Wildlife

 Freshwater Turtle Doomed to Extinction

The largest freshwater turtle species is doomed to extinction after the last female washes up dead. The known population of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is now just two males. Experts said that if the female had survived, she could have “laid a hundred eggs or more a year.”

Twilight Zone Fish Washes Up on Oregon Coast

Oregon State Parks said several lancetfish have washed up on beaches in recent weeks in a highly unusual spate of strandings. Bizarre, rarely seen cannibalistic fish with giant eyes and dagger-like fangs have been washing up along the Oregon coast, leaving experts stumped. Longnose lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) normally live in tropical and subtropical waters. While they can be found in shallow waters, their preferred habitat is the twilight zone — around 650 to 3,300 feet (200 to 1,000 meters) beneath the ocean surface. One of the lancetfish recently found in Oregon was still alive when it washed up and was helped back into the ocean and it was able to swim off, Oregon State Parks wrote.

Lancetfish are extremely strange creatures(opens in new tab). They are one of the largest deep-sea fish, growing up to 7 feet (2 m) long, and they have a sail-like fin that extends across almost the entire body. They are hermaphrodites (having both male and female sex organs), they have gelatinous muscles and their bodies are covered in pores. They are also notorious cannibals(opens in new tab), as evidenced by small lancetfish often cropping up in the stomachs of larger ones.