Oh Nova! As if we didn't have enough worries about our food supply, now a lethal (to salmon) virus that previously had only been seen in fish farms has been found in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest. This could be really bad, and not just for fans of bagels. Farms hit by the infectious salmon anemia virus in the past decades have seen 70 percent or more of their stock wiped out. In the wild, such a blight could be disastrous not just for the fish, but also for animals in their ecosystems (like bears) that live off them. What's worse, the disease wasn't even lethal until we started forcing salmon into fish farms. more ›

For a while there, Gary the fish was living the dream. The 15-inch gourami was living off of Kit-Kats, day in and day out, with nary a care in the world. But then, like so many candy bar-weaned fish before him, Gary grew too large for one person to care for. His owner donated him to the SeaLife Aquarium in London, and now, Gary is going on a diet. more ›

In a situation that immediately calls to mind the great Montauk Monster fiasco of 2008, a giant, prehistoric-looking monster from another world was dragged out of the East River over the weekend. Anybody hungry? more ›

As soon as the new year hit, pretty much exactly at the stroke of midnight, dead birds started falling from the sky. This is either some sick marketing scheme for Angry Birds, or the apocalypse is upon us. While we haven't started seeing dead pigeons raining down on us here in New York (yet), the mass animal deaths are continuing around the world. It seemed to begin with hundreds of thousands of dead birds and fish in Arkansas, which is alarming enough on its own, but then Louisiana saw hundreds of dead blackbirds falling from the sky, and now the Daily News is reporting on the doomsday scenario... though they neglect to mention the thousands of doves that fell from the sky in Italy! More on that later. more ›

As you have definitely heard by now, 100,000 dead fish went belly up last week on a 20 mile stretch along the Arkansas River, and then on New Year's Eve—just before the witching hour—thousands of red-winged blackbirds fell dead from the sky (also in Arkansas). But Arkansas is so far away and we live in New York City and we're all going to live forever and nothing can touch us. Well this thing is moving, people, and yesterday an estimated 500 red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in Louisiana. Necropsies show that the birds suffered internal injuries that formed blood clots, which led to their deaths. As Louisiana local Denise Dickerson proclaimed: "This is really getting kind of crazy with the fish and the birds and these tornadoes hitting during the winter." more ›

Yesterday, a grossed-out tipster sent us a few photos of a fish exchange between Bob Gosman Company Inc. and Upper East Side gourmet market Agata & Valentina that resulted in some hefty seafood being left on the sidewalk, unattended, for upwards of ten minutes. And while that fish will most likely be skinned and filleted so that no street-contaminated meat will be sold, we were more concerned that ten minutes on a hot sidewalk could mean rancid meat. But a friendly employee at Bob Gosman assured us that no such thing could happen because of "the hour rule." more ›

When it comes to fines, the Prospect Park Enforcement Patrol officers are slack on summonsing litterbugs, but have no problem ticketing an unleashed pup. And now according to the Brooklyn Paper, they turn a blind eye to law-breaking fishermen as well. more ›

A new expensive home design trend is just taking a page from the MTV Cribs book! The NY Times' Home section has a very detailed article about oversized aquariums that designers are now incorporating into clients' abodes. One says, "[Typical clients] have a collection of cars, of motorcycles, of art, they have three dogs. It’s like, ‘What else, what’s the next thing to wow my friends?’ It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d see in high-end interior design, but that’s being reconsidered." more ›

Tracy Morgan, whose fish tank in an ugly Trump Place rental sparked a fire (okay, the tank's lamp was the culprit) in his apartment, has put the Upper West Side chapter of his colorful life behind him. According to New York, he's moved into a "posh"-sounding place in the West 50s "with four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, private parking, and a 1,000-square-foot terrace with views of the city. It’s unclear what he’s paying, though the landlord was recently asking $14,900 a month, with no explicit rules about aquariums." Two words to all renters, not just ones who may be living next to Morgan: Renter's insurance. more ›

