Recent work by Wagner and Opresko clears up the taxonomy for this coral genus, coming firmly down that these methuselah corals from Hawaii are a completely news species. Despite the misleading statements of some news pieces, the specimens were not recently collected nor recently discovered to be old.   Work back in 2009 by Rourke et al. confirmed these record holding lifespans using radiocarbon dating. The specimens were collected from 1971-2009 and have resided in the collections of scientists and museums. This does not detract from the recently published paper by Wagner and Opresko who clear up confusion because these specimens were previously misidentified or unidentified.

Because of this nobody also realized these corals are cooler than David Caruso.

Like other hexacorals, black corals have proteinaceous skeletons covered in tiny spines, polyps wit size non-retractable and non-branching tentacles, and being exclusively colonial. Another distinctive aspect is hexacorals possess six primary mesenteries, internal body walls that radially divide the polyps into compartments. Think of the dishes in Trivia Pursuit that hold the game wedges or rotelle pasta.Most black corals have six primary mesenteries and either no or four secondary mesenteries. But the species in the black coral family Leiopathidae are biologically blinged out with six primary and six secondary mesenteries. Just ignore the fact that the skeletal spines are poorly developed in the black corals. David Caruso? One mesentery and one spine.

The new species is christened Leiopathes annosa (annosa is Latin for long lived). I would have went with Leiopathes meliorcaruso. The defining characteristic compared to other Leipathes species is that the spines, diminutive though they are, are spherical and multi-lobed (see a in the photo above).  Multi-lobed. Yeahhhhh! The closest species in looks to L. annosa is L. bullosa. The spines are not multi-lobed in L. bullosa. L. annosa also has thicker and longer branches along with more and bigger polyps. Yeahhhhh!

So Leiopathes annosa is older and most definitely more awesome than a lot of other corals. And much better than David Caruso.

The post The Deep-Sea Coral That Is Older and More Awesome Than David Caruso first appeared on Deep Sea News.

“On Jan. 6, about about 50 genuine tortoise shell items were listed for sale through ebay, said Gary Appelson, advocacy coordinator for the nonprofit Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC). The illegal products included intricately designed hair ornaments and glasses cases. The bidding on an unworked “scute” or piece of hawksbill shell was at $480, with nearly 30 bids registered. The seller, listed only as “isabeII4,” said it was “perfectly legal” to sell the piece because it had been given as a gift many years ago, implying that it was originally purchased before the Endangered Species Act was passed. IsabeII4 suggested that the piece, when worked, would make several sets of wrist cuffs or hair combs.”

In 2007 an International Fund for Animal Welfare probe also found endangered species or products from them being traded illegally on eBay.

“An IFAW report in 2007 revealed that at least 90% of all investigated ivory listings on eBay were legally suspect. Furthermore, [a] released 2008 IFAW investigation revealed that ivory traded on eBay significantly increased in the United States since the 2007 report.”

That 2008 report found that two-thirds of the online trade in endangered animals, especially ivory from elephants, occurred on eBay.

eBay has enacted policies but many have found these polices to be inadequate and nearly impossible to enforce.  In 2006, eBay banned the sale of smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, but inly in response to pressure from the Ocean Conservancy.

“A 2004 study of eBay sales of sawfish snouts found about 20 transactions a month. Prices averaged $119 a snout but went as high as $1,242.”

But issues with endangered and vulnerable species for sale at eBay persist.  In 2010, a couple who used eBay to sell endangered animals they had taxidermied.

Earlier this year Alexis Rudd, a graduate student in the Department of Biology at the University of Hawai’I, posted to Twitter (@SoundingTheSea) fidning endangered Hawaiian land snails on Ebay and Etsy.

All this has come to our attention at DSN when the Miami NewTimes published the story “Coral Reefs Are Being Decimated, All for a Few Gaudy Trinkets”

“Kate Lunz didn’t know what to expect as she piloted her white Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission truck to the Port of Tampa in July 2010. The day before, customs authorities had called the 32-year-old, PhD-toting marine biologist and asked her to inspect the contents of two 40-foot shipping containers that had been sent from the Solomon Islands and pulled for investigation… The sight devastated Lunz. The rubble was actually a giant batch of stony coral — an order scientifically known as Scleractinia — an exceptionally fragile animal that’s vital to the health of the world’s oceans. Thousands of pieces had been plundered from the South Pacific and shipped halfway around the world to be cleaned, turned into tourist trinkets, and sold down the coast of Florida at a staggering markup.”

So the question we at DSN asked is where all this coral might have ended up if not confiscated.  A substantial number were likely to end up on eBay. Keep in mind that the Fiji is the #1 exporter of coral for the curio (decorative) trade and live rock (aquarium) trade.  The US is the #1 importer of Fiji coral.

Ebay’s policies explicitly forbid sales of endangered species or parts thereof and carries other specific prohibitions including walrus tusks and whale bones, including scrimshaw and any other item made of marine mammals, no matter when produced.  No seabirds or their feathers, eggs or nests. Nothing made of turtle shells. Nothing from polar bears. As well CITES permitting must be followed.

Blue, black, and organ pipe corals all occur in CITES II appendix.

Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled. It also includes so-called “look-alike species”, i.e. species of which the specimens in trade look like those of species listed for conservation reasons (see Article II, paragraph 2 of the Convention). International trade in specimens of Appendix-II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re-export certificate. No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES (although a permit is needed in some countries that have taken stricter measures than CITES requires). Permits or certificates should only be granted if the relevant authorities are satisfied that certain conditions are met, above all that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild. (See Article IV of the Convention).

To reiterate an exporting but not importing permit is required.  In just a quick search Al, aka para_sight here at DSN, found multiple examples

Blue coral (CITES II) permit needed for international shipping

listed with worldwide shipping

listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Black coral (CITES II) permit needed for international shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Listed with worldwide shipping

Organ pipe coral (CITES II) permit needed for international shipping

LOTS

We are not saying these are illegal activities but there is no proof by either the seller or eBay that permitting requirements have been met. Although, we at DSN are opposed to any selling or purchasing of corals as harvesting corals causes considerable habitat destruction and degradation of reefs.

In my own searching I found some suspect marine and freshwater mollusks.  Freshwater streams and lakes throughout the U.S. possess endemic clams.  Many of these because of their rarity and anthropogenic threats occur on CITES lists, including the most severe Appendix 1.  None of these protected freshwater clams occur on eBay.  However, these species are extremely difficult to tell apart even by experts.  How do we know if these species are actually the nonprotected species?  Likewise, several species of the Giant Clam, Tridacna, occur on the Appendix II.  Exporting and quotas from key countries are heavily regulated.  How do we know if the 166 specimens of Tridacna listed on eBay have met CITES requirements?  We don’t.

All this suggests that eBay has not went far enough to protect vulnerable and endangered species.  No evidence exists to instill any confidence in buyers that items on eBay can be legally sold.  Is eBay still a blackmarket for protected animals? I can’t tell but for now its best not to buy from eBay until I can be.

The post Finding Endangered Life on eBay first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The year is 9CE. Fourteen years later Pliny the Elder will be Pliny the Newly Born. Cai Lun will invent paper one hundred years later. In Northern Germany a storm unleashes on 30,000 Roman soldiers under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus. Varus’s most trusted advisor, Arminius, was the son of a Germanic war chief. At a very young age, Irmin (meaning “great” later Latinized to Arminius) was tributed by his father to Emperor Augustus. Maturing in Rome, Arminius received military training reaching the rank of Equestrian. He eventually followed Varsus to Germania providing tactical advice for the conquest*. Secretly, Arminius was uniting the Germanic chieftains to amass a force of 10,000. Arminius advised Varsus to progress the Roman Legions on a predetermined route. Here the Legions were ambushed and after 2-3 days 20,000 Roman bodies littered the Germanic country side. It is said that many years later Emperor Augustus, desperately needing the lost legions, went around the palace late at night muttering, “Varus, give me back my legions.” Of course, you don’t care about the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. You’re a coral larva and just settling into a nice spot in the Gulf of Mexico. You’ve no idea what awaits you 2,000 years later.

September 20, 2009 is like any other day. You awake**. You are an Anitpatharian, an elite member of 230 species of tree-like black corals. Like Arminius, you are proud of your heritage. And like Arminius, you have Latenized name, Leiopathes. You begin feeding on particles of food drifting by in the surrounding water column. You ponder the good and bad times. Just last year you were almost covered in oil and your food contaminated with Corexit and hydrocarbons. But you, proud Leiopathes, survived all that. All of sudden bright lights are upon you. You are snatched by a large robotic arm and shoved in box.

Like Arminius, you travel far from your home. You start at 1000 feet deep on the ocean floor just a few kilometers off Louisiana traveling to labs in California, Texas, North Carolina, and Florida. This is the most you have traveled since a young larva. But, you now live a new life as Sample GOM-JSL09-3728-BC1 and hold secrets to your species, much as Varsus and Augustus believed Arminius held secrets to Germania.

Scientists learn your tissues show evidence of nuclear bomb testing. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, widespread atmospheric testing of atomic bombs laced the oceans with a 100% increase in radiocarbon. Damn nuclear bomb testing contaminated your food, material originating at the ocean’s surface. Your radioactively laced tissues told all this. From counting and radiocarbon dating the rings in your trunk, scientists find that your kind can grow continuously for at least two millennia. Each year you grow no more than 0.00087 inches. It takes you almost 70 years to grow the width of penny.

However, here is where our tale of Arminius and Leiopathes diverges. Unlike the Romans, scientists will use this information to save your kind not conquer them. We know that the slow growth rate and long lifespan of your kind may mean that recovery of deep-sea corals could take decades to centuries. Hopefully in return, dear Leiopathes you will not secretly unite corals and ambush us. Although maybe you should.

Prouty, N., Roark, E., Buster, N., & Ross, S. (2011). Growth rate and age distribution of deep-sea black corals in the Gulf of Mexico Marine Ecology Progress Series, 423, 101-115 DOI: 10.3354/meps08953

*Perhaps it was not the wisest to take train the enslaved Arminius in military tactics and then make him a trusted advisor

**Do corals sleep?

The post A Tale of Germanic Chieftains and Deep-Sea Corals first appeared on Deep Sea News.