Fish and Amphibians

It took three biologists to haul a 240-pound (109 kilograms) fish out of the Detroit River in Michigan last month. The nearly 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) " monster' sturgeon ," caught and released by the Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, could be more than 100 years old. It's a mightily impressive catch for sure, but is it the biggest freshwater fish in the world?  The Detroit River fish is a lake sturgeon ( Acipenser fulvescens ), and while it is believed to be one of the largest ever caught in the U.S., there are much bigger fish swimming in rivers around the world. According to the U.S. Geological Survey , the planet's largest freshwater fish is the beluga sturgeon ( Huso huso ), living between Europe and Asia in the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, and the rivers feeding them. Beluga sturgeon can reach a maximum length of more than 26 feet (8 m), or about four times as long as a king-size mattress, and weigh up to 2.2 tons (2,000 kg, ...

Saigon House, the wildly popular Viet-Cajun crawfish restaurant that helped launch chef Tony Nguyen's career, will reopen on FM 1960 sometime next spring. Nguyen confirmed the restaurant's reopening to Eater, saying he hopes to be ready "before crawfish season," which typically runs from January to July in Texas. Nguyen has already filed alcohol permits for the restaurant, at 3645 Cypress Creek Parkway, and created a nascent Facebook page for the spot. Saigon House was first founded in Midtown, at 3101 Main Street in 2015. Nguyen took the reins in 2017 shortly after Hurricane Harvey, and the restaurant quickly gained accolades for his "H-Town Bang crawfish" — boiled mudbugs tossed in spicy, messy garlic butter-cilantro sauce. Saigon's House's other dishes included "Thai Surprise" crawfish made with chiles, basil, and lemongrass, Texas brisket pho, gumbo, chicken wings, and more. In 2019, the restaurant began a period of transition. Fi...

Florida has an invasive reptile problem, and it's not just the Burmese python. Though it doesn't have its own Super Bowl or a Discovery Channel TV show dedicated to its hunters, the Argentine black and white tegu — a lizard that can grow to be the size of a large dog — is a major threat to Florida's ecosystem, and scientists say the threat is only getting worse. Tegus were introduced to Florida and Miami-Dade County from their native South America via the exotic pet trade. The reptiles actually make good pets, according to Melissa Miller, invasive species research coordinator at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). Tegus are intelligent and docile when raised from hatchlings, but the problem arises when they escape or get let out by their owners when they grow to their full size of four feet long. Once in the wild, they wreak havoc. "They're omnivores, so they eat everything," Miller tells New Times. ...

(Photo: Facebook) Detroit chef Nick Wilson has parked his award-winning food truck for the winter and is preparing carryout meals at a week-old shop in Dearborn. The signature dish, served hot or cold, is $35. The Lobster Pitstop -- opened with his aunt, Cass Tech alumna Kathryn Wilsonm -- has hot and cold lobster rolls, shrimp, fried fish, mac 'n cheese and seafood pasta. The New England-style menu also includes lobster bisque, crab-and-shrimp grilled cheese, a lobster quesadilla, lobster-beef burgers and even whole lobsters flown in daily from Maine. Fried fish tacos for $2 each are added each Tuesday. The family startup, open five days a week for lunch and dinner, is at a strip mall opposite the iconic Ford-Wyoming Drive-in theater. "I could not keep up with demand on the food truck," the chef-entrepreneur tells the Detroit Free Press, "and that made me decide to open a brick-and-mortar." The 31-year-old grew up in the S...

ANNAPOLIS, MD — This weekend's flood was the fourth-worst in Annapolis' recorded history, preliminary data from the National Weather Service suggest. The tide rolled in Thursday morning. It peaked at 4.9 feet above normal Friday around 11:24 p.m. The water then receded Sunday afternoon and evening. The highest tide ever was 7.16 feet. That came during Tropical Storm Isabel on Sept. 19, 2003. The Chesapeake Hurricane brought the second-worst flood of 6.17 feet on Aug. 23, 1933. Hurricane Connie's 4.98 feet of inundation on Aug. 13, 1955 were the third-most in city history. Low pressure and persistent onshore winds resulted in a historic coastal flood event along portions of the Chesapeake Bay and tidal Potomac River. Coastal flooding is expected to continue through early Sunday. To put this event into historical context: https://t.co/hxLTokshMd pic.twitter.com/HPLc9aMosE — NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) October 30, 2021 Friday's 1.24 inches of rain added to...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Top 10 places to get oysters in Myrtle Beach    WBTW

size? and adidas Originals have continued their long-running exclusives series with the release of a famous sneaker from cinema history. Forming part of size?'s "The Lost Ones" releases, the new sneaker is a tribute to the footwear worn in Wes Anderson's 2004 film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and sees the Trimm Star silhouette transformed into an almost like-for-like reproduction. The adidas footwear worn in the film was originally limited to just 20 pairs, making it an instant collector's item. For this reproduction, the Trimm Star sports a white base, complementing the blue detailing on the heel and Three Stripe branding, which alternate between "Oceanic Blue" and "Sky Blue." Contrasted against this design are bright yellow laces, while the shoe also sports suede toe bumpers and gum soles. This is the first time that the sneaker has been reconstructed since 2017's Rom Zissou, which was unveiled for the We Love Green festival in...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Pet reptiles & amphibians: Instant Wow factor - The Resident Community News Group, Inc. | The Resident Community News Group, Inc.    The Resident Community News

