Oregon Shark Cam; Also Wobbegong Shark Tanks

Shark Cam brings Coast Aquarium to life on the Web

From www.kgw.com/news-local/stories

By FRANK MUNGEAM, Kgw.com Staff

The KGW "Shark Cam" is a partnership with the Oregon Coast Aquarium, providing a fish-eye view into the Aquarium's "Passages of the Deep" exhibit.

Web visitors to KGW.com can now enjoy the same experience as Visitors to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, who are immersed in Keiko’s former home through acrylic tunnels surrounded by several feet of sea water. "Passages of the Deep" gives visitors an experience almost like walking into the open ocean.

Visitors get to come face to face with large sharks, rockfish and bat rays swimming above and below. Waves surging against the tunnel give visitors the impression they are beneath the ocean. And the Oregon shipwreck resting on the bottom increases the feeling of being early undersea explorers.

Now viewers of the KGW "Shark Cam" can enjoy that same experience: an up-close view of sharks, rockfish and bat rays swimming across the desktop of their computer!

Comment
This is a really cool place to visit, and now you can visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium from your home via the Shark Cam!!

For Home Shark Tanks

Here are a few points from my Experience:
*Make sure your aquarium is large enough for the shark to easily swim around, often this means a saltwater aquarium in excess of 200 gallons
*Consider temperature; a popular shark sold for the aquarium hobby, the Leopard Shark, is a cool water fish (under 70F) and this along with the fact these will eventually outgrow most aquariums.
*Consider Feeding Requirements; large meaty foods like small pieces of fish, squid, shrimp, and live goldfish (although I have found disabling the goldfish with a cut just behind the head will both attract the shark and allow the shark which has trouble tracking scent trails in a boxed in aquarium is strongly suggested)
*Consider the Tasselled wobbegong (48 inch max) or Northern wobbegong (30 inch max), as these sharks do not obtain the larger sizes of many sharks sold for aquarium keeping PLUS these sharks prefer the warmer waters of the average home or office aquarium (over 75F)



View Shark Cam:
Shark Cam

Earthquakes off the Oregon Coast

Possible Volcanic Earthquakes off the Oregon Coast, the week of April 12, 2008

From this article:
Unusual earthquakes measured off Oregon coast
By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press Writer.

I know this is not really an Aquarium or Pond related story, however since it involves the local ocean waters of Oregon and I find this interesting, I thought I would post this.

“GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption — except there are no volcanoes in the area.

Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported.

On the hydrophones, the quakes sound like low thunder and are unlike anything scientists have heard in 17 years of listening, Dziak said. Some of the quakes have also been detected by earthquake instruments on land.

The hydrophones are left over from a network the Navy used to listen for submarines during the Cold War. They routinely detect passing ships, earthquakes on the ocean bottom and whales calling to one another.

Scientists hope to send out an OSU research ship to take water samples, looking for evidence that sediment has been stirred up and chemicals that would indicate magma is moving up through the Juan de Fuca Plate, Dziak said.

The quakes have not followed the typical pattern of a major shock followed by a series of diminishing aftershocks, and few have been strong enough to be felt on shore.

The Earth's crust is made up of plates that rest on molten rock, which are rubbing together. When the molten rock, or magma, erupts through the crust, it creates volcanoes.

That can happen in the middle of a plate. When the plates lurch against each other, they create earthquakes along the edges.

In this case, the Juan de Fuca Plate is a small piece of crust being crushed between the Pacific Plate and North America, Dziak said.”

Fish Virus of Oregon Coast

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia ; Deadly fish virus lurks off Oregon Coast

Updated 6/28/09

Initial Article From : Henry Miller; Statesman Journal (edited)
Expanded

“Officials in the Pacific Northwest are worried that a fish virus that causes fish kills in the Great Lakes could get here.
In a sense, it's already here and has been for quite a while. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, better known as VHS, has been found in ocean fish (mostly salmonids) from Coos Bay north to the Gulf of Alaska.

The seagoing strain of the virus, which does not affect humans, has devastated herring schools in Puget Sound near Seattle and Prince William Sound. And an apparently new mutated freshwater strain has done the same in the Great Lakes, killing fish from minnows to muskies.
"What seems to be the case is these marine strains don't seem to come ashore very readily. And they've had plenty of opportunity with migrating salmon," said Jim Winton, the chief of the Fish Health Section of the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle."We occasionally find the marine strain of VHS in a spawning salmon, mostly coho," he added. "But it doesn't seem to have spread to freshwater species."
The species that VHS infects that are shared by the Great Lakes and the Pacific Northwest include yellow perch, small mouth bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie, lake trout, steelhead and Chinook salmon.

It takes a week to 15 days of incubation in infected fish. Symptoms can range from no outward appearance to pale gills, bulging eyes, bleeding around the eyes, fins and sides of the head and behavioral changes such as swimming in a spiral.
Internally, the liver, spleen and intestines can be clotted with bleeding sores, the signs of which can include a bloated-looking, fluid-filled abdomen. It kills in days. And fish that survive become viral carriers for the rest of their lives. Stress is one factor that can trigger outbreaks, which is why hatchery, net-pen and fish-transport crowding can accelerate the spread.

Identification;

Fish (most commonly salmonids such as Salmon & Trout) that become infected will often be anorexic and show hemorrhaging of their internal organs, skin, and muscle; however they may be no external symptoms, while other fish show signs of infection that include bulging eyes, bloated abdomens, bruised-looking reddish tints to the eyes, skin, gills and fins. External signs may include dark coloration, “pop eye” (exophthalmia), pale or red-dotted gills, sunken eyes, and bleeding around the eye sockets and at base of fins

While still alive, fish with Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) may appear listless or limp, hang just beneath the surface, or swim very abnormally, such as constant flashing circling due to the growth or turning movement (tropism) of the virus in the brain.

COMMENT

Septicemia is a symptom of different pathogens with basically the same result: a poisoning of the blood. It is common in aquariums where the usual cause is the very common anaerobic gram negative bacteria, Aeromonas. In aquariums and pond Septicemia is more common when conditions are poor with overabundance of decomposition and decay along with poor circulation, low oxygen levels and low GH/electrolyte levels

Reference:
* Viral hemorrhagic septicemia; pdf

Other Resources:
*Freshwater Aquarium Care, Information
*Aquarium Medications; How they Work