10 animals at risk of extinction from the Gulf oil spill
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Batfish
Two new species of extremely unusual "walking" batfish, so named because they use their stouts and arm-like fins to crawl along the ocean bottom, were recently discovered lurking around the Deepwater Horizon oil pipe.
One of them can only be found in the region immediately surrounding the site of the spill. It's possible that the moment they were discovered could be the last time we see them.
The batfish highlights the concept that there are probably many undiscovered species in the unexplored waters of the deep that may be at risk of extinction, but we might not know about them until it's too late.
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Comments
Such a BEAUTIFUL CREATURE, I'm going to go out on a limb, and say this animal has been on Earth for a couple hundred million years, maybe just a few million years and, because we are trying to sucK out it's ansestors( our ansestors)..it is on the brink of extinction but hasn't even been discovered. At what point are we going to say enough is enough? EARTH DESERVES BETTER FROM US ALL
How pathetic are we as a species that we're wagering which one of these species goes extinct first?
I am quite suprised whale sharks did not make the list. From my understanding, the Gulf is typically a passage point for migration and/or breeding grounds for them. Our shark population in general has decimated 90%,and all sharks, but especially whale sharks are quike at risk. The demand for shark fin is too high, the stocks are not replenishing, and the oil spill will only add to more problems for ths species.
What about eels who only breed in the Sargasso Sea? The population is low, their breeding grounds are conterminated with massive ammounts of plastics and the crude oil is coming their way.
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