Friday Fishy News - December 8

[Flattieman]

Levitating spiders, tadpoles and fish in Xi'an

Shanghaiist.com

December 3

According to LiveScience, researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an have successfully levitated small animals using ultrasound fields.

After the investigators got the ultrasound field going, they used tweezers to carefully place animals between the emitter and reflector. The scientists found they could float ants, beetles, spiders, ladybugs, bees, tadpoles and fish up to a little more than a third of an inch long in midair. When they levitated the fish and tadpole, the researchers added water to the ultrasound field every minute via syringe.

Unsurprisingly, some of the animals attempted to escape the ultrasound field by crawling, flying, or flopping-around, but none were strong enought to do so. At the end of 30 minutes of levitation, reportedly, the fish died of suffocation, but the ant and ladybug appeared to suffer no immediate ill-affects.

Wenjun Xie, a materials physicist at Northwestern Polytechnical University, commented, "An interesting question is, 'What will happen if a living animal is put into the acoustic field?' Will it also be stably levitated? ... Our results may provide some methods or ideas for biology research. We have tried to hatch eggs of fish [during] acoustic levitation." While, it is quite beyond our powers of imagination exactly what these "methods or ideas" might entail, we are confident that Xie has something in mind.

In the past, researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University have experimented with ultrasonic fields to contain materials that are too corrosive to be held in traditional containers, and while this is certainly the first time we have heard of levitating tadpoles, acoustic levitation has been used for many years. The video below shows footage from a 1987 NASA-related project.

Carcinogenic Turbot Fish Affects China's Market

The Epoch Times - China

December 2

After Shanghai and Beijing found prohibited drugs in turbot fish, other areas in China have started examining their markets, according to a report by Mingpao News. As a result, turbot fish sales have been greatly affected in Hong Kong and may be banned if the fish is proved to contain prohibited antibiotics.

China started importing turbot from Europe in 1992. Currently, China's annual output is 40,000 tons. Since turbot have a weak immune systems, some farmers use prohibited drugs to maintain their productivity, as their fish-farming technologies are not sufficient to prevent disease..

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration recently found carcinogenic nitrofuran metabolites in sample fish taken from Shanghai markets. Some samples tested positive for traces of banned drug, including malachite green and erythromycin. The released report said the drug residues in turbot fishes far exceed safety limits.

Shanghai seafood markets have stopped selling turbot. Hangzhou and other cities have also started banning the sale of Turbot fishes originating from Shandong Province.

A sample fish tested by Beijing Food Safety Office was positive for the prohibited substances. Officials said all the samples were found to contain the residues of drugs, including malachite green, which will damage human health upon consumption. However, the office didn't mention where the samples came from and the amount of drug residue detected. Fish vendors say turbot fish in the Beijing market are mostly from Bohai Bay area and coastal cities of the East China Sea.

A vendor who supplies fish medicine in Shandong Province explained that farm-raising seafood requires a large investment and may also involve heavy losses, because disease can spread easily and lead to massive deaths. Most of the farmers use nitrofuran metabolites to protect their fish from diseases. But nitrofura medicines, like furazolidone, furaltadone and AOZ, are forbidden for animals use because they increase the risk of mutation and cancer.

After Shanghai found prohibited antibiotics in turbot fish, turbot stopped appearing in the Hong Kong market because the restaurants are not buying them, according to Li Caihua, the president of Hong Kong Chamber of Seafood Merchants Ltd.

Li hopes that the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department increase turbot fish tests. The seafood business community is willing to stop selling any fish if it is proved to carry prohibited medicines, he added.

Fish of a feather hunt together

By Lewis Smith

Times Online - UK

December 6

Groupers and giant moray eels in the Red Sea have astonished biologists by teaming up to hunt. According to researchers from the University of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland writing in the Journal of PLoS Biology, the two species have been observed swimming side by side like “friends on a stroll”.

The eel, pictured, can get into the crevices of reefs and the grouper is an open-water hunter. By pairing up, the fish leave prey nowhere to hide.

Santa Swims With Fish In Japanese Aquarium

Jolly Old Elf Holds Eel, Feeds Stingray

NBC10 News - USA

December 7

Tokyo- Santa traded in his reindeer and sled for a moray eel at a Tokyo aquarium on Wednesday.

St. Nick made quite a splash with visitors to the Sunshine International Aquarium at a regular seasonal event.

After Santa held the eel and fed a stingray, all of the fish in the aquarium got a special holiday treat when a balloon filled with fish goodies was popped in the water.

Gene for Pregnant Male Fish Found

By Sara Goudarzi

LiveScience

December 5

A new gene discovered in the gulf pipefish hints as to how a family of fish came to adopt male pregnancy.

Male gulf pipefish—a member of the seahorse family—receive eggs from their female counterparts, then fertilize and carry them in a protective pouch. Among other functions, the pouch regulates the saline content in the wombs.

The researchers found a gene—dubbed patristacin—that provides cell instructions to make astacin, a family of proteins that performs a range of functions in bony fish. As a new species begins to evolve, some genes are copied. The new gene copies can take on new roles while the initial genes continue performing their original tasks.

Patristacin, the researchers note, is not a copy, but a gene that has taken on a second job. Thousands of years ago, this gene was most likely involved in kidney and liver function but has since started supporting the pouch of male gulf pipefish.

"We think it was a new job for an old gene—genetic moonlighting, so to speak,” said April Harlin-Cognato, a researcher from Michigan State University. “At this point we know the gene codes for a protein in the brood pouch during male pregnancy, but we don't know yet what it is doing in the brood pouch. It's a whole new ball of wax to understand how this gene functions in its new job."

Patristacin can be found in the pouch of seahorses and pipefish and in the kidney and liver of bony fish.

"The genes show you ancestry," Harlin-Cognato said. "They show you the overall family tree and can tell you when things took place during the evolution of a new structure. From this family tree we can make educated guesses about the structure and function of these proteins. We're looking at the endpoint and trying to reconstruct its origin. It's like doing genetic archaeology."

Public to get say on fish stocks plan

ABC News Online

December 6

A ministerial review committee will hold meetings across Western Australia to seek feedback on proposed changes to the Fish Resources Management Act.

The State Government says the amendments are designed to create an environment where sustainable fish stocks are maintained.

The committee chairman, south-west MLC Matt Benson, says he wants the legislation to help WA conserve and develop fish numbers while protecting biodiversity.

Mr Benson says the committee will move across the state in an attempt to gain a wide range of views from key stakeholders.

"We're going to meet in places like Esperance, Bunbury, Geraldton, Broome, all the way up to Wyndham, Kununurra, we're going to meet and we're going to give the people of Western Australia a bit of a chance to have their say about these particular proposals," he said.

Flattieman.

[mrmoshe]

Loved the levitating fish story Flattieman.

My only question would be...Why?

Perhaps they can levitate them onto my hook one day.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Flattieman]

Loved the levitating fish story Flattieman.

My only question would be...Why?

Perhaps they can levitate them onto my hook one day.

Cheers,

Pete.

I'm not sure why they do it, but it does look like fun . Here's some YouTube video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgy6A3zH0pc

You might want to turn your sound down, though - unless you enjoy a mechanical drone.

Flattieman.

[mrmoshe]

Amazing stuff eh? And I thought levitation was just in side shows etc.

It probably has a good application when they figure out what to do with it.

Pete.