Bud N’ Mary’s Adventures

By Jan S. MaizlerArticle & Travel Editor
Photos By Jan S. Maizler and Ron Modra

Time and Tide

It seemed like ages since I’d been to Bud N’ Mary’s. From where I stand now, looking back over proverbial oceans of time I recall being poled across the flats of Flamingo by Captain Joe Stephens in search of redfish records on 4-pound spin for the International Spin Fishing Association. During the cold weather, Captain Roger Martin would take us back to fish the potholes of Snake Bight for snook using plug tackle and red and white Millie’s bucktails. I also remember running out for early morning bonefish with Captain Earl Gentry. All of this frenetic activity clustered around all my available weekends in the early seventies. Little did the teenager who streaked down the Overseas Highway in his Firebird 400 realize he would morph into a Boomer with a Pathfinder S.U.V.
As my writing career grew, many angling travel stories cropped up and took me out of Florida as well as the States for long stretches of years. Back in the Keys, and Islamorada, people came and went, some of them died, and buildings and ventures went up or down. But amazingly, Bud N’ Mary’s not only stayed and prevailed- it also prospered and became the heartbeat of sport fishing in the Keys. No, indeed, this remarkable place did not pass into history: rather, it became a living legend and Grail for the best game fish in Florida. Not bad for an angling institution established in 1944!
So my return to Bud N’ Mary’s was like coming home again to all the forgotten magic in a place not far at all from Miami’s “backyard.”

A Simple Yet Inspired Plan

I made my initial contact with Captain Rick Stancyzk, whom I had gotten to know from his excellent reports on CyberAngler. Rick’s range of operation was from Flamingo and the Gulf banks out to the Atlantic patches. Our plan was to fish his bayboat on the Sprigger Bank area one day and the Oceanside patches on the ‘morrow. As our target weekend unfolded, the three-day forecast called for 25 M.P.H. northeast winds. Rick’s father, Bud N’ Mary’s owner Richard Stancyzk suggested we use their 34-foot charter vessel, which would make trips on these blowy days do-able. I was delighted!

Day #1

After a quick jaunt from Miami, I went to the office to meet Rick, only to find out that we’d be joined by some illustrious colleagues. I walked out to the end of the skiff pier towards the vessel and was introduced to Keys icon Captain Richard (senior), ace photographer Ron Modra and North Carolina offshore Captain Dave Peck.
As we cast off lines, Richard said we’d have plenty of time to talk since the run to Sprigger Bank in the bigger boat was around one and a half hours. And, indeed, we did converse. I spent the largest bulk of the “cruise” talking with Richard. It quickly emerged that although we had not formally met until now; our paths had crossed very closely over the last four decades. I found it fascinating how many people we had mutually known or fished with. As Richard piloted our vessel from the shallow Atlantic through one of the Overseas Highway bridges and westward into the wind-tossed green Gulf, he told me many tales that made the past come alive in a personally compelling way. As I listened, Richard’s recollections made me think of the old Florida Keys and its’ passel of Damon Runyonesque characters- all wrapped in a reel of the Fox Movietone News. We even talked and mused over the possible cosmic forces that move fish- both alone and in schools.
As we finally reached our area, Richard started focusing on certain honeyholes stored in his GPS- yet all of them were covered over with dirty turbid water being rumpled and blown by bad-intentioned northeast winds gusting to 30 MPH. This forced a trio Pow Wow (Richard, Rick, Dave) as to which kind of turbid water we’d have to settle for. It emerged that the dirty green sandy water over some of our spots was preferable to the yellowish muddy water that lay to the north.
Prior to anchoring, Richard told Dave to deploy a chum bag hung over the stern. When this was accomplished, Richard slow-trolled the scent and tiny chunks all around the area to fire up the game fish. After we accomplished a very carefully-placed anchoring, another chum bag was deployed. Ron and Rick grabbed spinners rigged with wire leaders and either a bare hook or a jig head. They hooked large live shrimp to these items and tossed them into the water not far from the stern. Dave started casting a spinner rigged with a wire leader and a jig. I stuck with one of my plug rods rigged with a 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and a white 3/8 ounce Spro jig. Both of us worked waters much further astern than the baited rigs.
Within minutes the action started coming. First, a nice bluefish by Dave. Then I caught a fat seatrout. Then both Ron and Rick hooked up with fat Spanish mackerel. I hung a small piece of fresh shrimp to my jig and flung it way back. Then I let it settle into the bottom 20 feet below. On the second sweep of the rod, I had a blast of a strike and two minutes later, I was lifting a big pompano into the cockpit.
This was the way it went for the four hours we fished. At times, there might be a lull in the action. But after a few jerks of the chum bags, the fish went nuts again. Rick also caught and released a 150-pound goliath grouper after chumming and baiting with some huge mackerel chunks. The day could best be described as joyous pandemonium.

