Ten years later: An update on the status of collections of endemic Gulf of Mexico fishes put at risk by the 2010 Oil Spill.

The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon was the largest oil spill in human history that occurred during a 12-week period in a region less than 100 km from the coast of Louisiana; however, after more than a decade of post-spill research, few definitives can be said to be known about the long-term impacts on the development and distribution of fishes in and around the region of the disaster. Here, we examine endemic Gulf of Mexico fish species that may have been most impacted by noting their past distributions in the region of the spill and examining data of known collecting events and observations over the last twenty years (ten years prior to the spill, ten years post-spill). Five years post-spill, it was reported that 48 of the Gulf's endemic fish species had not been collected and, with expanded methods, we now report that 29 (of the 78 endemic species) have not been reported in collections since 2010 (five of these are only known from observations post-spill).

Five Years Later: An Update on the Status of Collections of Endemic Gulf of Mexico Fishes Put at Risk by the 2010 Oil Spill.

Background: The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill took place over 180,000 square kilometers during a 12-week period over five years ago; however, this event continues to influence the development and distribution of organisms in and around the region of the disaster. Here we examine fish species that may have been most affected by noting their past distribution in the region of the spill and examining data of known collecting events over the last 10 years (five years prior to the spill, five years post spill).

New Information: We found that more than half of the endemic fish species of the Gulf (45 of 77).

Explanations for deformed frogs: plenty of research left to do (a response to Skelly and Benard).

Our recent study (Ballengeé and Sessions, 2009. J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol) 312B:1-10) shows that deformed frogs with missing limbs can be explained by sublethal "selective predation" by predators that are too small, or have mouthparts that are too small, to consume whole tadpoles. Skelly and Benard do not agree with our conclusions and feel that they are not well founded.

Explanation for missing limbs in deformed amphibians.

We present evidence that the most commonly found deformities in wild-caught amphibians, those featuring missing limbs and missing limb segments, may be the result of selective predation. Here we report that predatory dragonfly nymphs can severely injure and even fully amputate developing hind limbs of anuran tadpoles. Developmental responses of the injured/amputated tadpole limbs range from complete regeneration to no regeneration, with intermediate conditions represented by various idiosyncratic limb deformities, depending mainly on the developmental stage of the tadpole at the time of injury/amputation.