Smelt caught on the Kugkaktlik River were found to have dark spots on the skin. Photo examination suggests that the cause is the same black fungus found in saffron cod in Norton Sound. Continued surveillance for this condition in fish is requested by LEO Network members.

Dead humpback whale

The first ticks have been observed in the northwest region of Oulu, meaning they are assuredly on the loose already further south. Entomologist Reima Leinonen recommends that people who have been enjoying the outdoors take a shower at the end of the day to help check for ticks.

Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) with Saprolegnia

Ayaprun School Fire

Blue Heron near Humpback Bay

Spruce trees growing fast.

Coastal erosion near Cape Blossom

I was flying on Monday and found a giant beached dead humpback whale up on the mudflats near Birchwood. I see belugas all the time but never a humpback.

When 200 million metric tons of rock tumbled down a remote Southeast Alaska mountain in October, nobody was around to see it. But thanks to a beefed-up seismic network and a new system that can distinguish landslides from earthquakes, scientists knew it had happened.

Proliferation of thick brown algae is affecting fishing, tourism and marine life on both sides of the Atlantic, say scientists

Dead sea otter and star fish

Blue Sail Jellyfish

Unusual Insect

When a storm exposes human remains in Barrow, there isn’t an established protocol. They are usually given to the federally recognized Native Village of Barrow for repatriation.

Alex Hughes is a Fish and Game technician who volunteers with KSWCD. He said based on their studies at the Buskin river, crayfish are successfully breeding. Crayfish are originally from the Pacific Northwest and as with many invasive species, it’s anyone’s guess how they got to Kodiak.

Tuesday’s (September 29) sighting of a gray whale swimming and possibly feeding right off the Stanley Park Seawall brings recent sightings up to three in that area. It isn’t clear if it is the same whale or different whales in the widely reported incidents since August 12. One whale, perhaps the same animal each time, was observed for days in the same area in English Bay, sometimes travelling into Burrard Inlet and off West Vancouver’s Ambleside Beach.