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When there are more than 21,000 species of fish around the world and more than 4,000 species that live on coral reefs, how is it possible for “the guy with all the PADI cards” on your trip be able to identify so many fish? All you know what to do […]
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The giant tooth of the prehistoric whale skull found by Jason Osborne.
Courtesy of Jason Osborne
In the murky waters of Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp, a monstrous and prehistoric creature rested, just waiting to be discovered.
OK, so it isn’t Swamp Thing. But an ancient whale skull is almost as cool.
The fossilized whale skull is estimated to be more than 5 million years old, and is riddled with massive teeth marks thought to be from the famed megalodon shark. The best part: It could be an entirely new whale species.
Diver and paleontologist Jason Osborne discovered the skull in June 2013, despite the swamp’s zero-visibility conditions, but it took two more years of careful planning before the fragile fossil came to the surface.
“I was nervous I wouldn’t find the skull again, and that flooding may have destroyed it,” says Osborne. “Luckily I did find it, and it was in great condition.”
To retrieve the skull, Osborne needed a large boat, and most importantly, something to lift the skull without breaking it or losing any important pieces of bone that could detach during the transition. His solution: a body bag.
“It took our team of four people two days to get it out, in 25 feet of water with low visibility. We were basically night diving,” says Osborne.
The whale fossil was then donated to the Calvert Marine Museum for scientific research, where whale expert Stephen Godfrey will test the skull for signs of a new species.
Osborne is the co-founder of Paleo Quest, a non-profit that works to locate and retrieve ancient artifacts and fossils founded in 2010. Since then, the Paleo Quest team has found many other fossils in the past four years of diving in and around the Great Dismal Swamp near Newport News, Virginia, including porpoise whale bones and detached megalodon teeth.
“I’ve been startled many times while diving for fossils,” says Osborne, who has never dived in clear water except for the pool he was certified in 11 years ago. “I can’t emphasize how amazing it is to see the skull of a whale, to touch it for the first time … the discovery of it all motivates me to keep diving.”
Prehistoric Whale Skull Discovered in Virginia Swamp Read More »
The giant tooth of the prehistoric whale skull found by Jason Osborne.
Courtesy of Jason Osborne
In the murky waters of Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp, a monstrous and prehistoric creature rested, just waiting to be discovered.
OK, so it isn’t Swamp Thing. But an ancient whale skull is almost as cool.
The fossilized whale skull is estimated to be more than 5 million years old, and is riddled with massive teeth marks thought to be from the famed megalodon shark. The best part: It could be an entirely new whale species.
Diver and paleontologist Jason Osborne discovered the skull in June 2013, despite the swamp’s zero-visibility conditions, but it took two more years of careful planning before the fragile fossil came to the surface.
“I was nervous I wouldn’t find the skull again, and that flooding may have destroyed it,” says Osborne. “Luckily I did find it, and it was in great condition.”
To retrieve the skull, Osborne needed a large boat, and most importantly, something to lift the skull without breaking it or losing any important pieces of bone that could detach during the transition. His solution: a body bag.
“It took our team of four people two days to get it out, in 25 feet of water with low visibility. We were basically night diving,” says Osborne.
The whale fossil was then donated to the Calvert Marine Museum for scientific research, where whale expert Stephen Godfrey will test the skull for signs of a new species.
Osborne is the co-founder of Paleo Quest, a non-profit that works to locate and retrieve ancient artifacts and fossils founded in 2010. Since then, the Paleo Quest team has found many other fossils in the past four years of diving in and around the Great Dismal Swamp near Newport News, Virginia, including porpoise whale bones and detached megalodon teeth.
“I’ve been startled many times while diving for fossils,” says Osborne, who has never dived in clear water except for the pool he was certified in 11 years ago. “I can’t emphasize how amazing it is to see the skull of a whale, to touch it for the first time … the discovery of it all motivates me to keep diving.”
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If you own freediving, jet or split fins, you may think that you’re quite the swimmer – and you might be – when comparing yourself to your fellow scuba divers. When comparing yourself to the speeds at which the fastest fish in the world reach, we’re sorry to say – you […]
The Fastest Fish in the Ocean Read More »
Orcas — aka killer whales — are one of the most recognizable species of marine mammals in the world, thanks to their unfortunate history in captivity at theme parks like SeaWorld. But to understand the sheer power and intelligence of these creatures, there’s no substitute for seeing them in the wild.
Despite the name killer whale, orcas are actually the largest members of the dolphin family, growing up to 30 feet long and weighing nearly 9 tons. In fact, some believe their name is a misreading of the moniker “whale killers,” given by Spanish sailors, which better describes their habit of hunting and killing large whales, though whales aren’t the only prey on the menu for orcas.
What they eat depends on which type of orca is doing the hunting. There are three distinct subgroups: residents, transients and open-ocean pods. Resident orcas stay in one area, eating mostly fish; transients migrate over a coastal range, hunting marine mammals such as seals, dolphins and whales. A third population of offshore orcas lives exclusively in the open Pacific Ocean, where they’ve been hard to study, though evidence shows sharks might be part of their diet.
Orcas are found all over the world, from the salmon-rich waters of North America’s Pacific Northwest to the shores of Patagonia, where they chase seals right onto the beaches, sliding across the sand to snatch their prey before wriggling back into the water.
Divers looking to go face to face with orcas in the water should head to northern Norway from November to January, when hundreds of killer whales descend on a vast herring migration. Sven Gust, owner of arctic dive operation Northern Explorers, has led tours to snorkel with orcas in this herring run for more than 15 years.
“We did our first tours in the Tysfjord area, but the herring change their route every 10 to 20 years to get rid of the predators,” Gust says. “Now we see them in the area between Andenes and Tromsø, and we’re also seeing other whales — humpbacks, finbacks, sei whales, pilot whales and minke whales.”
Gust says around 1,000 orcas visit the area every winter; he uses two different techniques to get divers in the water with them. “Most commonly, we use fast RIBs to drop the divers in front of the whales, but you only get a short look and a minimum of interaction,” he says. “The best situation is to find where the feeding whales push the herring into shallow water. Here you get the best action, but it’s also a bit scary.”
That’s because the orcas blast through the school, trying to smack the herring with their tail fins, which gets the school panicked and moving fast. “You might have clear viz one second, and in the next you’re inside a black wall of herring,” Gust says. “I am not scared about the orcas — they’re very in control — but I wouldn’t trust humpbacks when they try to eat a whole shoal of fish at once.”
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