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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2018
Sleuthing leads to new findings
about peculiar ocean fish
New species
of opah
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The fish
buyer noticed something dif-
ferent about the large, color-
ful disc-shaped opah waiting
to be sold at the auction house
in Honolulu. Among the dif-
ferences: one fish had a bigger
eye than the other.
His curiosity set in motion
DNA testing and more sleuth-
ing that led to the identification
of three new species of opah
— a peculiar deep-diving fish
recently found to be the first
fully warm-blooded fish.
“The more we looked, the
more differences we could pull
out,” said Karen Underkoffler,
lead author of a recently pub-
lished paper in the peer-re-
viewed journal Zootaxa that
describes the anatomical char-
acteristics of the different spe-
cies of opah, including one
marked by its big eyes and a
purple tongue.
In all, the team of scientists
with NOAA Fisheries iden-
tified five distinct species of
opah, revealing that there isn’t
a single global species. Three
are newly identified, one was
already named and researchers
better identified another that
had been previously described.
“We have known for quite
some time that opahs in differ-
ent parts of the world look dif-
ferent,” said Misty Paig-Tran,
assistant professor of marine
biology and biomechanics at
Cal State Fullerton, who was
not involved in the paper.
People were calling them
all the same thing, and the
paper clearly shows their dif-
ferences, she said, adding that
it’s great to finally have ana-
tomical descriptions and DNA
to back those descriptions.
The researchers say know-
ing the population of opah —
which has a silvery gray body,
red fins and mouths, and white
spots — is important to make
sure they don’t get overfished.
While opah isn’t harvested
by commercial fisheries, the
fish is often caught inciden-
tally in commercial fishing for
high-value tuna or swordfish
off the coasts of Hawaii and
California.
Sport anglers also fre-
quently catch the colorful
fish, which on average weighs
about 100 pounds and can be
bigger than an automobile tire.
Opah is becoming popu-
lar at restaurants in Hawaii
and elsewhere. The value of
U.S. commercial landings of
opah has increased from just
a few thousand dollars before
2000 to nearly $3.2 million in
2016. The Hawaii-based long-
line fishing industry reported
the catching of nearly 30,000
opahs by vessels targeting tuna
and swordfish in 2015.
Most opah landed by those
vessels arrive at the United
Fishing Agency auction in
Yellowstone boss says
Trump administration
is forcing him out
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
James Poulson/
The Daily Sitka Sentinel
John Petraborg holds up a
35-pound moonfish, also
known as opah and normal-
ly found in the deep waters
near Hawaii, on board his
troller Roulette at ANB Har-
bor in Sitka, Alaska, in 2005.
Honolulu, where Underkoffler
was working several years ago
when Garrett Kitazaki flagged
the big-eyed opah for her and
her colleague Megan Luers,
another study co-author.
BILLINGS, Mont. —
Yellowstone National Park’s
superintendent said Thurs-
day that he’s being forced out
as a “punitive action” follow-
ing disagreements with the
Trump administration over
how many bison the park can
sustain, a longstanding source
of conflict between park offi-
cials and ranchers in neigh-
boring Montana.
Superintendent Dan Wenk
announced last week that he
intended to retire March 30,
2019, after being offered a
transfer he didn’t want. He
said he was informed this
week by National Park Ser-
vice Acting Director Paul
“Dan” Smith that a new super-
intendent will be in place in
August and that Wenk will be
gone by then.
“I feel this is a punitive
action, but I don’t know for
sure,” Wenk told The Associ-
ated Press.
He wasn’t given a reason
and said the only dispute he’s
had with U.S. Interior Secre-
tary Ryan Zinke, who over-
sees the park service, was
over bison.
Ranchers in neighboring
Montana have long sought
reductions in Yellowstone’s
bison numbers because of
worries that they could spread
the disease brucellosis to cat-
tle and compete with livestock
for grazing space outside the
park. Brucellosis causes ani-
mals to prematurely abort
their young and can be trans-
mitted through birthing mate-
rial. It also can infect people.
Sobering report teases out factors leading to suicides
Rates up in
nearly every state
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Suicide rates
inched up in nearly every U.S.
state from 1999 through 2016,
according to a new govern-
ment report released Thursday.
More than half of suicides
in 2015 in a subgroup of 27
states were among people with
no known mental health con-
dition, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found.
Suicide is rarely caused by any
single factor, health officials
said, but information from cor-
oners’ reports suggest many of
the deaths followed relation-
ship problems, substance use
and financial crises.
Prevention efforts, often
focused on mental health,
could be broadened to focus on
people undergoing life stresses
like job losses or divorces, the
CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat said
in a media briefing.
“Suicide is more than a
mental health issue,” Schuchat
said. “We don’t think we can
just leave this to the mental
health system to manage.”
Suicide is the 10th lead-
ing cause of death and one of
just three leading causes that
are on the rise. The others are
Alzheimer’s disease and drug
overdoses.
There were nearly 45,000
suicides in 2016. Middle-
aged adults — ages 45 to 64
— had the largest rate increase,
rising to 19.2 per 100,000 in
2016 from 13.2 per 100,000 in
1999.
The report said people with-
out known mental health prob-
lems were more likely to die by
firearms than those with known
mental health problems.
Family members or friends
concerned about someone who
is struggling can ask directly
about suicide and remove fire-
arms or any other means the
person is considering from the
home, said Jennifer Stuber,
director of Forefront Suicide
Prevention at the University of
Washington in Seattle.
Prevention efforts are best
done when “people can get
help solving the underlying
drivers of the problems caus-
ing them to feel hopeless and
despair,” Stuber said.
The CDC report comes at a
time of heightened attention to
the issue with the suicide this
week of designer Kate Spade.
The designer’s husband, Andy
Spade, has said she suffered
from depression and anxiety
for many years.
Overall, the rate rose to
15.4 per 100,000 in 2014-2016
from 12.3 per 100,000 in 1999-
2001. Rates ranged from 6.9
per 100,000 in the District of
Columbia to 29.2 per 100,000
in Montana.
Twenty-five states saw per-
centage rate increases of more
than 30 percent over the 17
years.
The overall data came from
coded death certificate records.
The information on contribut-
ing factors reflect what fam-
ily and friends told coro-
ners and police in a subgroup
of states participating in the
CDC’s National Violent Death
Reporting System. In the one-
year analysis of 27 states, opi-
oids were found in 31 percent
of the 3,003 suicides involving
drug overdoses.
The CDC said the 27
states represent nearly half
the U.S. population but can-
not be considered nationally
representative.
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