Heart Warming Hump Day Humpback Humanitarians

If this video doesn’t tug at your heart strings, it’s probably because you don’t have any. Michael Fishbach, co-founder of the Great Whale Conservancy, on the other hand had miles of them. On a trip around the Sea of Cortez he and his shipmates spotted a whale trapped in a massive gill net. Together they risked their safety to untangle the whale and set it free. What happened after is the truly amazing part, the whale gave them an amazing aerial show of joy and thanks.

This is Fly Magazine Volume 2 Issue 2

Another awesome issue of This Is Fly is hot of the virtual press. This issue is absolutely packed with some awesome material. Enjoy!

Expedition Great White

I meant to post this on the weekend, but as usual I’m a day late and a buck short! National Geographic is at it again with some more incredible programming, this time in the form of great white sharks! Join exhibition leader and fisherman Chris Fischer and his crew as they hunt down great white sharks to catch and release in the name of science!

Great White facts:

* They are streamlined, torpedo-shaped swimmers with powerful tails that can propel them through the water at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour.
* Highly adapted predators, their mouths are lined with up to 300 serrated, triangular teeth arranged in several rows.
* They have an exceptional sense of smell to detect prey and have organs that can sense the tiny electromagnetic fields generated by animals.
* Main prey items include sea lions, seals, small toothed whales, and even sea turtles and carrion.
* The great white population is decreasing precipitously due to overfishing and accidental catching in gill nets, among other factors.

With new episodes airing Sunday nights, and repeats thought the week, you have several opportunities to catch this new show!

For details on Expedition Great White, check out NationalGegraphic.com

Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Pinched… For Now

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is quite possibly the largest most globally impacting unnatural (man-made) disaster we’re likely to see in our life times. Well it only took a whole month for them to finally make some progress, it’s not fully plugged, but we’re one step closer.

As luck would have it there is now an oil spill in Alaska on the pipleline, which is majority owned by BP! You know, I thought about my first statement, and I wondered when the last spill was. A few google searches later and.. It turns out looking back in to the past was quite chilling, echoing back to 1979.

Aren’t we supposed to learn from our mistakes? If not, we’re screwed. But don’t let me throw a downer on your friday. Did you know that 1,000 fishermen have pushed their way in to help clean up the spill? You do now!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day From Team Fury!

Five years ago today I kissed the woman who would become my wife, for the first time. Myself, Jordan and a lovely little redhead named Gillian had spent the evening at the only Irish bar in La Paz, Mexico (the only Irish bar in all of Mexico for all I know) I cant remember if we drank green beer, but the drinks were flowing throughout the night. After several hours I was well fueled up on liquid courage, but it took me until the very end of the night before I made my move. The luck of the Irish must have been with me that night though, because when I kissed her, she actually kissed my back!

So your Fishing Fury tip of the day: At the end of the night, find the most beautiful girl you can and kiss her. You never know what will happen next.

Oarfish Filmed in Natural Habitat

This is the first video evidence I have ever seen of a live Oarfish swimming in its natural habitat. They truly are remarkable creatures and one can certainly imagine that these are one of the possible explanations for sea serpent stories. One of the strange things is that the fish’s body does not move in a serpentine motion, but instead the very thing and elongated dorsal fin dances back and forth in a fluid wave propelling the fish forward.

Using a remotely operated vehicle, they caught a rare glimpse of the huge oarfish, perhaps the first sighting of the fish in its natural setting.

The oarfish, which can reach 17m long, has previously only been seen on a few occasions dying at the sea surface, or dead washed ashore.

Their strange appearance may have provided the basis for the sea serpent myths told by early ocean travellers.
Not only are they elongated, they also have a prominent dorsal fin which gives it an unusual “serpent” appearance.
Recalling the event Professor Benfield explained how at first, they thought the fish was simply a drilling pipe called a riser being lowered into the water.

“We saw this bright vertical shiny thing, I said ‘are they lowering more riser?’ as it looked like they were lowering a huge pipe.”

“We zoomed in a little bit and we said ‘that’s not a riser that’s a fish!’”

On another ROV survey in the Gulf of Mexico, the team came across the deep sea manefish (Paracaristius sp.).

This observation enabled the scientists to get a rare insight into the behaviour of the fish in its natural environment.

That gave them a further understanding of how it lives and what it looks like.
“When you see manefish collected in trawls they are incredibly beat up, they don’t look like much of a fish at all,” said Professor Benfield.

“So to actually see this fish in its natural habitat with its fins beautifully splayed out almost as a parachute, we get an idea that it’s a really good swimmer.”

Manefish are thought to steal food from or feed on a jellyfish-like animal called a siphonophore.
This may explain why the fish needs to swim so accurately.

“This fish has very precise control over its orientation and position, so if you are in very close proximity to an animal with tentacles that could potentially damage you, you want to able to really precisely control your locomotion.”

via BBC News