Malaysia's 'Lizard King' back in business: report

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) (AFP) - A notorious Malaysian wildlife trafficker dubbed the "Lizard King" for his smuggling of endangered reptiles is back in business, according to an Al Jazeera report that prompted outraged wildlife activists on Friday to demand action.

Anson Wong was arrested in August 2010 at Kuala Lumpur's international airport while attempting to smuggle 95 endangered boa constrictors to Indonesia.

He was sentenced to five years in jail, but a Malaysian appeals court freed him in 2012, sparking an outcry.

Malaysian authorities had said in the wake of Wong's arrest that his licences for legitimate wildlife.

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100 Million Year Old Seawater Discovered Under Chesapeake Bay

November 22, 2013

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

US Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologists drilling into the largest crater in the country have stumbled across an amazing discovery – the oldest body of seawater ever unearthed.

The water, which according to Discovery News is at least 100 million years old, was found over one kilometer beneath Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The seawater is believed to have come from the earliest days of the Atlantic Ocean and was hidden beneath a more recent, 56-mile-wide impact crater near the bay’s entrance.

The USGS investigators did not realize how old the water was until they completed an analysis of the chemicals it contained. As it turns out, the water held forms of chloride and bromide, as well as other chemicals that helped them determine that the liquid is, in fact, from the Early Cretaceous Period. While older water has been discovered in Canada, the newly discovered crater is now officially the oldest large body of water on Earth.

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First wave of England's Marine Conservation Zones

November 2013: Twenty seven Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in waters around England’s coastlines, have been created by the Government. The decision follows a four-year process since the introduction of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) to ensure greater protection for our marine wildlife and natural treasures.

The new MCVs cover an area roughly three times the size of Wiltshire and help conserve marine life and provide greater protection for around 8,000 sq km of offshore, and around 2,000 sq km of inshore, waters. “We are doing more than ever to protect our marine environment.

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Biodiversity Higher in the Tropics, but Species More Likely to Arise at Higher Latitudes

Nov. 22, 2013 — A new study of 2300 species of mammals and nearly 6700 species of birds from across the globe helps explain why there are so many more species of plants and animals in the tropics than at higher latitudes. In a study supported by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina, researchers found that while the tropics harbor a greater diversity of species, the number of subspecies -- potential stepping stones in the process by which one species becomes two -- is actually greater in the harsher environments typical of higher latitudes.

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Fond farewell as aquarium casts out extraordinary fish to new home

AN extraordinary creature has left Ilfracombe for somewhere more spacious, leaving behind the aquarium staff who have grown so attached to it.

Ilfracombe Aquarium’s Angler Fish was washed up in the harbour two years ago and has been living there ever since.

But the aquarium decided it needed more space and secured a new home for it in Plymouth.

Marcus Williams, senior biologist at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, collected the fish on TuesdayNovember 19.

Ilfracombe Aquarium Director Lawrence Raybone said the move went well, despite an initial attack the Angler launched at a net which was trying to scoop it up.

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http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Fond-farewell-aquarium-casts-extraordinary-fish/story-20117110-detail/story.html#ixzz2lUZlwEfM