Posted on 02/18/2008 8:59:01 PM PST by george76
The creatures living in Antarctic oceans are accustomed to being cold. But even they barely survived the extra-frigid temperatures of the last ice age...
At the peak of the last ice age, around 18,000 years ago, seals, birds and other polar animals would have had to eke out an existence around a few clearings — called polynyas — in the sea ice... The small openings would have served as year-round oases for algae to grow and form the basis of a food chain supporting fish, birds, seals and whales.
At that time, the permanent sea ice that rings Antarctica would have reached much farther north than it does today — extending up to almost 45 degrees south latitude in the winter. Things were so cold that even some species of penguin had to move as far north as Argentina...
some Antarctic creatures have extreme physiological adaptations to help them weather the cold — some fish, for example, have natural antifreeze flowing in their blood.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
polynyas
Yup, they are starting to realize that the Earth is cooling....
There’s a great passage in Blind Man’s Bluff about Navy Divers tapping a Soviet undersea communications cable 400’ below the surface of the sea of Okhotsk and bringing huge crabs back into the sub for the crew to eat.
We must warm the globe. If another ice age were to hit, only Ted Kennedy might survive with his layer of blubber and unnatural antifreeze flowing in his blood.
"This is the last stand for pristine marine communities," says Richard Aronson, a marine ecologist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Sharks could also soon be on the scene, says Cheryl Wilga, a biologist at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. Currently, Antarctic oceans are so cold that the metabolism of sharks simply can't deal with the physiological demands. But if the oceans warm by another couple of degrees, she says, sharks would be able to move even farther south, into the waters ringing Antarctica.
"polynyas" very nice word
Not only do fish have antifreeze, they also have a somewhat miraculous blood system of arteries/veins.
Even though they are cold blooded per se, they do generate small amounts of internal heat. And the structure of the veins/arteries act as a form of a living heat exchange system, which keeps that minute amount of heat concentrated in their core, where it is least likely to escape.
Gorynyas is open water surrounding sea ice! We made a discovery!!
8-)
Am I imagining things or did someone just inadvertently admit the some animals would actually benefit from global warming?
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks george76. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
I was unaware that the ranges of animals were absolutely fixed, just like in a zoo. What you can learn on this board, whooey!
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · | ||
I am confused, a recent article on overfishing and the evil of shark fin soup said that there were now 95% less sharks and that they are in immediate danger of extinction???
Not too surprising that. In their frenzy to blame everything on Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ the Hot Air Cult branch of the environmentalist wackos frequently make dichotomous claims on events, as can be seen at Warmlist.
Some biologist, this Cheryl. Sharks can't live in the Antarctic?
Took me about 10 seconds on Google to find this:
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215022/sharks.htm
Antarctica: Sharks
There are not a lot of sharks in Antarctica. The only shark that has really been studied a lot is the salmon shark.
The salmon shark has many rows of teeth and a huge jaw. The salmon shark can be brown and white or it can be brownish gray. The salmon shark can grow longer than eleven feet.
Most of the time it stays up towards the top of the water. This amazing shark can swim in bodies of water as low as three feet. At times, the shark stays that shallow because of the types of food it eats. They eat almost anything, including seal, fish, penguins, and other sharks. They even eat sting rays, -- tails and all.
The shark has a dorsal fin on the top of his body. He also has pectoral fins at its side, but it does not use them for steering. Its tail fin, which is the fin that steers his body, sways back and forth.
The salmon shark migrates to the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean but usually stays on the west and north side of Anarctica.
Salmon Sharks (A whole page of pictures)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.