California Sharks Dying by the Dozens Due to Internal Bleeding

[n2doc]

Analysis by Jennifer Viegas

Dozens of leopard sharks have been washing up dead in California since April, and now a necropsy shows at least one of the sharks died of massive internal bleeding, such that blood was even coming out of the shark's skin, according to a Daily News report.

The necropsy, conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game, uncovered "inflammation, bleeding and lesions in the brain, and hemorrhaging from the skin near vents." According to the Daily News story, bleeding was additionally detected around the tested female's other internal organs.

The results suggest the 50 sharks that have washed up dead at Redwood Shores in Redwood City, California, since April must have died a slow and agonizing death.

Catherine Greer, a resident of the city, said she and her son tried to save some of the sharks by returning them to the water, but "they'd swim right back, thrashing their heads against the shore ... as if they were trying to commit suicide."

more
http://news.discovery.com/animals/sharks-dying-by-the-dozens-due-to-internal-bleeding.html

[tabatha]

1. This is very distressing.

I hope they find the cause.

[aquart]

2. Oh, crap! What have we done now?

[kristopher]

6. Fukushima?

The amount of highly contaminated water that is known to have been spilled into the ocean is huge. The amount of highly contaminated water that is unaccounted for dwarfs that.

That should be the first possibility to be investigated.

[FBaggins]

16. You did see the word "California", right?

You're displaying incredible ignorance. Even were it possible for water to make it all the way to California from Japan by now (it isn't), do you realize how ridiculous a claim that is? And you think it's the FIRST thing that should be investigated?

Let's assume that every molecule of every fuel rod anywhere in Fukushima were to break down magically to component atoms and flownout into the sea. How would that compare to the overall radioactivity of the Pacific ocean? What would the increase be?

[ellenfl]

20. how do we know that the american nukular plants are not leaking?

how do we know that the reports of contaminated air after the japanese leak actually came from japan and not from our own reactors? we know japan has been keeping much secret. is our governemnt more transparent? i thought at the time that the reports of contaminated air could be covering up our own leaks.

ellen fl

[FBaggins]

21. Sympathetic leaking?

Just coincidentally at the same time (without earhquake or tsunami)?

Still wouldn't matter. The levels detected in CA are too low (by orders of magnitude) to cause any harm...let alone cause hemorrhaging and death.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. American monitoring data prior to the original cloud reaching the US was released, and has been

seen by all. There are independent monitoring systems up, and crowdsourced radiation monitoring going since day one.

[kristopher]

24. Where were those sharks in the last half of March and early April?

Do you know that they were not in the ocean off of Fukushima?

What do they eat? Do you know if their prey was in the plume of pollution off of Fukushima?


I think you're on the verge of having your own meltdown...

[AtheistCrusader]

26. Un-bloody likely.

these sharks are coastal, non-migratory. They don't really have the ability to take down prey that could have migrated across the ocean, like Tuna. These are like 3-5 foot plecostamus with teeth. They eat crabs, and surf perch, and stuff. Nothing huge like a tuna.

Plus it would beg the question of how a migratory creature would cross the ocean, alive, carrying enough radioactive material to kill these sharks upon being consumed, without dying en route.


Edit: Running a geiger counter over them should tell the tale immediately.

[kristopher]

27. It sounds like you are making unfounded assumptions to me.

Typical of someone worried about defending the fission industry rather than finding out what happened.

I don't think it would be hard to eliminate radiation exposure as the cause so why not just let it play out and report the results when they are available?

[AtheistCrusader]

28. It's a prediction.

Nothing I could say could dismiss the fact, if these sharks are found to be radioactive/dead from radiation poisoning.

There's no obvious mechanism to link the two, and there are plenty of non-fukushima related causes for this sort of animal die-off.

[FBaggins]

29. You posted #6...

... And have the chutzpah to accuse anyone else of making unfounded assumptions?

[kristopher]

30. There were no assumptions in that post.

The fact that you think there are would explain a lot about the nature of the "facts" you think you are sharing here.

[FBaggins]

31. Of course there were.

You can't spin it away.

You assumed that the huge "amount of highly contaminated water that is known to have been spilled into the ocean" could have an impact on a shark five thousand miles away. Not only that, but you assumed that it was the most likely case - since it "should be the first possibility to be investigated"

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Story was broke on the 11th, and sharks had been washing up for 'more than a month'.

Oops. Who's making unfounded assumptions?

