55 Pilot Whales beached at Kommetjie, South Africa

We were sickened by the sight of over 55 Pilot Whales that lay stranded and dying on Kommetjie beach in the Cape Peninsula this weekend. Nothing could be done to save the majority of these whales and it was extremely distressing to see them flailing their tails helplessly on the Beach.

According to news reports, the Pilot Whales started beaching themselves early on Saturday morning. Despite rough seas, freezing weather and strong currents, members of the local community teamed together with volunteers from four NSRI stations to try to return the whales back to the sea.

Six front-end loaders were also brought in to help return the whales to the ocean but many of those that were successfully returned either came straight back to shore or were washed onto beaches further up the coast.

The rescue efforts were thought to be prolonging the agony of the whales and Marine and Coastal Management scientist Mike Meyer decided to remove the helpless whales from the sea and halt the rescue attempts.

According to Craig Lambinon of the NSRI, about five had died from natural causes. It was eventually decided to euthenise those that could not be returned to the sea. In the end 34 of the whales were put out of their agony with a pistol shot to the head.

Nobody is quite sure what caused the whales to beach themselves and although sonar is often thought to be the reason, a spokesman for the South African Navy reported that this type of technology is not used in South Africa. Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action and Protection group said that the whales could have become stranded due to a navigational error.

Above photo: Nic Bothma / EPA

Link to photo slide show (Guardian, UK)

Rare albino whale shark spotted off the Galapagos Islands

Divers were stunned by a sighting of a huge albino whale shark as it glided through the waters off the coast of Darwin, an island in the Galapagos group.

The female whale shark, believed to be the only one of its kind, was first spotted by diver and naturalist Antonio Moreano in the Galapagos islands when he took a group of tourists on a nature cruise.

Antonio knew he had to get up close and personal with the placid creature and see the whale shark in its own domain. "It was 4:30pm and I and six guests were at Darwin’s Island, set to make the fourth dive of the day." said Mr Moreano.

"As we were on the boat checking our equipment I saw a big white thing at the surface of the water. At the beginning I could not tell what it was - I had never seen anything like it before - so I decided to put my mask on and put my face over into the water".

"Right after this I explained to my guests that it looked like a white whale shark and we were going to all jump in the water and try to follow it. I told everyone to keep a distance and not disturb it so we all jumped in the water and followed it for five minutes. I kept up swimming with it and I got very close - even the eye was white".

Mr Moreano dived to around 50 feet as he attempted to catch up with the whale shark. "I free dove 50ft down and is when I finally managed to get some pictures of it" he explained. "It was difficult because I did not want to frighten it away so I stayed a few metres away".

The whole experience lasted around 30 minutes. From the size and shape of its fins, Mr Moreano identified the albino animal as a female.

"All whale sharks found in Darwin’s Arch are big fat females, we have never seen a male - or at least I haven’t" he said.

"There is a big mystery about our whale sharks: they all show up at Darwin and Wolf from June until November and they all go in circles around the arch dive sites."

"Unfortunately no-one has seen this albino whale shark since."

www.dailymail.co.uk
From a report by Richard Shears

Pyramid Rock & Spotted Sevengill Cow Sharks

Early Saturday morning greeted us warm but slightly overcast as we set out for Simons Town and Pyramid Rock.

We kitted up alongside the road and entered the water to the left of Castle Rock. We had a bit of a surface swim, but took it easy. Fortunately the water was flat with no surge and before long; we reached the “pyramid” and descended.

The visibility was absolutely amazing – 15 metres plus and the water temperature was a warm 14 degrees C. This is a great kelp forest dive, with the sea bed strewn with boulders covered with life - teat sponges, brain sponges, violet-spotted anemones, strawberry anemones and colourful sea urchins. Large Red Roman and Hottentot swam with us amongst the kelp.

After a while, we sat down in a clearing and waited. It wasn’t long before we spied a seven gill cow shark swimming lazily towards us. It swam through the group, turned around and swam through us again. Soon it was joined by another – and another – and at one stage we counted seven of these prehistoric-like sharks swimming in our clearing.

Spotted Sevengill Cow Sharks are also known as Broadnose Sevengill Sharks and Cow Sharks. They can grow up to about 3.5 metres; have one small dorsal fin three quarters the way down their backs and a long tail, similar to that of a thresher shark. They are grey in colour with black spots and have seven pairs of gill slits (hence the name!) Sevengill Cowsharks feed on rays and smaller sharks, fish, crustaceans and marine animals. These sharks have been known to hunt on seals in mid water. As they are inquisitive animals, they could be potentially dangerous but so far there have been no reports on humans.

Photo of shark: Zsilavecz, Guido
www.fishbase.org

Why did the seal try to cross the road?

