juzah_zammit-ross's Favorites

Not the best photo as when I pulled the camera out, I got a tsunami warning on my phone so had to make other plans! I was later told that this was a black turtle but any confirmation would be appreciated…

Locality is obscured of course, but the vague location is in central, western Fiordland. Well over 50 km away from any other known Mokopirirakau gecko populations and between the known distributions of Takitimu gecko and Cascade gecko. To my eye some traits point to Takitimu gecko (such as a short tail relative to SVL and a pink tongue), but genetic testing next winter will be needed to help place this population.

I am desperately trying to identify what this marine creature is. The phots and videos I took didn't do it justice but here is the story;

I thought I was seal to start off with as it was swimming against the tide in the estuary. However as it came closer it was evident it was not a seal but soemting much larger, IT WAS NOT A LOG. It was very much alive and stopped 3 times until it saw us and dived under the water. We were probably 200 metres away. Around 1.5 metres was out of the water in this photo with a good 3 metres at least under the water. One of the video links is attached below.

https://youtu.be/E_ktZXYOqqk

Adult female 19 metres. DNA results confirm Blue Whale, suspected to be Pygmy Blue - further testing will confirm this. Possibly dead up to two weeks before beaching, shark feeding damage apparent. No other obvious external injuries or entanglement noted.