Deep Dive

Posted in Crankbaits by admin on December 10, 2009

Do whales and dolphins also get the "bends" when they surface after a deep dive?

No, they do not normally but found this interesting article which is quite worrying for our wildlife. Give the whales and dolphins "looks" Monday, December 17, 2001 (Photo Unit of Wildlife Management, Environment Australia) United States suggests that research and testing explosions underwater sonar used in research and exploration could be the source of bleeding and "the bends" in marine mammals. This week New Scientist reports on research U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego and Harvard Medical School. The U.S. Navy regularly uses to track the signals from submarine sonar, and leads of controlled underwater explosions, writes New Scientist James Hrynyshyn. Commercial shipping, seismic exploration for oil, and experiences Scientists use sound to measure ocean temperatures add to noise. Scientists have long suspected that the noise might disturb hearing and behavior of marine creatures and will be responsible for whale strandings. The new findings by Dorian Houser and the team of Navy Marine Mammal Program, have identified another problem. Houser and his colleagues developed a mathematical model that shows low-frequency sound waves can interfere with the ability of whales and dolphins in nitrogen gas stored in a secure manner, which is expelled from their lungs into their blood when they dive. The longer and deeper they dive, the more dissolved gas accumulates in their bodies, to saturate the surrounding tissue. As they surface, they get rid of this potentially dangerous buildup of nitrogen bubbles in their blood. The research team found that sound waves may cause microscopic bubbles of gas in cetaceans "Tissue to expand, eventually becoming so large that they block blood vessels or tissue breakdown. The bubbles may even break the nerves, leading to joint pain and disorientation - the classic symptoms of decompression sickness, known in humans as "bends" the. The researchers argue that "beak" of whales, like bottlenose and sperm whales, are likely to be particularly vulnerable because of their diving behavior and their levels of dissolved gases. That may explain why beaked whales seem to beach themselves more often than other species in areas with high naval activity, Hauser said. In separate research, Darlene Ketten Harvard Medical School exposed the bodies of dolphins stranded in control underwater explosions and assessed the damage to their ears, heart, lungs, liver and spleen. "We are seeing classic symptoms of lung and furnaces intestinal bleeding, "she said at a recent meeting of the Society for Marine Mammology in Vancouver, adding that dolphins are particularly small risk. The conference also heard Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research in Washington report that 16 whales and dolphins beached on an island in the Bahamas in a single day, following naval exercises of the day. All whales have shown signs of unusual bleeding, he said. According to Wendy Dunn, Research Director of the Research Institute of dolphins, the impact of these tests in Australia is yet to be fully appreciated. "Many people have problems of exploration drilling and seismic exploration for oil and gas, and I think the industry has tried to address these, "she said.