Day #2

The next day was just as windy. Our ride to the patches would be much shorter, but also on the windward side. Today, the captain and crew were somewhat different. Captain Dave would be running the boat and captain Rick would be the first mate. Joining me for fishing was Rick’s friend, Elizabeth Baxter, and Dave’s friend, Ron.
The ride out was rough, despite the size of the vessel. We finally made it to the outside patches, but the waves towered at over five feet and made anchoring impossible as well as possibly unsafe. Captain Dave quickly decided to fish some patches inshore where it was slightly less rough. After locating our honeyhole on the GPS, it took three tries plus a huge amount of rode to keep us anchored in our spot.
Since the bottom was much harder than the Gulf, the ocean water was dirty, but opaque enough to be definitely fishable. The same chumming techniques and fishing rigs were deployed. And the action was immediate. A partial list of the fish we caught were yellowtails, mutton snappers, mangrove snappers, red groupers, gag groupers, hogfish, amberjacks, yellow jacks, as well as loads of smaller reef species.
In about two hours, I’d counted over a hundred fish caught and released. Since I had my pictures and certainly my story, I told Dave we could “pack it in” in the increasingly larger waves. While I mused over our two-day success, the word came in that the Stancyzk family was doing quite well in the sailfish tournament that was going on offshore of us. In all these winds, the spindlebeaks were hitting like crazy- no doubt, many release flags would be flying and flapping at the dock later that afternoon.

Bud N’ Mary’s

The offerings and services for boaters and anglers are diverse, comprehensive and complete.
Anglers without boats, visitors, tourists, and travelers will find the following offerings: a party boat, rental boats, approximately fourteen offshore charter boats, and twenty four “backcountry” skiff guides. Even anglers bringing their own boats should fish with these captains to safely learn these prolific waters as well as get a lifetime of angling education in one or two charters. The charters cover an enormous swath of habitat including the Flamingo area, Florida Bay, the Gulf “Banks”, the flats of the Keys themselves, and the Atlantic Ocean starting from the shoreline out to thousands of feet of cobalt-blue water. Every game fish in the Keys can be targeted out of Bud N’ Mary’s.
Private boat owners will be pleased to know that in and out dry storage is available via forklift for boats up to thirty feet. In addition, in-water slips are available as well. Inquire first with management to be sure a space or vacancy is available.
This marvelous destination is more than a fishing marina- it’s a resort as well. There is a delightful spread of lodgings which include an efficiency, standard motel rooms, a penthouse, an oceanfront house, and a houseboat. There’s an excellent deli-style restaurant/café that will please you with good “home-style” sandwiches and meals from 6 a.m. to 2.p.m. Check out their fishing shop for some nice apparel and perhaps get outfitted with some dive gear and arrange a diving charter out to the gorgeous reefs.