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Developer planned to build on 350 acres north of Clovis. A threatened salamander changed that    Fresno Bee

C aecilians have arrived in Miami. Florida Fish and Wildlife biologists captured one of the obscure legless amphibians in the Tamiami Canal, the first example of an introduced caecilian in the U.S. Florida Museum of Natural History scientists used DNA testing to identify the specimen as the Rio Cauca caecilian, Typhlonectes natans , a native of Colombia and Venezuela. While caecilians – pronounced like "Sicilians" – hunt and scavenge various kinds of small animals, museum experts say it's too early to predict their potential impact on the local ecosystem. "Very little is known about these animals in the wild, but there's nothing particularly dangerous about them, and they don't appear to be serious predators," said Coleman Sheehy, Florida Museum's herpetology collection manager. "They'll probably eat small animals and get eaten by larger ones. This could be just another non-native species in the South Florida mix." Sheeh...

For nearly 90 years, Sally's Fish Market on South Williams Street in Newburgh has been one of the county's most trusted sources of fresh seafood.  It begun in 1932 when current owner Sal Aulogia's grandfather, Salvatore, emigrated from Italy to Newburgh and began peddling fish. He opened up the shop, and it became a family affair.  "Like everybody else who came over (to America), he worked his tail off," Aulogia said of his late grandfather. "He worked hard to establish a fantastic business."  Now, Aulogia and his family are saying goodbye to the business after 89 years; Aulogia is retiring and they are selling the building.   He grew up around the family business in Newburgh, with his grandfather, father (also named Salvatore) and his uncle Dominic all part of the shop over the years. When he was just five years old, Aulogia began his stint at Sally's, putting boxes tog...

SALT LAKE CITY — There has been uptick in illegal behavior regarding tortoise relocation and ownership, and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) conservation officers are not pleased.  The DWR reiterated on Thursday that it is illegal to collect or remove desert tortoises from the wild in Utah. The Mojave desert tortoise has been recognized as threatened to be endangered for over 30 years. They were officially declared threatened in the Endangered Species Act of 1990. Therefore, Desert tortoises are a protected group of reptiles under federal and state laws.  The harm of desert tortoise removal cannot be undone DWR Wildlife Biologist Anne McLuckie explained the dangers of removing a desert tortoise from their homes located north and west of the Colorado River, and spanning three states; Nevada, California, and Utah.  Removing desert tortoises from the wild reduces the population's "ability to reproduce and sustain themselves on the lan...

A white squirrel dines on birdseed at the Wulff residence in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood. (Amanda Wulff) Nestled in the far southwest corner of Chicago are some new celebrities — rare white squirrels. They have popped up in the "scurry," the apt name for a group of squirrels, of eastern gray squirrels that call home Chicago's Beverly Park area around 103rd Street and Maplewood Avenue. Eleanore Sasewich, formerly of Beverly but now living in Evergreen Park, is one of the people who has captured the white squirrels in photographs. "I frequent Beverly Park with my 8-year-old son. I see them in yards surrounding the park and I have seen them go in and out of nests in the trees in the park," Sasewich said. Evergreen Park resident Eleanore Sasewich snapped this photo of a white squirrel she spotted scurrying down as tree in Chicago's Beverly Park neighborhood. (Eleanore Sasewich) Now a white squirrel even appears on...

One in eight birds, one in four mammals, and one third of amphibians are at risk of extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are 16,306 endangered species — including animals and plants. The IUCN's Red List is the premier source for the state of the world's biodiversity. Here are five animals that are currently endangered. Leatherback Turtle (Credit: ACEgan/Shutterstock) The largest turtles on Earth , leatherback turtles can reach 2,200 pounds. The only turtle without a hard shell, their name comes from the appearance of their leathery-looking skin. Incredibly, they've changed very little during the millions of years of their existence. These sea turtles can swim an impressive 10,000 miles each year to get to their nesting area. With notable diving skills, leatherbacks have been known to dive almost 4,000 feet, and can stay underwater for over an hour. They've become endangered due to a variety of issues , including...

Since playing the role of industrialist Herman Blume in Rushmore , Bill Murray has appeared in every single one of Wes Anderson's movies. Murray is as inextricably tied to Anderson's filmmaking as planimetric staging. Most recently, he played Arthur Howitzer, Jr., the curmudgeonly editor of the titular magazine in The French Dispatch . RELATED: 10 Roles Bill Murray Almost Played Murray's characters in Anderson's movies have ranged from headlining lead roles, like Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou , to bit parts, like the businessman in the opening scene of The Darjeeling Limited . ...