Segment One Fish in the News. Each week the Bailey Brothers start the Pet Fish Talk Show with some fun and interesting stories about fish in the news.     A Viperfish, with a fearsome grin fit for a movie monster, is a real-life predator that lurks in one of the world's most remote locations.   Sandbar Shark wrestles with biologists recently on a beach in Spain.   This 16" Pacu was caught by a fisherman in Lake St. Clair, Michigan, last week.   Sarah Anderson, a high school teacher, will leave on an  expedition to the Amundsen Sea in a part of Antarctica that hasn't been visited in more than a century.   Quagga Mussels have quickly spread to Southern California.     In Tokyo, Japan, A Spa, Where the Fish Food is You. In May 2006, the Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari (www.ooedo-global.jp), a 4-year-old hot-springs spa in the city's Odaiba area, added a new treatment to its menu: Doctor Fish's "pedicure" and "manicure." In a reversal of the food chain, the fish dine on you - or at least parts of you. In a culture where food and fashion seem straight out of science fiction, Doctor Fish is hardly extraordinary. Strangely enough, the spa's finned employees, which are imported from Turkey and are known scientifically as Garra rufa, have a taste for dry, flaking human skin. The fish act like living pumice stones, nibbling off the dead epidermis and leaving behind baby-smooth skin. Click here to read more. Special thanks to Ben from Oregon for the link to this story.   From National Geographic Magazine, Weird Deep-Sea Creatures Found in Atlantic. With a fearsome grin fit for a movie monster, this viperfish is a real-life predator that lurks in one of the world's most remote locations. An international team of 31 researchers found this and other strange animals while exploring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range that runs from Iceland to the Azores islands west of Portugal. Over the course of five weeks, the team cataloged a host of exotic worms, colorful corals, unusual sea cucumbers, and weird fish. Clearly, viperfish has plenty to eat. Many of the species found on the ridge are rare and had only been discovered in recent years, scientists said. At least one species found during the survey - a tiny crustacean called a seed shrimp - is thought to be new to science. Click here to read more.   In the North Atlantic Ocean, Scientists ask: Where have all the Dolphins gone? Sightings by marine scientists of dolphins in the north Atlantic's Bay of Biscay have dropped off by 80 percent compared to the same period in 2006, a wildlife conservation group said Wednesday. The alarming drop in numbers of the Bay's three most common species of dolphin -- the striped, bottlenose and common -- can be attributed to one or both of two causes, Clive Martin, senior wildlife officer for the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme. "We know for a fact that by-catch is killing thousands of dolphins every year," he said, referring to commercial fishing operations in the bay, which is formed by the northern coast of Spain and the eastern French seaboard up to the tip of Brittany. Martin singled out French "pair trawlers" that sweep the ocean with huge nets twice the size of a football pitch strung out between them as being especially lethal to the marine mammals. "Dolphins are sometimes trapped hundreds at a time, and are asphyxiated" when they cannot come up for air, he said. Most dolphins typically replenish their lungs with fresh air every five minutes or so, he explained. The second -- and probably more important -- reason that dolphins have disappeared is that there is simply very little left for them to eat. "Anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay has progressively failed, and this year there is a complete ban by Spain, France and the United Kingdom on the fishing of anchovies," a principal food source for dolphins, Clive said. Click here to read more.   On a Beach in Spain, Biologists nab the Shark that became a Celebrity. Biologists caught a two-metre-long (7-foot-long) shark that had become a tourist attraction by making daily incursions into knee-high water on a Spanish beach, wrestling it with their bare hands and dragging it ashore. The 50-kilogram (110-pound) sandbar shark - not generally associated with attacks on humans - first showed up early last week at a beach called Miracle in northeast Tarragona province, forcing authorities to close off the water to bathers. The fish turned into a novelty by swimming regularly into plain view in very shallow water. Bathers gathered daily to snap photos. Police fined several people who ventured into the water to splash around with it. A team of three biologists from the Barcelona Aquarium waded in yesterday and, after two failed attempts before a crowd of hundreds, finally managed to capture the flailing shark with their hands. They quickly stuck its snout into a net to keep it from biting. Two of the rescuers were slightly injured with cuts and scratches from the shark's fins. The team put the fish into a tank and trucked it for a police-escorted ride to the aquarium and a medical checkup. "It will be in quarantine, just as would be done with a sick person," aquarium director Jordi Ingles said yesterday. He said the shark will be returned to the open sea if biologists determine it is healthy. Click here to read more. Special thanks to Matthew fro Oklahoma City for emailing us the link to this story.   