Contact Data

Captains Richard Stancyzk and Rick Stancyzk
Bud N’ Mary’s Fishing Marina
Mile Marker 79.8 Oceanside
Islamorada, Florida Keys
Phone: 305-664-2461
Toll-Free: 800-742-7945
Web Site: http://www.budnmarys.com/
Email: bnmfm@budnmarys.com

Article Source: http://www.cyberangler.com/

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Extreme Fishing With Robson Green Season 2 Episode 2

Billfish

The largest billfish, the Atlantic blue marlin, weighs up to 820 kilograms (1800 pounds) and has been classified as a vulnerable species.^[1][2]

The term billfish refers to a group of predatory fish characterised by prominent bills, or rostrums, and by their large size (some are longer than four metres (13 feet)). Billfish include sailfish and marlin, which make up the family Istiophoridae, and swordfish, sole member of the family Xiphiidae. They are apex predators which feed on a wide variety of smaller fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods.
Billfish are pelagic and highly migratory. They are found in all oceans,^[3] although they usually inhabit tropical and subtropical waters; swordfish are found in temperate waters as well. Billfish use their long spears or swordlike upper jaws or beaks to slash at and stun prey during feeding. Their bills can also be used to spear prey, and have been known to spear boats (probably accidentally), but they are not normally used in that way. They are highly valued as gamefish by sports fishermen.

 Species

The term billfish refers to the fishes of the families Xiphiidae and Istiophoridae. These large fishes are "characterized by the prolongation of the upper jaw, much beyond the lower jaw into a long rostrum which is flat and swordlike (swordfish) or rounded and spearlike (sailfishes, spearfishes and marlins)."^[4]

 True billfish

There are 12 species of true billfishes, divided into two families and four genera. One family, Xiphiidae, contains only one species, the swordfish Xiphias gladius, and the other family, Istiophoridae contains 11 species in three genera, including marlin, spearfish and sailfish.^[4] There is controversy about whether the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, Makaira mazara, is the same species as the Atlantic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans. FishBase follows Nakamura (1985)^[4] in recognizing Makaira mazara as a distinct species, "chiefly because of differences in the pattern of the lateral line system".^[5]

This article is one of a series on
Commercial fish
Large pelagic
billfish, bonito mackerel, salmon shark, tuna
Forage
anchovy, herring menhaden, sardine shad, sprat
Demersal
cod, eel, flatfish pollock, ray
Mixed
carp

[hide]Billfish species
Family	Genus	Common name	Scientific name	Maximum length	Common length	Maximum weight	Maximum age	Trophic level	FishBase	FAO	IUCN status
Xiphiidae	Xiphias	Swordfish	Xiphias gladius (Linnaeus, 1758)	455 cm	300 cm	650 kg	years	4.49	[6]	[7]	Least concern[8]
Istiophoridae	Istiophorus Sailfish	Atlantic sailfish	Istiophorus albicans (Latreille, 1804)	315 cm	cm	58.1 kg	17 years[9]	4.50	[10]		Not assessed
		Indo-Pacific sailfish	Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw, 1792)	340 cm	cm	100 kg	years	4.50	[11]	[12]	Least concern[8]
	Makaira	Black marlin	Makaira indica -Istiompax indica?(Cuvier, 1832)	465 cm	380 cm	750 kg	years	4.50	[13]		Data deficient[14]
		Indo-Pacific blue marlin	Makaira mazara (Jordan and Snyder, 1901)	cm	cm	kg	years	4.46	[5]		Not assessed
		Atlantic blue marlin	Makaira nigricans (Lacépède, 1802)	500 cm	290 cm	820 kg	years	4.50	[15]		Vulnerable[2]
	Tetrapturus	White marlin	Tetrapturus albidus/Kajikia albida Poey, 1860	300 cm	210 cm	82.5 kg	years	4.48	[16]		Vulnerable[17]
		Shortbill spearfish	Tetrapturus angustirostris Tanaka, 1915	200 cm	cm	52 kg	years	4.50	[18]		Data deficient[19]
		Striped marlin	Tetrapturus audax/Kajikia audax (Philippi, 1887)	350 cm	cm	200 kg	years	4.58	[20]	[21]	Near threatened[22]
		Roundscale spearfish	Tetrapturus georgii Lowe, 1841	184 cm	cm	24 kg	years	4.37	[23]		Data deficient[22]
		Mediterranean spearfish	Tetrapturus belone Rafinesque, 1810	240 cm	200 cm	70 kg	years	4.50	[24]		Least concern[25]
		Longbill spearfish	Tetrapturus pfluegeri Robins and de Sylva, 1963	254 cm	165 cm	58 kg	years	4.28	[26]		Least concern[27]

