It's Lions Bay for MLSS-BC this time

Marine Life Sanctuaries Society's (MLSS) first Beach Interpretation Program for 2013 was at Kelvin Grove, Lions Bay last April 7, 2013. Beach Interpretation Program is an MLSS activity that engages local communities to be aware of their local marine environments.

Dr. Deng Palomares and Dr. Nicolas Bailly joined this activity. According to Dr. Bailly, it was an informative event for locals on different organisms that are found just right under where they live. He also added that it was not destructive because all organisms taken from the bay was returned to approximately where they were collected.

Beach Interpretation Program is an annual event of MLSS.

FishBase to be featured at Science World's Meet a Community Scientist Event on 11-12 May

Dr. Deng Palomares
SeaLifeBase Project Coordinator

Science World in Vancouver, Canada is guesting scientists and researchers to talk to public audiences about science through the Community Scientist Initiative (CSI). 

SeaLifeBase Project Coordinator Dr. Deng Palomares will be one of these volunteer community scientists and she will be talking about fishes and FishBase. So if you're around the area, join her in the 4-hour event of interactive discussions on May 11-12.

The “white one”: some facts about beluga whales

The beluga whale is known in science as Delphinapterus leucas, meaning the “white one”, alluding to its body color. It is a POLAR species, and calls the ARCTIC Ocean home. It is found in shallow coastal waters, but migrate to deep, offshore waters when the ice freezes over during the winter (Jefferson et al., 1993). It also enters estuaries and rivers during spring and summer to feed and take care of its calf. It feeds on various species of fish like cod and salmon, a wide variety of mollusks and benthic invertebrates like shrimps, crabs and octopuses (Kastelein et al., 1994). As a social animal it is extremely vocal, producing whistles, chirps, clicks and squeals, which gave it the title of “sea canary”, because it has the best singing voice in the whale world (Friedman, 2006). Belugas form pods consisting either of only males, or of only females and their young (IUCN, 2009).

Like most whale species, the beluga is “Near threatened” (IUCN Red List, 2008). The following may explain why this is so: