“John Morgan, a 51-year-old surf shop owner from the east coast tourist town of Byron Bay, compared his terrifying 170-foot ride off a local beach to being towed by a jet ski. He said he was about 330 yards from shore and paddling out when the 10-foot shark swelled up from underneath him Sunday afternoon. ‘It freaked me out,’ Morgan said. ‘It bumped my leg rope and next thing it tangled itself in the leg rope and started charging out to sea with me in tow.’” [Link]

Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand’s Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish. A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks. It’s “exciting when you come across a new species,” said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “All the fish people go nuts about that – but you have to take it with a grain of salt.” [Link]