True billfishes

Swordfish, most commercially fished billfish  The Atlantic blue marlin, largest billfish  The Indo-Pacific sailfish, fastest of all fishes

 Billfish-like fishes

A number of other fishes have pronounced bills or beaks, and are sometimes referred to as billfish. However, they are not true billfish. Halfbeaks look somewhat like miniature billfishes, and the sawfish, which is shark, has a spectacular rostrum shaped like a chain saw. Needlefish are sometimes confused with billfishes, but they are "easily distinguished from the true billfishes by having both jaws prolonged, the dorsal and anal fins both single and similar in size and shape, and the pelvic fins inserted far behind the pectorals."^[4]

[edit] Structure and function of the bill

Billfish have a long, bony, spear-shaped bill, sometimes called a snout, beak or rostrum. The swordfish has the longest bill, about one-third its body length. Like a true sword, it is smooth, flat, pointed and sharp. The bills of other billfish are shorter and rounder, more like spears.^[28]
Billfish normally use their bills to slash at schooling fish. They swim through the fish school at high speed, slashing left and right, and then circle back to eat the fish they stunned. Adult swordfish have no teeth, and other billfish have only small file-like teeth. They swallow their catch whole, head-first. Billfish don't normally spear with their bills, though occasionally a marlin will flip a fish into the air and bayonet it. Given the speed and power of these fish, when they do spear things the results can be dramatic. Predators of billfish, such as great white and marko sharks, have been found with billfish spears embedded in them.^[29][30][31] Pelagic fish generally are fascinated by floating objects, and congregate about them.^[32] Billfish can accidentally impale boats and other floating objects when they pursue the small fish that aggregate around them.^[31] Care is needed when attempting to land a hooked billfish. Many fisherman have been injured, some seriously, by a billfish thrashing its bill about.^[30]

Other characteristics

External videos
	Striped Marlin Bait Ball You

Billfish are large swift predators which spend most of their time in the epipelagic zone of the open ocean. They feed voraciously on smaller pelagic fish, crustaceans and small squid. Some billfish species also hunt demersal fish on the seafloor, while others descend periodically to mesopelagic depths. They may come closer to the coast when they spawn in the summer. Their eggs and larvae are pelagic, that is they float freely in the water column.^[29][31] Many grow over three metres (10 feet) long, and the blue marlin can grow to five metres (16 feet). Females are usually larger than males.^[29][31]
Like scombroids (tuna, bonito and mackerel), billfish have both the ability to migrate over long distances, efficiently cruising at slow speeds, and the ability to generate rapid bursts of speed. These speed bursts can be quite astonishing, and the Indo-Pacific sailfish has been recorded making a burst of 68 miles per hour (110 km/h), nearly top speed for a cheetah and the highest speed ever recorded for a fish.^[29]
Some billfish also descend to considerable mesopelagic depths. They have sophisticated swim bladders which allow them to rapidly compensate for pressure changes as the depth changes. This means that when they are swimming deep, they can return swiftly to the surface without problems.^[33] "Like the large tuna, some billfish maintain their body temperature several degrees above ambient water temperatures; this elevated body temperature increases the efficiency of the swimming muscles, especially during excursions into the cold water below the thermocline."^[31]
In 1936 the British zoologist James Gray posed a conundrum which has come to be known as Gray's paradox. The problem he posed was how dolphins can swim and accelerate so fast when it seemed their muscles lacked the needed power.^[34] If this is a problem with dolphins it is an even greater problem with billfish such as swordfish, which swim and accelerate faster than dolphins. In 2009, Taiwanese researchers from the National Chung Hsing University introduced new concepts of "kidnapped airfoils and circulating horsepower" to explain the swimming capabilities of swordfish. The researchers claim this analysis also "solves the perplexity of dolphin’s Gray paradox". They also assert that swordfish "use sensitive rostrum/lateral-line sensors to detect upcoming/ambient water pressure and attain the best attack angle to capture the body lift power aided by the forward-biased dorsal fin to compensate for most of the water resistance power."^[35]
Billfish have prominent dorsal fins. Like tuna, mackerel and other scombroids, billfish streamline themselves by retracting their dorsal fins into a grove in their body when they swim.^[29] The shape, size, position and colour of the dorsal fin varies with the type of billfish, and can be a simple way to identify a billfish species. For example, the white marlin has a dorsal fin with a curved front edge and is covered with black spots. The huge dorsal fin, or sail of the sailfish is kept retracted most of the time. Sailfish raise them if they want to herd a school of small fish, and also after periods of high activity, presumably to cool down.^[29][36]

