July 15, 2010

TOP STORIES

Mysterious Illness Killing Pufferfish

A wildlife disease specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey said his office has received at least 100 reports of dead puffer fish from across the state in the last six months.

Dying puffer fish were discovered in Kona back in February. Reports of dead puffers were coming from Maui in May. Recently, the puffer fish have been washing ashore in Kaneohe Bay and Kailua beach here on Oahu.

The sick and dying puffer fish have been found with lesions on the skin, but it's what they're finding on the inside that has researchers alarmed.

KITV Honolulu - www.kitv.com
10 July 2010
Location: Hawaii, USA - Map It



Dead carp washing up at Spokane-area lake

At Long Lake, hundreds of dead carp are washing up on beaches, collecting under docks and creating a stink for residents living along the 24-mile reservoir.

“If you’re water-skiing on the lake, you see them constantly,” said Jeff Braviroff, a Suncrest resident who started noticing the dead fish about a week ago. “There’s so many of them. … It’s going to be nasty when they really start to decay.”

The die-off puzzles officials at Avista Corp., who wonder if a virus is to blame. Carp is the primary fish species that appears to be affected, said Hugh Imhof, a spokesman for Avista, the owner of Long Lake Dam, which creates the reservoir on the Spokane River.

The Spokesman-Review - www.spokesman.com
13 July 2010
B Kramer
Photo courtesy of The Spokesman-Review
Location: Long Lake, Washington, USA - Map It



North Coventry pond littered with dead fish

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of dead fish floating in the pond and lying on its grassy banks caught the eyes and noses of many in Kenilworth Park by surprise.

. . . Among the dead fish were bluegills and carp, with at least two of the carp several feet in length.

Phillips, who is studying environmental sciences, said she thought the problem may have been a lack of oxygen in the water caused by the recent heatwave.

The Mercury - www.pottstownmercury.com
14 July 2010
B Kessler
Location: Kenilworth Park, Pennsylvania, USA - Map It

>>> FULL ARTICLE [includes video]


The Mississippi not a barrier to deer disease

A recently completed genetic study of deer in Wisconsin and Iowa indicates that the Mississippi River does not present much of a barrier to the spread of deadly chronic wasting disease.

"There might as well not be a river there" for all the good it does in separating Wisconsin deer, which are infected with chronic wasting disease, and Iowa deer, which have yet to test positive for the fatal neurological ailment, said Krista Lang, an Iowa State University graduate student who wrote her master's thesis on the two-year research project.

"It doesn't look like the Mississippi River has much effect in separating the deer on either side," said Julie Blanchong, an ISU wildlife ecologist who collaborated with Lang on the project.

Chicago Tribune - www.chicagotribune.com [Source: Associated Press]
13 July 2010
O Love/The Gazette



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