Flickr user ibexclusive posted this photograph of a pretty nice-looking fish caught in the East River. NYCFishing.com, which says, "Upper East Side urban anglers don't need to travel to Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx or Long Island to go fishing. We have good fishing right in our back yard, John Finley Walk Way, along the FDR Drive," has more evidence of the bounty in the river and recommends this discussion on Noreast about East River fishing. more ›

The American Museum of Natural History is suing American Airlines over a delivery of African fish samples which were to be studied in the hall of artifacts. Part of the "Congo Project," the museum had sponsored students from the University of Kinsasha to collect rare fish samples from the river. However, when the barrels arrived in Brussels last October, officials found they were leaky and full of maggots, and had them destroyed. The museum is seeking $25,000 in damages for the missing fish and "loss of research." They are also investigating infestation claims because the "fish specimens had been preserved in a solution of formalin and then double-bagged, creating an environment in which no maggot or pest could survive." more ›

Buttkiss, the old Queens fish we wrote about last year, has made it all the way to NPR! The black pacu is about to turn 44 years old (though we were told he was 41 back in September), which is twice the normal lifespan of these fish. more ›

A huge aquarium with sharks, rays, penguins and more may be coming to Times Square. More animals for the a zoo! The developer, Toronto resident Jerry Shefsky says he’s signed preliminary papers to rent an office building on the west side of the square. Though the agreement isn’t final yet, he hopes the $100 million project will get underway by April. An aquarium in a skyscraper? Whatever! Shefksy, who’s built aquariums and shopping centers worldwide agrees: "It's anything but an aquarium in the format you might imagine," he said. more ›

Did you know that in Japan, restaurants waste virtually nothing, and cooks transform unused ingredients like fish heads, bones, vegetable peels and scraps of wagyu beef into dishes eaten during the staff meals, or "makanai"? Supposedly, this act of extraneous alchemy yields delicious results, and EN Japanese Brasserie in the West Village is starting a regular series of special feasts using all these leftover bits. more ›

A Staten Island seaport received nearly 22 tons of frozen tilapia — valued at $49,000 — but the freshwater fish got away before the importers could pick them up, a new lawsuit alleges. According to the Staten Island Advance, Great American Seafood Imports LLC says it was wronged by the New York Container Terminal, where 43,500 pounds of seafood somehow went missing in 2008. The massive shipment of frozen fish arrived from China on Dec. 12, 2008. But when Great American Seafood tried to pick up the delivery on Dec. 16, the tilapia had already been given "to an unknown person and/or entity," according to court documents. It remains unclear what happened to the fish. more ›

A Queens man could face almost three years in jail after he was caught trying to smuggle a suitcase full of endangered fish from Malaysia to JFK. And Chee Thye Chaw, 47, probably would have gotten away with it too, if the airline hadn't lost his luggage. Chaw allegedly packed 16 live Bonytongues in plastic water bags inside a styrofoam-lined suitcase. The fish are highly sought-after and sell for $5,000 to $8,000 in Chinatown; some say the metallic-looking Bonytongues bring instant wealth and good luck. Like when you luck out and the airline loses your luggage! more ›

It's a fad that seems tailor-made for jokes about stupid city-slickers: sophisticated ladies are paying good money to put their feet in a water tank and let fish suck off their dead skin. It's long been popular in Asia, and now the process is catching on in New York, where beauty parlors like Ritz Nails in Astoria have charged customers $50 for the privilege of feeding carp with their feet. It seems like a win-win for everyone involved, but Senator Jeff Klein wants to ban the practice! That's too bad, because as this video shows, Post reporter Jennifer Fermino has a lot of dead skin and could feed thousands of hungry fish. (We called Ritz Nails and the owner told us that since the Post story broke, he's no longer doing the carp pedicure, because, "I don't want to be famous.") more ›