[edit] Distribution and migration

Billfish occur worldwide in temperate and tropical waters. They are highly migratory oceanic fish, spending much of their time in the epipelagic zone of international water following major ocean currents.^[29][31] Migrations are linked to seasonal patterns of sea surface temperatures.^[37] They are sometimes referred to as "rare event species" because the areas they roam over in the open seas are so large that researchers have difficulty locating them. Little is known about their movements and life histories, so assessing how they can be sustainably managed is not easy.^[38][39]
Unlike coastal fish, billfish usually avoid inshore waters unless there is a deep dropoff close to the land.^[30] Instead, they swim along the edge of the continental shelf where cold nutrient rich upwellings can fuel large schools of forage fish. Billfish can be found here, cruising and feeding "above the craggy bottom like hawks soaring along a ridge line".^[40]

 Commercial fishing

Global commercial capture of billfish reported by the FAO in tonnes 1950–2009 ^[41]

Commercial catch of marlin at Jimbaran, Indonesia

In parts of the Pacific such as the Maldives, billfishing, particularly for swordfish, is an important component of subsistence fishing.

 Recreational fishing

Over the years, billfish tournaments have transformed into big business enterprises. Many prestigious tournaments now have enormous calcuttas and purses as well as large numbers of participating anglers. With huge purses and egos on the line, concern often arises whether all participants are adhering to the letter of the rules.
 – IGFA Conservation Director, Jason Schratwieser ^[42]

See also: Big game fishing and Marlin fishing

Billfish are among the most coveted of big gamefish, and major recreational fisheries cater to the demand.^[39] In North America, "the apex of the salt water pursuits is billfishing, the quest for elusive blue marlin and sailfish in the deep blue water about 60 miles out."^[40] A lot of resources are committed to the activity, particularly in the construction of private and charter billfishing boats to participate in the billfishing tournament circuit. These are expensive purpose-built offshore vessels with powerfully driven deep sea hulls. They are often built to luxury standards and equipped with many technologies to ease the life of the deep sea recreational fisherman, including outriggers, flying bridges and fighting chairs, and state of the art fishfinders and navigation electronics.^[40]
The boats cruise along the edge of the continental shelf where billfish can be found down to 200 metres (600 ft), sometimes near weed lines at the surface and submarine canyons and ridges deeper down. Commercial fishermen usually use drift nets or longlines to catch billfish, but recreational fishermen usually drift with bait fish or troll a bait or lure. Billfish are caught deeper down the water column by drifting with live bait fish such as ballyhoo, striped mullet or bonito. Alternatively, they can be caught by trolling at the surface with dead bait or trolling lures designed to imitate bait fish.^[43]
Most recreational fishermen now tag and release billfish.^[40] A 2003 study surveyed 317,000 billfish known to have been tagged and released since 1954. Of these, 4122 were recovered. The study concluded that, while tag and release programs have limitations, they provided important information about billfish that cannot currently be obtained by other methods.^[31][39]

Hooked striped marlin  Hooked billfish can leap spectacularly out of the water

 As food

Billfish make good eating fish, and are high in omega-3 oils. Blue marlin has a particularly high oil content.^[44] However, because billfish have high trophic levels, near the top of the food web, they also contain significant levels of mercury and other toxins. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, swordfish is one of four fishes, along with tilefish, shark, and king mackerel, that children and pregnant women should avoid due to high levels of methylmercury found in these fish and the consequent risk of mercury poisoning.^{[45] [46]}

