Fish and Amphibians

After decades of false starts, the New Bedford Armory is on the verge of finally being sold – and you won't believe the price. On Thursday night, the New Bedford City Council took up an agenda item submitted by Mayor Jon Mitchell's administration to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to purchase the New Bedford Armory, located at 989 Pleasant Street. "This is a no-brainer, in my opinion, for the City of New Bedford to undertake this project," City Council President Ian Abreu said in his weekly appearance on WBSM. Especially when you consider the asking price. "After months-long negotiations between the solicitors and the state, we've come to an agreement to purchase, if the city council were to agree to purchase the armory from the state, for the whopping cost of 10 American dollars," Abreu said. In previous years, the Commonwealth had attempted to sell or auction off the armory to potential developers, but th...

I remember it like it was yesterday — the start of the 2020 crawfish season, weeks before we learned a pandemic would hit our nation. I was feasting on a platter of boiled crawfish at a nearby eatery's communal table. I asked two diners next to me if they were enjoying their crawfish and one replied, "These are just OKAY, but nothing compared to what we had at Chris's Specialty Foods in Frisco a few weeks ago." At that moment, my quest for authentic Cajun cuisine in North Texas would be forever changed. Days later, I headed north to Frisco to check out this grab-and-go Cajun specialty-foods shop. Tucked in a strip shopping center just off the service road, Chris's Specialty Foods might make you feel like you've traveled across state lines to a Louisiana neighborhood meat market. It's a dream come true for Dallas-area Bayou-state transplants or folks like me, who simply love authentic Louisiana cuisine. Like Saturday Night Live 's "Stefon" cha...

Norbert is a 1 1/2 year old adult male bearded dragon. He enjoys car rides, basking in the sun, and fluffy blankets. His favorite foods are dubia roaches, mustard greens, hornworms, and blackberries. He would much rather hang out with his human mom than be in his terrarium.

General contractor Phil Marrotte took a selfie with a baby bear his crew found in a disturbed bear den Monday afternoon while installing a septic system in a Peterborough yard. Provided by Phil Marrotte ...

Handling Shellfish Keep shellfish chilled after harvesting or purchase. If the temperature of shellfish is allowed to rise, bacteria will grow and the shellfish will become unsafe to eat. Storing Shellfish Fresh Shellfish in the Shell All fresh shellfish should be stored in an open container in the refrigerator. Place a damp towel on top to maintain humidity. Never store shellfish in water. They will die and may spoil. Shellfish that are open and don't close when tapped are dead. Throw them out. Storage times for shellfish vary: Shellfish that close their shells completely can be stored for up to seven days. This includes oysters, littlenecks, butter clams, and cockles. Exception: Mussels can be stored for three to four days. Shellfish that cannot completely close their shells can be stored for three to four days. This includes horse clams, softshell clams, geoducks, and razor clams. Shucked Shellfish Shellfish removed from their shells should keep in a refriger...

Wildlife extinction is a global crisis. Poaching often makes the headlines, but habitat loss and environmental pollution are also major killers. Climate change will cause one in six of the planet's species to be lost forever if we fail to take action on the crisis, according to a study in 2015. There are currently 17 animals on the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) critically endangered list, including three species of rhino, six primates, and two big cats. Five of the species on the list have approximately 100 animals or fewer left on the planet, including the Saola, of which there are only around 20 still roaming the mountains of the Vietnam-Laos border. On the other side of the globe, the Vaquita is also on the verge of extinction – a porpoise found only in the northern Gulf of California with numbers now as low as 10. While all of the species on the WWF's critically endangered list are at risk, some of them are on their way to becoming completely extinct. Ethical travel comp...

Posted in Southern California Dining February 26, 2022 by Emerson Living in Southern California comes with many perks. Being able to enjoy the freshest seafood possible is definitely one of them! There's no shortage of seafood restaurants in SoCal that serve up fish that could've been swimming in the ocean just hours before hitting your plate, but there's one beloved spot that's been serving up the freshest seafood for decades and counting. Andria's Seafood Restaurant & Market is a go-to spot for seafood lovers in Ventura. Boasting the tastiest seafood and a lovely waterfront setting, it simply doesn't get fresher than this. During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date. You've got a lot of opti...

The tiny animal is thought to have hitched a ride on a bunch of bananas from its home in the Ivory Coast in West Africa. Its journey took it all the way to Merseyside, where it was found by teachers at Heswall Primary School as they were making healthy snacks for the children. Staff at the school said they were stunned to find the "tiny green stowaway" in a box of fruit. The frog was no bigger than the size of a fingernail. They quickly scooped the amphibian up and placed it in a damp container, before phoning the RSPCA. The school broke the big news on Twitter, saying: "There was a banana drama at Heswall Primary today! A tiny green stowaway from the Ivory Coast gave us a real shock when we opened the class bananas this morning!" The miniature creature was lucky in where his adventure had taken him, as Heswell Primary School is one of 12 Eco-Ambassador Schools nationwide. He was well looked after until animal inspector for the RSPCA Anthony Joynes arrived. He said ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Banned corn snakes keep popping up around Australia    Blue Mountains Gazette

