Latest news with #UniversityofTasmania
New York Post
19 hours ago
- General
- New York Post
‘Very rare' oarfish washes up on beach, sparking doomsday fears: ‘We're cooked, aren't we?'
Is there about to be an apocalypse? A rare 'doomsday' oarfish has washed ashore yet again — this time in Australia, sparking fears that a catastrophe could be around the corner. 'I just knew it was something unusual and weird,' Sybil Robertson told the Guardian of the 'fantastic' flotsam, which she discovered while walking her dog on Ocean Beach in Tasmania on Monday. Advertisement The Strahan resident became curious after seeing a streak of silver on the beach, and, when she approached, she realized that it was a massive sea creature. 3 An oarfish sighting is 'a very rare occasion when one washes ashore,' said Neville Barrett, a fish biologist and associate professor with the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. A beachgoer found the one above earlier this week in Tasmania. Sybil Robertson 'I could see it was a long fish, but I had no idea what kind of fish,' Robertson recounted to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 'As I got closer, I could see the beautiful coloring around its head, and the markings on it were fabulous.' Advertisement Aside from a few injuries, the shimmery specimen appeared to be in good condition. The Aussie posted pics of the serpentine sea creature to the 'Citizen Scientists of Tasmania' Facebook page, where marine experts confirmed that the ethereal-looking animal was an oarfish. 3 Robertson found the critter (pictured) while walking her dog on Ocean Beach in Tasmania. Sybil Robertson This particular specimen appeared to be around nine feet long, much smaller than their maximum size of 56 feet — the longest of any bony fish. Advertisement Scientists said the find was particularly special since the creepy critters generally reside at depths of up to around 1,650 feet deep. 'It's a very rare occasion when one washes ashore,' said Neville Barrett, a fish biologist and associate professor with the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. 'There's not many reportings at all.' He said that very few people have seen the denizens of the deep alive. 3 This giant oarfish was found washed up on the California coast in 2013. Catalina Island Marine Institute Advertisement In the unlikely event that the elusive critters do surface, they are likely sick or close to death, according to scientists 'Occasionally, when they are sick, apparently, they swim up to the surface for unknown reasons,' Barrett said. However, superstitious folks have viewed the oarfish as a sign of doom. According to Japanese mythology, the serpentine plankton-eaters will purposely rise to the surface and beach themselves whenever they sense that trouble's on the horizon. In fact, doomsday fears ramped up during Japan's deadly 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami when dozens of the pelagic beasts washed ashore in the two years preceding the catastrophe. Doomsdayers on Reddit felt this latest sighting was another sign of the apocalypse, with one writing, 'We're cooked, aren't we?' 'Tasmania should evacuate. Or batten down the hatches,' declared another. Advertisement A third warned, 'The oarfish is seen as a horrible omen. Like a black cat breaking a mirrored salt shaker under a ladder bad.' However, Barrett said he doesn't 'put much credence' in this theory, claiming that a beached oarfish is just a 'random event' — rather than a bad omen. 'There's no real evidence there's any linkage,' he said. 'I can imagine a significant earthquake could disturb mid-water fish and stun them and lead to some coming up, but that's at the same time [as the disaster].'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Rarely seen metres-long ‘doomsday' oarfish washes up on Tasmania's wild west coast
At first it looked like a great silver streak on the sand. An oarfish, fantastically long and rarely seen, had washed up on Tasmania's rugged west coast. Oarfish, one of the ocean's longest fish, are astonishing creatures that grow up to eight metres long. Nicknamed the 'king of herrings' or more unkindly the 'doomsday fish', some legends and stories consider the animals to be harbingers of disaster. Sybil Robertson made the unusual discovery while walking on Ocean Beach near Strahan, on Monday. 'When I go out there, I'm the only person on the beach,' she said. 'It's really wild. There's nothing between here and Argentina.' On Monday, she walked in a different direction than usual and noticed a group of sea eagles inspecting the fish, which she estimated was around three metres long, on the sand. 'I'm five foot nine, and I've got a reasonable stride, [it was] a good three-and-a-bit paces,' she said. 'It was fantastic,' she said, although not realising what it was. 'I just knew it was something unusual and weird.' But her find was quickly identified as an oarfish when she posted a photo on the Citizen Scientists of Tasmania social media page. 'Its exceptionally unusual to see anything like that,' said assoc prof Neville Barrett, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania. Oarfish are an 'epipelagic' species, he said, living in the open ocean at mid-water depths of 150 to 500m, from where they are rarely seen or caught. 'We're just not out there,' Barrett said. 'We're not looking, we're not diving, we're not even fishing in that part of the ocean.' Oarfish are 'a phenomenally big fish' he said, which can weigh more than 400kg. He described them as a lazy fish with very little muscle that tends to float around, often vertically in the water, eating various types of plankton. 'They're not active feeders. They don't chase their prey. They're just nibbling on whatever's there. So they don't have to be very strong, or great swimmers,' he said. Very few people have seen an oarfish in the wild. Marine biologist Jorja Gilmore is 'one of the lucky ones'. In 2022, she was leading a small tour group of snorkelers on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas when they spotted something strange in the water below them. This one was a juvenile, long and thin like a ruler, with tendrils that made it look a bit like a giant lure, Gilmore said. 'It was so bizarre', she said, 'like something from the deep sea'. The incredibly rare encounter is thought to be the first recorded with this species on the east coast of Australia. 'It's still the best thing I have seen in the water to this day,' Gilmore said. Robinson feels fortunate to have come across the fish in such good condition. A few hours later the head was gone, and the body was already decimated by crows and eagles, she said. 'It's just so interesting what you can find if you just keep your eyes open whilst you're looking around. It's just amazing.'
ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Elusive oarfish found at Ocean Beach on Tasmania's rugged west coast
When Sybil Robertson went dog walking on Tasmania's Ocean Beach on Monday, she was unaware she was about to join the small club of people who have found an elusive oarfish. The creature from the deep is the longest bony fish species in the world and is rarely seen by humans. Known by some as the "doomsday fish", it is linked to tales of sea serpents and natural disasters. "I was watching a sea eagle flying around and I noticed it was coming down onto the beach and I thought, 'That's unusual, I don't often see them land on the beach,'" Ms Robertson said. The Strahan resident could see the sun catching a silvery streak on the beach, on state's rugged west coast. "I could see it was a long fish but I had no idea what kind of fish," Ms Robertson said. "As I got closer I could see the beautiful colouring around its heads and the markings on it were fabulous." She said it was a "good three paces" in length and had some injuries, but otherwise appeared in good condition. Ms Robertson took photos of the fish and posted them to a social media group called Citizen Scientists of Tasmania, where it was confirmed as an oarfish. In a race against time due to hungry birds circling, authorities were contacted to take samples of the fish so it could be researched by CSIRO experts. Ocean Beach is known for its wildness, and at its longitude there is no land between it and South America. "It's a good place to be." Neville Barrett, a fish biologist and associate professor with the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, described the oarfish Ms Robertson found as a "beauty". "It's a very rare occasion when one washes ashore," he said. "There's not many reportings at all." Dr Barrett said the fish could grow up to 8 metres, and lived in the open ocean at depths from 150m to 1 kilometre below the surface. He said very few people had seen one alive. "It's very much a fortuitous, lucky thing really," Dr Barrett said. "It's not the kind of thing that would be caught in trawlers and it's not somewhere we go diving — we're not catching them." He said most sank when they died, and decomposed. "Occasionally when they are sick, apparently, they swim up to the surface for unknown reasons," Dr Barrett said. "There's a lot of them out there in the ocean almost certainly, but they live and die well out of sight of the average human. There were two species of oarfish found in Australia, according to CSIRO ichthyologist John Pogonoski. One has dozens of records in Southern Australia and the other, a tropical species, has only a handful of sightings. "They are impressive," Mr Pogonoski said. He said there were iconic photos from history of about 10 to 15 people holding up a dead oarfish, including one found in California in 2013. "In Australia we know of at least 70 records in scientific databases of specimens that have washed up," he said. Mr Pogonoski said the CSIRO had an oarfish in its collection that washed up under the Tasman Bridge in Hobart more than a decade ago. Given its sea serpent-like features, he said he could see why it was the subject of myths. Dr Barrett said the body fish was "gelatinous" and it fed on crustaceans. "They aren't top predators, they don't swim fast," he said. And not much is known about how long they live for. "Something that [oarfish] gets up to 8m in length — it'd be at least 20 to 30 years to get to that length," Dr Barrett said. "Most deep-water species are very old — orange roughy [fish] for example can get to 120 years." The oarfish is associated with natural disasters and bad news, and the myth was revived when many of them were seen before the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Dr Barrett said there was no evidence the fish could sense a natural disaster. "It's just a random event, there's no real evidence there's any linkage," he said. "I can imagine a significant earthquake could disturb mid-water fish and stun them and lead to some coming up, but that's at the same time [as the diaster].
ABC News
6 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Good dog: Survival of the friendliest
'Man's best friend' sure sounds better than 'obligatory symbiont', but what are the true dynamics at play? There's no denying the bond people feel and the attachment dogs have for their humans, but if we put that beautiful relationship under scientific scrutiny, does it hold up? Can any dog go 'full Lassie' if you (or Timmy) gets stuck down a well? Will your dog save you? Featuring: Professor Clive Wynne, animal psychologist, Arizona State University Professor Clive Wynne, animal psychologist, Arizona State University Dr. Mia Cobb, Chaser Innovation Research Fellow (Canine Welfare Science), Animal Welfare Science Centre at the University of Melbourne Dr. Mia Cobb, Chaser Innovation Research Fellow (Canine Welfare Science), Animal Welfare Science Centre at the University of Melbourne Professor Chris Johnson, the University of Tasmania Professor Chris Johnson, the University of Tasmania Dr. Annika Bremhorst, founder of Dogs and Science, and canine scientist at the University of Bern Further reading: Production:
News.com.au
29-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Uni police lecturer ‘cancelled' over DV claim
A university lecturer who was stood down from her role teaching police recruits for claiming 'just as many women as men' commit domestic violence says she is 'heartbroken' at being 'cancelled'. Dr Fiona Girkin, an associate lecturer in policing and emergency management at the University of Tasmania, previously taught police recruits about domestic and family violence issues and says she was 'much loved' by the police academy. But Dr Girkin came under fire this week over comments she made in a YouTube interview with anti-feminist commentator and author Bettina Arndt. The interview, published on May 15, was titled 'Tasmanian police resist feminist weaponisation of DV laws'. Dr Girkin told Arndt that she urged police, when they get called to a home, to 'not look at gender but look at behaviour'. 'Of course in most circumstances they're going to find that if it's a physical violence situation often it is the male, but I want them to go in and look at behaviour not at gender because I think that can bias how they view the situation,' she said. 'And given that's such a strong narrative out there in the world I'm really particular about not being biased. The other thing I do in my slides is I always make sure I put both lots of stats, you know, male victims, female victims, female perpetrators, male perpetrators.' Dr Girkin said she often put a 'question mark' on some numbers 'because there's actually no stats that I can locate around male victims of domestic violence, certainly in Tasmania, because no one's interested in gathering those statistics'. In response, Arndt claimed international research showed that in 'most violent homes males and females are violent, women often instigate violence … I mean the data is well and truly out there'. Dr Girkin said getting that message to police 'hasn't been as big of a task as I expected because what I'm hearing from police that have been around for a long time and police that are out there at the moment is that they're seeing just as many women as they are men in domestic violence situations as the perpetrator'. 'It's not males that are the offenders, it's equally both men and women and that's something that's certainly coming back from all levels of policing that they're telling me,' she said. Official numbers do not back up her comments. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 81 per cent of the 1582 family or domestic violence-related offenders processed in Tasmania last financial year were male. The rate of offending was around four times higher for males than females at 505 per 100,000 versus 117 per 100,000. Nationally, 79 per cent (71,336) of family or domestic violence offenders were male last year. In 2023 there were 157 victims of family and domestic violence-related homicides, 60 per cent of whom were female. Alina Thomas from family violence support service Engender Equality told the ABC that Dr Girkin's comments were a 'misrepresentation of what we know from evidence, from data and research about the causes and the impacts of family and sexual violence in the community'. 'When people are entering into that conversation who have a very alternative perspective to what the evidence is demonstrating, it detracts from the severity of the reality and the impacts of that,' she said. Speaking to 2GB's Ben Fordham on Thursday, Dr Girkin defended her position despite the talkback host pointing out 'the statistics don't back you up'. 'They're the stats, they're the numbers, I guess I can't argue with those,' she said. 'But it's not taking into consideration what is happening between when they're going into the home and when they're being charged. I've had multiple emails from police saying exactly the same thing, 'Yes we're seeing a lot more women than we used to.' I believe that's to do with the power dynamics changing and men being very fearful of their own behaviour and a lot more conscious of their own behaviour.' Dr Girkin said being 'cancelled' was 'not a very nice feeling at all'. She said she simply taught police that 'you should never make assumptions based on anything'. 'I think there's been a real shift in power dynamics in society with women but also in relationships,' she said. 'I've taken every opportunity since I've been working with police to have conversations about this and everybody I spoke to has said they're seeing as many women [domestic violence offenders] as men when they go into the home initially.' She said she was 'much loved by the police academy, I've had praise for the work I do' 'I try to come from a humanistic approach rather than a feministic approach,' she said. 'I'm looking at human beings and who's in danger and who's not, rather than looking at it as a gender problem. That doesn't mean that I don't teach that women are more likely to be violently harmed because men are a lot stronger than women. That is to be expected. It's a genetic thing, not so much a gender thing. I was simply directing my lectures in a way that matched what I was hearing from the police.' Dr Girkin stressed that she was 'not being disciplined, it's an assessment' but she was 'not sure' if she wanted her job back. 'I'm heartbroken,' she said. 'I really loved my job and it was extremely embarrassing for the ABC to print that I'd been stood down, because that's how my friends and family found out.' Tasmania Police told it 'did not have any input or awareness of the interview'. 'The content of Dr Girkin's interview was not endorsed by Tasmania Police and does not align with our approach in dealing with family violence,' a spokeswoman said. 'Tasmania Police is steadfastly committed with our key partners to a trauma-informed approach in dealing with victim survivors of family and sexual violence.' The University of Tasmania has been contacted for comment. Arndt has sparked controversy over the years for comments on consent and rape, and for sympathetically interviewing convicted pedophile and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame's schoolteacher abuser, Nicolaas Bester. In 2020 she drew fire for comments defending a Queensland detective's statement about the murders of Hannah Clarke and her children that mentioned a 'husband being driven too far'.