Raw swordfish

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	144 kJ (34 kcal)
Fat	6.65 g
Protein	19.66 g
Water	73.38 g
Vitamin A	120 IU
Vitamin D	558 IU (93%)
Calcium	5 mg (1%)
Iron	0.38 mg (3%)
Magnesium	29 mg (8%)
Phosphorus	255 mg (36%)
Potassium	418 mg (9%)
Sodium	81 mg (5%)
Zinc	0.66 mg (7%)
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database

[hide]Comparative mercury levels[47]
Species		Mean ppm
	Tilefish	1.450	Gulf of Mexico
	Swordfish	0.995
	Shark	0.979
	King mackerel	0.730
	Bigeye tuna	0.689	Fresh/frozen
	Orange roughy	0.571
	Marlin *	0.485
	King mackerel	0.182	South Atlantic
	Herring	0.084
	Flatfish *	0.056	Flounder, plaice and sole
	Catfish	0.025
	Salmon *	0.022	Fresh/frozen
	Sardine	0.013
	Tilapia *	0.013
* indicates methylmercury only was analyzed (all other results are for total mercury)

Billfish are primarily marketed in Japan, where they are eaten raw as sashimi. They are marketed fresh, frozen, canned, cooked and smoked.^[31] It is not usually a good idea to fry billfish. Swordfish and marlin are best grilled or broiled, or eaten raw as in sashimi. Sailfish and spearfish are somewhat tough and are better cooked over charcoal or smoked.^[44]

Billfish as food

Swordfish auction in the fish market of Vigo   Slice of Atlantic blue marlin   Swordfish marinade   Fried sailfish with noodle salad

 Conservation

Billfish are exploited both as food and as game fish. Marlin and sailfish are eaten in many parts of the world, and many sport fisheries target these species. Swordfish are subject to particularly intense fisheries pressures, and although their survival is not threatened worldwide, they are now comparatively rare in many places where once they were abundant. The istiophorid billfishes (marlin and spearfish) also suffer from intense fishing pressures. High mortality levels occur when they are caught incidentally by longline fisheries targeting other fish.^[48] Overfishing continues to "push these declines further in some species".^[49] Because of these concerns about declining populations, sport fishermen and conservationists now work together to gather information on billfish stocks and implement programs such as catch and release, where fish are returned to the sea after they have been caught. Billfish caught within 320 km (200 m) of the US coast now have to be released. However, the process of catching them can leave them too traumatised to recover.^[29] Studies have shown that circle fishing hooks do much less damage to billfish than the traditional J-hooks, yet they are at just as effective for catching billfish. This is good for conservation, since it improves survival rates after release.^[50][51]
The stocks for individual species in billfish longline fisheries can "boom and bust" in linked and compensatory ways. For example, the Atlantic catch of blue marlin declined in the 1960s. This was accompanied by an increase in sailfish catch. The sailfish catch then declined from the end of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s, compensated by an increase in swordfish catch. As a result, overall billfish catches remained fairly stable.^[52]
"Many of the world’s fisheries operate in a data poor environment that precludes predictions about how different management actions will affect individual species and the ecosystem as a whole."^[53] In recently years pop-up satellite archival tags have been used to monitor billfish. The capability of these tags to recover useful data is improving, and their use should result in more accurate stock assessments.^[54] In 2011, a group of researchers claimed they have, for the first time, standardized all available data about scombrids and billfishes so it is in a form suitable for assessing threats to these species. The synthesis shows that those species which combine a long life with a high economic value, such as the Atlantic blue marlin and the white marlin, are generally threatened. The combination puts such species in "double



Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/

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73M-year-old fossilized fish found in Canada

 

Thursday, August 28, 2008 

Canadian Museum of Nature or Victoria Memorial Museum Building
Image: SimonP in January 2005.