From Lake St. Clair in Michigan, A Fish Story -- with Teeth This was no ordinary fish. The tug on the line was too vicious, too unyielding. When the silvery beast emerged from Lake St. Clair with its teeth baring last week, angler Toby Davison knew he caught something special. Turns out, the 43-year-old angler from St. Clair Shores snagged a Pacu, a close cousin of the piranha. Both mainly prowl in South America. Davison said he plans to mount his catch. Luckily for swimmers and boaters at popular Lake St. Clair, Pacus, which can grow up to 3 feet in length, aren't known for attacking humans. And they likely wouldn't survive a Michigan winter. But fisheries officials say Davison's catch illustrates a troublesome trend of people dumping their exotic pets. "It's against the law and can damage the ecology," said Mike Thomas, fisheries research biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in Harrison Township. Located between lakes Huron and Erie, Lake St. Clair is the smallest lake in the Great Lakes system. Heart-shaped and shallow (averaging only 10 feet/3 meters deep), the lake requires periodic dredging to ensure bottom clearance for large ships. The northeastern portion of Lake St. Clair is an extensive delta system, the largest within the Great Lakes. Click here to read more. Special thanks to Joshua from Okemos, Michigan,  for emailing us the link to this story.   In Lake Malawi, East Africa, Evolution by Parasite An old puzzle relating to the East African cichlid fish species may have been solved. For decades, evolutionary biologists have been puzzled as to why the fish do not interbreed, despite living side by side and being comprised of hundreds of closely related species. Now, a team from Canada (Université Laval), the UK (University of Hull, Cardiff University) and Spain (Donana Biological Station), have studied two of the species (Pseudotropheus emmiltos and Pseudotropheus fainzilberi) which are found in the north western part of Lake Malawi. Previously, the only known difference was the colour of the dorsal fin. Now, research into mate selections has demonstrated that the fish recognise 'their kind' through olfactory communication (smell) rather than aesthetics. In addition to this, the findings demonstrate that parasites found on the two species were significantly different. As some of the genes known to influence mating behaviour through olfaction are sensitive to molecules produced by infectious agents they can smell how effective their potential offspring’s immune systems would be to certain infections. "The precise role that this divergence played in the evolution of reproductive isolation has yet to be studied," commented Louis Bernatchez, co-author of the study…”, but it offers an exciting new perspective in the study of African cichlids speciation." Click here to read more.   From the Telegraph.co.uk, Young Sprouts: Gardening for Children. Even if you only have a small outdoor space you and your child can easily create a mini wildlife pond with a selection of marginal and submerged plants. Tubtrugs make great container water gardens that are waterproof, extremely sturdy, and stand up well to ultraviolet light and frost. As well as work-a-day plain black containers made from 100% recycled plastic, Tubtrugs are available in 15 striking colours. Raised off the ground and generously filled with cobbles or paddle stones, they are safer for children than a larger pond sunk in the ground. A container water garden this size could include one or two native marginal plants, such as a soft rush (Juncus effusus), a single-flowered white marsh marigold (Caltha palustris var. alba) or water mint (Mentha aquatica), an oxygenator and a submerged plant, such as a pygmy water lily (Nymphaea pygamea 'Rubra'). Click here to read more.   In San Diego, California, Invasive Mussel Species confirmed as harmful. Escondido officials yesterday confirmed that mussels found at Dixon Lake earlier this week are a prolific non-native species capable of harming freshwater ecosystems and clogging pipes and pumps. A larval form of the same species of mollusk, known as Quagga mussels, also was discovered this week in San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside, where drinking water is stored for the city of San Diego. In January, Quagga mussels were found in Lake Mead, which straddles Nevada and Arizona. However, officials were caught off-guard by their quick spread to Southern California. Click here to read more.   In Antarctica, High School Teacher to join Scientists. Sarah Anderson will tell you she is much more of a sun worshipper than a snow bunny. Next week, though, the Boerne High School science teacher will pack a suitcase full of fleece sweat shirts and depart for one of the coldest places on the planet - Antarctica - where she's to spend two months living aboard a ship with scientists who are probing the secrets of an icy sea that humans seldom visit. Anderson will accompany five researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio on an expedition to the Amundsen Sea. Click here to read more.   Segment Two Andrew from Calgary, Canada, calls and asks about Red Devils. Tom and Nevin talk about the "Red Devil Complex" of species. Click here to learn much more from Dr. Paul Loiselle about that.   Segment Three   Segment Four   A Big Sincere Thank-you for calling during the show to Andrew from Calgary, Canada, Jason from Louisiana, and Chris from Australia, The Bailey Brothers encourage YOU to call Pet Fish Talk during the show and talk about your pet fish.     Download of this Entire Show Here's how: Right-Click here, then click on "Save Target (or Link) As ...".  Navigate to the folder you prefer, and click on the button labeled "Save". Later you can copy the MP3-file to your iPod or other MP3-player. You can also burn files to CDs, then play them in a CD-player.  Click here to download the PodCast for this show. Click here to buy an MP3-enabled CD-Player, or click here to buy an MP3-Player, or click here to buy an Apple iPod, which can all play Pet Fish Talk Shows.     There are lots of Pet Fish Talk Shows. 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