The vaquita, the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world, is endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California. This photo was taken under permit (Oficio No. DR/488/08) from the Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT).

Critically endangered vaquita could survive if gillnet-poaching ban enforced

The vaquita is the world’s smallest marine mammal, measuring between four to five feet in length. A comprehensive survey conducted in 1997 counted 570 vaquitas, but today, 25 years on, a mere ten surviving vaquitas have been counted in the Sea of Cortez, the only place that the vaquita can be found.

Breaching humpback whale
Breaching humpback whale (pixabay license)

Southern Hemisphere whale-call research highlights need for MPA network

The “whup” and “grumble” sounds recorded by hydrophones moored in the Vema Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,000km northwest of Cape Town in South Africa, suggest this location could be an important stop on the whales’ migration route to polar feeding grounds.

Most of the calls were recorded over a period of three nights in the spring of 2019, with low “whups” being heard most frequently. This is an important discovery as the “whup” is a contact call used by mother-calf pairs to help them locate each other. Furthermore, humpbacks also “whup” while feeding.

Panasonic Lumix GH6

It supports an improved in-body image stabilization (up to 7.5 stops) and upgraded video features. The new sensor delivers 14fps in AF-S mode (8fps in AF-C mode) when using the mechanical shutter, and 75fps (in AF-S mode) with the electronic shutter. The GH6 can record 4K/120p video at 10-bit 4:2:0. Furthermore, full V-Log/V- Gamut has been added, providing up to 13+ stops of dynamic range.

The GH6 features a 3.68M-dot OLED electronic view- finder and is equipped with dual card slots: a CFexpress (Type B) slot and an SD UHS II

slot.

bonefish
Bonefish (Albula vulpes)

Study finds traces of pharmaceutical drugs in bonefish and their prey

Florida’s seagrass flats used to be the place where anglers from around the world would congregate to catch the bonefish. However, this is no longer the case, as populations of the fish—nicknamed “grey ghosts”—have fallen by more than 50 percent over four decades.

In an article published in The Guardian, according to Dr Jennifer Rehage, a fish ecologist and associate professor at Florida International University (FIU), many anglers had said they could not find bonefish in the seagrass flats anymore.