Pink dolphin appears in US lake

The world's only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

"It was absolutely stunningly pink.

"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.

"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

"I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.

"As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.

"Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod."

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career.

"It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it

"While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes.

"Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited."

A close relation of dolphins, the Amazon River Botos, called pink dolphins, live in South America in the Amazon.

Fish with human faces spotted in South Korea

The "humanoid" carp are attracting attention in the town of Chongju in the centre of the country where they live in a small pond.

They are believed to be hybrid descendants of two carp species – the carp and the leather carp, also known as a tangerine fish.

Both fish are females and more than three feet long. They appear to have distinctive human noses, eyes and lips.

The fish live in a pond behind the home of a 64-year old South Korean man and have been there since 1986 although their looks are only just starting to attract attention.

"My fish have been getting more and more human for the past couple of years," the owner said.

He added that he knows of other fish with similar features, and as they are both females it will be impossible for them to breed and have fish-faced offspring.

This is the second time in recent months that carp have made headlines in Asia. Last November a shoal of the fish in Changsha, in China's Hunan Province turned on a duck who landed on their lake looking for food.

The Koi carp took exception to the intruder and fought back, bunching together into a seething mass to assert their authority, forcing the duck to fly away.

Shark rescued after biting on giant fishing hook

An endangered shark was saved from a slow and painful death by a rescue team after getting a giant fishing hook stuck in its throat. Scuba divers spotted the distressed female grey nurse shark swimming near Julian Rocks in the Cape Byron Marine Park, off the far north coast of New South Wales, in Australia, and took underwater photos of the animal.

After reporting the sighting to the authorities, a team of experts from nearby theme park Sea World, the NSW Fisheries Department and the Marine Parks Authority went out to help the three-metre shark.

The team located the shark in about 15 metres of water, with eight other grey nurse sharks, and marine scientists coaxed it into a see-through tube before carefully removing the embedded gaff.

Sea World director of marine sciences Trevor Long led the expedition in the theme park's rescue boat.

"We had an ambitious thought that we could find the shark and catch it and we were prepared to stay as long as it took," he said.

"However, we were extremely fortunate to find it on the first dive. The rescue team were able to rope noose the injured shark and tire her out, allowing them to place her in a specially designed Perspex tube."

The shark was lifted from the water and placed in a 4,000 litre tank using a crane, with the rescue team then turning the shark on her back, placing her in a dormant state.

"When the shark was in a relaxed state, we inserted a large PVC pipe into her mouth and conducted a delicate procedure to remove the gaff hook, which was lodged in her oesophagus" said Mr Long.

Seal with phobia of fish astonishes staff at sanctuary

A seal has astonished staff at a marine sanctuary at Hunstanton in north Norfolk by refusing to feed on fish. Heidi, a five-week-old pup, was rescued from Heacham beach in Norfolk after she was separated from her mother.

She was taken to Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary in north Norfolk, where herring is the staple diet of all the rescued seals.

But for two weeks she refused to eat any and the animal care team had to resort to blending special herring smoothies for Heidi and feeding them to her by tube due to her phobia.

Matthew Fuller, from the animal care team at the sanctuary, said: "It's the first time we've ever come across a herring phobia and it's really quite unusual as all the seals get fed on herring."

Mr Fuller has his own theory about Heidi, who lost her mother in bad weather and was found by the sanctuary on January 21 when she was about three weeks old and in good condition.

"It is probably because it's quite stressful and confusing coming to the sanctuary and she was pining for her mummy," he said. "And herring really smells."