Tabor City, N.C. (WMBF) - We explored across the border in Tabor City, N.C. The city was known as the "Yam Capital of the World." We didn't taste any yams, but we did have some fabulous homecooked meals and visited an awesome camp-style resort filled with fun activities and Yogi Bear. Southern charm and hospitality can be used to describe Tabor City and you can find both at a crowded Dale's Seafood. "We never advertise. All we do is word of mouth," owner Rusty Tyson said. The lunch rush shows it's working for Tyson, who once worked at the restaurant as a cook and now owns the place with his family. Tyson not only kept the original owner's name, but has his picture hanging in the restaurant. "We got broils, we specialize in seafood, homecooked meals at lunchtime every day," Tyson said. His menu includes their homemade hushpuppies, beef tips and a special pot roast that Tyson said his 82-year-old mother made. Tyson also showed where the magic...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Tiny gecko survives 4,800-mile trip from China to UK among musical instruments    The Independent

You may have heard of a "turducken" at Thanksgiving: a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey. Well, you could call this a "fishducken". A blue catfish was caught by researchers at Salisbury University, with the intent to analyze the contents of its stomach. What they found inside surprised them: the remains of an entire wood duck. Cheryl Costello explains, the discovery sheds light on just what these invasive fish are willing to eat. Watch below: [embedded content]

The New Yorker Documentary Protecting Louisiana's Coastline with Oyster Shells in "What Remains" "It's kind of a tragic story of the herculean effort that's required just to build 1.3 miles of coastline," Hanninen said, of "What Remains." As early as the nineteen-thirties, oystermen in southern Louisiana began to notice the shoreline that they worked was creeping inland. In the years since, with sea levels rising and erosion accelerating, more and more coastal land has been overtaken by water. To date, the state's wetlands have shrunk by about two thousand square miles—an area the size of Delaware. Those wetlands—marshes, swamps—are more than rich ecosystems. They also mitigate the effects of storms, soaking up stormwater and serving as a natural barrier between hurricanes and populated lands. "The effects of the land loss are all around us," the New Orleans-based filmmaker Paavo Hanninen told me recently. "When the hurrica...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Son of 'Lizard Lick Towing' star fatally shot in North Carolina    WAVY.com

Texas officials have confiscated a large alligator-related reptile found in a home. The crocodilian, believed to be a Caiman, was approximately three feet in length.  Rusk County Sheriff's Office On January 21, the Rusk County Sheriff's Office and Texas Game Wardens seized drugs and a large alligator-related reptile from an East Texas home. The crocodilian, believed to be a caiman, was approximately 3 feet in length, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office.  Along with the reptile, officials found what they believed to be marijuana, a quarter pound of magic mushrooms, suspected THC edibles, angel dust (PCP), and 76 THC vape cartridges (Delta 9). They also said they seized guns and U.S. currency. Officials got a search warrant of the house after receiving a Crime Stoppers Tip.  J...

Minecraft 's menacing and intimidating final boss, the Ender Dragon, has been replaced with a cute little bearded dragon by an imaginative player. This idea is somewhat similar to what another Minecraft creator has done previously by replacing the game's axolotl with an equally adorable platypus. A skillful player decided to give the game's currently cutest mobs a complete rework by replacing Minecraft axolotls with platypuses. The task, however, was not as easy as it sounds since the two creatures are quite different in how they look. The creator had to redesign the axolotl's basic model and texture to correctly display the platypus' famous beak and beaver-style tail. To everyone's enjoyment, the final result was worth all the effort. A similar outcome has been achieved by another Minecraft fan who took a completely different approach in picking a mob for a redesign. Related: Minecraft Creator Notch Says It's A Dead Game In a similar feat, Min...

An Indigenous community in southwest Colombia established a protected reserve in the face of illegal logging, mining and coca cultivation being carried out by criminal groups. The Eperãra Siapidaarã peoples are especially interested in protecting the extremely poisonous golden dart frog, which they historically used in their darts while hunting. Despite establishing the reserve, the community has more work to do to fend off violent non-state armed groups. One of the most poisonous animals on earth, the golden dart frog carries enough toxins in its body to kill 10 people. If it enters the blood stream, the toxin paralyzes the nervous system and, in only a few minutes, stops the heart from beating. The golden dart frog ( Phyllobates terribilis ) is found only in southwest Colombia, where mountains and rainforest meet the mangroves of the Pacific coast. For centuries, the Indigenous communities there harvested the toxin for their hunting darts. But in recent years, as criminal activity...

The coldest air mass in several years is predicted to spread over Florida this weekend, with temperatures likely to dip into the 30s across much of the state. The cold will be drawn into the Sunshine State on the backside of the nor'easter plastering coastal areas in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Humans will shiver. Crops could frost. Iguanas may drop from trees. ″It is likely that these cold temperatures will stun and immobilize iguanas, causing them to lose their grip while sleeping from their usually safe perches in trees," wrote James Stroud, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, in an email. The coldblooded animals can typically withstand temperatures down to 45 degrees. At lower temperatures, their bodies go dormant, although critical life functions continue operating. Florida's cold snap in January 2020 stunned many iguanas in South Florida. This weekend, the incoming cold front is forecast to bring temperatures as low as — or lower than...