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/11/california-leopard-shark-deaths-trouble-scientists/comment-page-1/#comments

[petronius]

37. "Defending the fission industry"? I'd call it 'discussing, at face value, a hypothesis

raised on DU', myself.

Leopard sharks live in bays and estuaries on the west coast of North America, from Oregon south, and they eat small fish and benthic organisms. There's nothing in their behavior or that of their prey to obviously bring them in contact with Fukushima outflow. For that to happen, there would need to be an oceanic and/or atmospheric transport of the pollutants across the Pacific - and if that was happening at sufficient levels to cause an accumulation damaging to this one species, I think there would be other signs.

We've had a few die-offs like this in recent years (sardines, sea lions, and otters, for example), and the cause usually traces back to something local albeit often anthropogenic. Fukushima is a really low probability in this case...

[AtheistCrusader]

38. If somehow Fukushima killed those sharks, we are, in fact, all going to die.

Fortunately, that wasn't what did it, and frankly, couldn't POSSIBLY be what did it.

[pscot]

35. +1

[XemaSab]

33. I got crop dusted today

The plane was about 20 feet over my car.

Scared the living crap out of me.

This was in California, BTW.

[Ship of Fools]

3. the worst story i've read all week

[truedelphi]

4. In other news related toCalifornia wildlife - officials plan on

Spraying tons of a pesticide used to kill mice onto the Farralones Islands.

It was used in the Aleutian Islands and ended up killing salmon, eagles, otters, you name it.

But since we only have one single report of the toxins' evil - what can we do? We need to be "scientific" in our approach and wait until dozens of peer reviewed jibberish shows the "science-ness" of needing to avoid the chemical.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. I wonder if the sharks originated from The Gulf.

[MineralMan]

10. How would they get from the Gulf of Mexico to California,

do you think? Uff da!

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Oops! You're absolutely right.

All I could think about was the description of internal organ damage and that made the association with fish from the Gulf.

Color me blushing . . . .

[truedelphi]

7. K & R and thank you for posting this. n/t

[CountAllVotes]

8. note the comment ...

>> These are symptoms associated with radiation poisoning.

:scared:

Who/what is next?

:kick: & recommend.

[sasha031]

13. That was my first thought also

they are still releasing contaminated water from fukushima into the oceans..

it heartbreaking what has happened to our beautiful planet.

[CountAllVotes]

14. mine too

We are killing everything out there, plants, animals, and ourselves eventually!

:kick:

[MineralMan]

9. Could be a disease. Probably is.

There are a number of hemorrhagic diseases. Many are viral in nature. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this was human-caused at all.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. My concern would be that IF the necropsies point to the Gulf or Japan,

we will never hear about it.It will be hushed up.

[PavePusher]

23. The Gulf? Of Mexico?

Please, think that one through....

[AtheistCrusader]

39. Geographical boundaries, aren't, apparently.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Devastating. Be sure to read the comments too.

If you can get past the religious "this is god's revenge on atheists", there is more information on this story. An update by the author that there are now hundreds of sharks that have washed up. Also a detailed comment by S.R. Van Sommeran, Executive Director,
Pelagic Shark Research Foundation

[immoderate]

18. Well, sharks are atheists, AFAIK...

You never know how the boogie man gonna come and getcha!

--imm

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Yeah, I don't get how killing sharks gets even with atheists.

I guess some people just gotta spout that shit no matter what forum they are on.

[Gregorian]

17. There's so much junk in the oceans. We used them for dumping grounds for a century.

Those barges that headed out into the oceans were full of drug remnants, and other horrible substances. Batteries. Who knows. It could be anything.

I grew up around the Redwood city area. I'd bash my head against a rock before going back there. Ugly place now.

[stuntcat]

22. sharks

This is awful, and sad. Sharks are one of my favorite animals. k & r

[IDemo]

32. Maybe worth a mention..

I wonder what the possible effects of US Navy active sonar may be on sharks, or if such testing had occurred recently in area waters. Similar injuries have been seen in whales and dolphins due to Navy sonar. I realize that whales are mammalian, but the general effect on tissue in sharks might be similar.

http://www.earinfo.com/hearing-aid-article/40

In all, in the past two decades, hundreds of stranded sea animals have been discovered on beaches worldwide. All of these instances have been correlated with sonar machinery.

In one case, a specialized team performed CT scans of the beached beaked whales' heads, and noticed auditory damage. X-rays also revealed bleeding around the inner ears, brains and lungs, with trauma to other tissue as well. Scientists say these findings provided the first clear link to naval sonar.

[pscot]

36. This belongs high on the list

of "things to look at" as possible causes.