Was it because he wanted to get to the other side?

Nope, this is not a joke. We've been reading more and more about seals leaving the sea and wandering our local streets. So much so that one of Strand's dive centres has set up a call centre should locals discover seals in their backstreets (or gardens... or shopping malls!).

This weekend, the first of our winter storms hit the Cape and boy, did it arrive with a vengeance! On Saturday morning, we took a drive to check out the waves. On our travels, we passed a police car pulled up on the pavement and, being the nosey people we are, slowed down to check out what was happening. And there, about to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing was a baby Cape Fur Seal. We jumped out to see if we could do anything to help.

The policeman was on the phone to the NSRI, asking them to come and put the seal back in the water (poor thing - I wouldn't want to be in that washing machine either).

Two passers-by, however, decided to do their good deed for the day. One donned thick rubber gloves that he'd grabbed from his car (he was a plumber) and the other held a hessian bag, ready to put the seal inside if necessary (very gallant).

Rubber Gloves picked up the seal as if it were a kitten and walked down the path to the beach. After about 100m of behaving itself, the seal suddenly lashed out at Rubber Gloves's face. He promptly put the seal down on the grass. Seal then decided to go for Rubber Gloves' leg and had a tug of war with his jeans. Quite funny really, despite the torrents of rain that were now falling...

After a while, seal was again picked up, run down the path by Rubber Gloves and plonked unceremoniously on the beach, where he hopped down to the water and swam out to sea.

This was the smallest seal I have ever seen and can just say that thank goodness it hadn't been a bigger one! We might have needed the NSRI after all!

But where had he been going?

Second species of Manta Ray discovered

Andrea Marshall, who has been conducting Manta Ray Research in Tofo for the past five years talks to SaveOurSeas about discovering a second species of giant manta ray.

On our last two visits to Tofo (January 2009 and July 2008), we had some amazing sightings of these graceful creatures.



The catching of Mantas by local fishermen is still legal and Andrea and the diving community of Tofo are educating the locals as to the importance of Manta Rays to the tourism industry. Many tourists travel to Tofo to view its famous Mantas and Whale sharks and should the number of Mantas decline, so too will the number of tourists and ultimately the revenue brought into the area.

Killer Whales spotted in False Bay

We had Killer Whales (Orcas) in False Bay last week! They were hunting a huge pod of dolphins (which, on its own was an amazing site).

The front page of "The Argus", our local Cape Town newspaper featured an amazing photo of a Killer Whale with a huge dolphin in its mouth. According to reports, Killer Whales do come into False Bay on occasion, but this was one of the few visits we've witnessed.

We also saw Killer Whales in Tofo (Mozambique) on our trip there last July. It was fascinating to watch them hunting. In this case, they were hunting a mother humpback whale and her calf and the chase went on for hours.

About Killer Whales:

There are 3 distinct species of these warm blooded, air breathing mammals: Resident Killer Whales, Transient Killer whales, and Off-shore Killer Whales. The main factors which set each species apart are social behavior, physical appearance, preferred food, and vocal dialects. At this stage, there is little known of the Off-Shore species of Killer Whales as they are seldom seen in protected coastal waters. Although the travelling ranges of Residents Killer Whales, Transients Killer Whales, and Off-shores Killer Whales overlap, they have never been seen to mix.

Resident Killer Whales eat predominantly fish and although they are often seen in the vicinity of other marine mammals they usually ignore them. Transients Killer Whales, in contrast to Residents, feed almost exclusively on marine mammals or seabirds. The favoured prey of transients is harbour seals, sea lions, and porpoises. Very little is known about the diet of the Off Shore species, but it is believed that they prey on fish for at least part of the year, however preying on Marine Mammals is also possible.

Killer whales often hunt cooperatively in pods for food. They work together to encircle and herd prey into a small area before attacking. When hunting a large whale, a pod of killer whales may attack from several angles (generally transients).

The conical and interlocking teeth of killer whales are well suited for a wide variety of prey, from small schooling fish to large whales. The number of teeth varies among individuals - but there are usually 10 to 14 teeth on each side of the jaw, a total of 40 to 56 teeth. Each tooth is about 7.6 cm (3 in.) long and approximately 2.5 cm (1 in.) in diameter.

Adult killer whales eat approximately 3% to 4% of their body weight in food per day, fully weaned calves can eat up to approximately 10% of their body weight during growth periods.

Male killer whales, or bulls, begin maturing at 12 to 14 years of age and attain physical maturity at about 20 years. Most males probably reach a length of 8 to 9 metres. Females, or cows, average about 7 metres in length and reach reproductive maturity at about 14 to 15 years.

Source: Whale Images.com