Scientists of the United Kingdom-based Royal Society released a paper August 1, 2008 which studied Cretaceous era fossil finds found at the northern area of Devon Island in the 1980s. Nunavutospongia irregulara is the name of the new species of sponge found, released by Proceedings B the Royal Society's biological research journal.
Thick bones and armour-like scales have been found that are believed to belong to a new species of fish which grew up to two meters long. Thousands of fossilized feces - termed coprolites - both small and as large as an arm have been found. Coral reef fossils, conifer wood debris, fossil wood chunks and thousands of plankton and microbes have been found both at Devon Island and Beechy Island. Beechy Island is connected to Devon Island during times of low tide.
Two areas on Devon Island about 30 kilometres apart are providing Cretaceous fossil finds, and each is kilometres in length. These areas are khaki-coloured valley greensands rich in fossil beds, which provide a peek at life 73 million years ago. During the Cretaceous Devon Island was located in a position with a warmer climate, large trees grew north of Baffin Island, and plesiosaurs, ichthyodectid fish, and sharks roamed the waters of the Arctic. Devon Island was submerged under warm water in the Cretaceous period, when the island was situated hundreds of kilometres south of its current location due to continental drift.
At the upper Kanguk Formation, the fossil finds represent offshore and near-shore sedimentary deposits on an ocean floor. The warmer temperate waters supported benthic invertebrates (organisms such as larva that live on the bottom of a water body) and large predatory vertebrates. Whereas life is currently supported by nutrients from the sea ice, Cretaceous sea life was supported by terrigenous resources from forested landscapes.
The eight-member team from the Royal Society consists of Canadian, United States and Polish researchers. The fossil specimens are held at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa on behalf of the Nunavut territorial government.

 

 Sources

• Randy Boswell. "Arctic fossil ield yields sea serpents, shark teeth" — Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, August 22, 2008
• "Life In A Temperate Polar Sea: A Unique Taphonomic Window On The Structure Of A Late Cretaceous Arctic Marine Ecosystem" — Medical News Today, August 20, 2008
• Dave Grant. "Coral Reef Fossils - Devon Island, Canada: Plankton, Seabirds and Icebergs" — Brookdale Community College, August 2006

Karen Chin, John Bloch, Justin Tweet, Jaelyn Eberle, Stephen Cumbaa. Benthic-pelagic coupling in the upper Cretaceous high arctic; evidence from a suite of unusual polar coprolites. Geological Society of America, 2004; Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5: 380.

Wels catfish

 

Wels catfish
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Siluridae
Genus:	Silurus
Species:	S. glanis
Binomial name
Silurus glanis Linnaeus, 1758

The wels catfish ( /ˈwɛls/ or /ˈvɛls/;^[1] Silurus glanis), also called sheatfish, is a large catfish found in wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas. It is a scaleless fresh and brackish water fish recognizable by its broad, flat head and wide mouth. Wels catfish can live for at least thirty years and have very good hearing.
The wels catfish lives on annelid worms, gastropods, insects, crustaceans, and fish including other wels catfishes; the larger ones also eat frogs, mice, rats and aquatic birds such as ducks. It is found from the United Kingdom all the way east to Kazakhstan and south to Slovenia.

 Habitat

The wels catfish lives in large, warm lakes and deep, slow-flowing rivers. It prefers to remain in sheltered locations such as holes in the riverbed, sunken trees, etc. It consumes its food in the open water or on the bottom, where it can be recognized by its large mouth. Wels catfish are kept in fish ponds as food fish.

 Physical characteristics

Wels catfish's mouth contains lines of numerous small teeth, two long barbels on the upper jaw and four shorter barbels on the lower jaw. It has a long anal fin that extends to the caudal fin, and a small sharp dorsal fin positioned relatively far forward. It uses its sharp pectoral fins to capture prey. With these fins, it creates an eddy to disorient its victim, which it then simply engulfs in its enormous throat. It has very slippery green-brown skin. Its belly is pale yellow or white. Colour varies with environment. Clear water will give the fish a black coloration while muddy water will often tend to produce brownish specimens. Weight and length are not correlated linearly, and also depend on the season.
The female produces up to 30,000 eggs per kilogram of body weight. The male guards the nest until the brood hatches, which, depending on water temperature, can take from three to ten days. If the water level decreases too much or too fast the male has been observed to splash the eggs with the muscular tail in order to keep them wet.^{[citation needed]}

 Size

Silurus glanis. Syr Darya River in Kazakhstan, Baikonur area.

