbor Branch’s Johnson-Sea-Link submersible Credit: HARBOR BRANCH/Youngbluth

see the Video

Somniosus microcephalus -- known as the the sleeper shark, Greenland shark, or gurry shark -- lives in polar waters all year round. It is a large shark: lengths of 8 to 14 feet are not unusual, and the largest measured specimen was 21 feet long. (Only the whale shark, basking shark, and great white shark are known to reach a greater length.) This shark eats a wide variety of food, from fish of its native polar waters to seals, carrion, flesh from dead whales, and even (in one captured specimen) an entire reindeer. The Greenland shark has a reputation for being very sluggish, but its diet includes salmon and other fast-swimming fishes.
This shark suffers from a parasite called a copepod that attaches itself to the cornea of the eye: Most of them have one copepod -- a whitish-yellow creature from 3 mm. to 3 inches in size -- on each eye.
Other facts: bears live young; said to have highly toxic flesh unless dried or boiled in several changes of water; has smooth-edged teeth with thorn-like appearance in upper jaw and squarish, overlapping appearance in lower jaw.
The Greenland shark has a place of its own in Eskimo culture. The lower teeth are made into a tool for cutting hair. Eskimo mythology has a story that all other Greenland fishes were created from chips of wood, but the Greenland shark smells so strongly of ammonia, its origin is different. Long ago, as legend has it, an old woman washed her hair with urine and was drying it with a cloth. A gust of wind carried the cloth to sea and there it turned into skalugsuak, the Greenland shark.

Dugongs-facts and photos

Dugong

Common name: Dugong

Scientific name: Dugong dugon

Family: Dugongidae

Description: The dugong is a large herbivorous marine mammal that has a long rotund body and a tail or fluke for propulsion. Adult dugong can reach lengths of more than three metres and weigh up to 420kg.

Dugongs have relatively poor eyesight, so rely on the sensitive bristles covering the upper lip of their large snouts to find and grasp seagrass. Cows and calves communicate by producing 'chirps'.

Habitat and distribution: Major concentrations of dugongs along the Queensland coast occur in wide, shallow, protected bays and mangrove channels, and in the inside edge of large inshore islands. These areas coincide with significant seagrass beds. They also use deep-water habitats. Large numbers have been sighted in water more than 10m deep in several areas, including the Torres Strait, the northern Great Barrier Reef region, and Hervey Bay in southeast Queensland.

Also known as a sea cow, Dugong's feed in the seagrass beds of the Indo-Pacific. They are the only herbivorous, truly marine mammal. (The related manatee spends some of its life in fresh water.)

Being a slow swimmer, you'll find dugongs in sheltered lagoons and bays in warm water such as are found in the Red Sea (eg Marsa Alam), East Africa, the Philippines, and Australia.

Adult dugongs can grow to over 3.5 m (11 ft), and may weigh over 900 kg (2000 lb). Male dugongs begin to grow tusks between the ages of 12 and 15 years. If food is plentiful, the habitat protected, and predation low, dugongs may live more than 70 years.

More pictures of Dugongs are in the Red Sea rooms of our photo gallery.

A large proportion of the world’s dugong population is found in northern Australian waters from Moreton Bay in the east to Shark Bay in the west, they have also been found down into New South Wales.

Diet: Dugong feed almost exclusively on seagrass, a flowering plant found in shallow water areas. An adult will eat about 30 kilograms of seagrass each day. As dugong feed, whole plants are uprooted leaving telltale tracks behind. They will also feed on macro-invertebrates.

Known as ‘cultivation grazers’, dugong feed in a way that promotes growth of Halophila ovalis – their preferred seagrass species. Pulling out the seagrass aerates the sea floor and increases the amount of organic matter in the area, therefore encouraging regrowth of the seagrass.

Behaviour and life history: Dugong may live for 70 years or more and are slow breeders. The female dugong does not begin breeding until she is 10-17 years old, and only calves once every three to five years, providing seagrass and other conditions are suitable. This slow breeding rate means that dugongs are particularly susceptible to factors that threaten their survival.