With a possible total length up to 3 m (9.8 ft) and a maximum weight of over 150 kg (330 lb) it is the second largest freshwater fish in its region after the beluga sturgeon. However, such lengths are extremely rare and could not be proved during the last century, but there is a somewhat credible report from the 19th century of a wels catfish of this size. Brehms Tierleben cites Heckl's and Kner's old reports from Danube about specimens 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 200–250 kg (440–550 lb) heavy, and Vogt's 1894 report of a specimen caught in Lake Biel which was 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) long and weighed 68 kg (150 lb).^[2] In 1856, K. T. Kessler^[3] wrote about specimens from Dniepr which were over 5 m (16 ft) long and weighed up to 400 kg (880 lb). These reports, however, cannot be validated today for lack of physical evidence. Another point which makes these data unreliable is the abnormal length to weight ratio, a typical trait of big-fish-stories. A wels of 3 m (9.8 ft) would weigh much less, around 150 kg (330 lb), whereas a hypothetical specimen of 5 m (16 ft) would theoretically weigh about 700 kg (1,500 lb) or more.
Most wels catfish are only about 1.3–1.6 m (4 ft 3 in–5 ft 3 in) long; fish longer than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) are normally extremely rare. At 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) they can weigh 15–20 kilograms (33–44 lb) and at 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) they can weigh 65 kilograms (140 lb).
Only under exceptionally good living circumstances can the wels catfish reach lengths of more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in), as with the record wels catfish of Kiebingen (near Rottenburg, Germany), which was 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in) long and weighed 89 kilograms (200 lb). This giant was surpassed by some even larger specimens from Poland, Ukraine, France, Spain (in the River Ebro), Italy (in the River Po and River Arno), and Greece, where this fish was released a few decades ago. Greek wels grow well thanks to the mild climate, lack of competition, and good food supply. The largest accurate weight was 144 kg (320 lb) for a 2.78 m (9 ft 1 in) long specimen from the Po Delta in Italy.^[4] Other reports of larger wels (around 5 m (16 ft) or more) are unlikely and are often regarded as typical big fish stories or in some cases misidentifications of the now rare sturgeon.
Exceptionally large specimens are rumored to attack humans in rare instances, a claim investigated by extreme angler Jeremy Wade in an episode of the Animal Planet television series River Monsters. A report in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard on August 5, 2009, mentions a wels catfish dragging a fisherman near Győr, Hungary, under water by his right leg after the man attempted to grab the fish in a hold. The man barely escaped with his life from the fish, which must have weighed over 100 kg (220 lb), according to the fisherman.^[5]

 Ecology

There are concerns about the ecological impact of introducing the wels catfish to non-native regions. These concerns take into account the situation in Lake Victoria in Africa, where Nile perch (available in stores as Lake Victoria perch) were introduced and rapidly caused the extinction of numerous indigenous species. This severely impacted the entire lake, destroying much of the original ecosystem. The introduction of foreign species is almost always a burden on the affected ecosystem. Following the introduction of Wels catfish are fishes whose number is in clear and rapid decline. Since its introduction in the reservoir Mequinenza in 1974 - has spread to other parts of the Ebro basin over Ebro and its tributaries, especially river Segre. Some endemics species of iberian barbels, genus Barbus in the Cyprinidae, having once been abundant especially in the Ebro river, competition and predation by wels catfish has caused its complete disappearance in the middle channel Ebro around 1990. The ecology of the river also, has now a major development in the amount of aquatic vegetation, seaweed and algae. Barbel species from mountain stream tributary of the Ebro that wels catfish has not colonized, were not affected.

 As a food fish

Only the flesh of young Silurus glanis specimens is valued as food. It is palatable when the catfish weighs less than 15 kg (33 lb). Larger than this size, the fish is highly fatty and not recommended for consumption. The eggs are poisonous and should not be consumed.