After a campaign to get 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan to join Twitter, he has finally joined—"His rep confirmed to Gossip Cop that he signed up this morning." His Twitter handle: RealTracyMorgan. First Tweet: "Welcome To Tracy Morgans World..." Aw, yeah—maybe now he can Twitter about his fish tanks (like imagine the Tweets he would have sent when they caught fire!) and whatever else pops into his mind. more ›

"Big fish eat little fish," says the wisdom of the city. Meet Buttkiss, the black pacu who has eaten more than 175,000 fish during his residence in Queens. “We feed him twenty-five goldfish every other day,” says Steve Gruebel, the owner of Cameo Pet Shop in Richmond Hill. You do the math. He’s been in the shop continuously since 1970, becoming a Richmond Hill landmark in that time. more ›

Oh no: The Staten Island Advance reports on some sad news about the beautiful fish tanks in the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal: Apparently only 40 of the 400 tropical fish have survived since being introduced last year.

Over the past 12 months, most of the delicate fish have died; some became the lunch of aggressive tankmates, while others were stressed from people banging on the glass, aquarium experts said. Aquarists have said the fish were also stressed because the constant lighting in the bright terminal kept them from having a necessary restorative sleep cycle. more ›

Hey pescatarians (that means you too, "vegetarians" who eat fish), you are officially on PETA's radar. Newsday is reporting that "in attempt to pressure consumers with guilt, the group wants fish to be rebranded as 'sea kittens'." They've launched a website and set up a fact sheet about sea kittens, saying they feel pain and affection. more ›

Neighbors' apartment smells can be a constant source of frustration, but a group of nuns are suing two tenants for stinking up a Gramercy-area building. The Post reports that the Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart, which owns 201 East 19th Street, accuse Gloria and Michael Lim of "caus[ing] noxious, foul and harmful odors to emanate from the [apartment] into the common areas...as well into other apartments." One time, the fire department was called because people were convinced someone had died in the building; the FDNY focused on the Lims' apartment, where Gloria Lim said she was "smoking and drying fish." Since the Lims reportedly refused to "stop the stank or at least open their windows," the Missionary Sisters are trying to block Lim from further fishy antics and for $75,000 in damages. more ›

You just can't have nice things on Staten Island. When Gloria and Eric Glickman woke up Monday morning to feed the koi in their gorgeous backyard man-made pond, they were shocked to discover that between eight and 10 of their "prizewinning" (seriously) Japanese fish had vanished! more ›

This week Frank Bruni files two shorter reviews for the Times instead of handing down his usual hefty decision on a single restaurant. He heads east to follow up on Sushi Yashuda on 43rd Street, declaring that from the time it opened "more than eight years ago, when William Grimes awarded it three stars in The New York Times, it has been among the best. And a recent visit suggested that there’s been no slippage, no drift." On the other hand, the expensive new urban rustic restaurant Forge, the premiere of Marc Forgione (son of famous chef Larry Forgione), is stillborn: Like Ziggy Marley or Sofia Coppola, Marc Forgione has chosen to follow in some daunting paternal footsteps... I found the kitchen’s performance inconsistent, and on one visit the wait for food was ridiculously long, especially since the restaurant wasn’t crowded. It has scores of seats to fill, most alluringly in its spacious bar area. There you can enjoy house cocktails mixed with real thought, not just sops to the fashion of the times." more ›

The Department of Environmental Conservation says the Indian Point nuclear plant kills hundreds of thousands--if not millions--of fish and eggs each year. According to the Post, the fish are "sucked to their death by the cooling system." The plant's owner, Entergy, had previously claimed the fish populations were fine. Related: Entergy has agreed to pay NY State $72 million a year through 2014. There are concerns the company's spin-off plans could end up costing tax-payers, but Attorney General Cuomo seems okay with the plan so far, "I'm pleased that in this period of economic belt tightening, my office's vigilance saved the State from being ripped off by Entergy." more ›

The new fish tanks at the Staten Island Ferry terminal have already prompted two complaints. But not the kind you think: The Staten Island Advance reports "two ferry riders expressed their annoyance that they missed their ride because they were too busy admiring the fish and didn't hear the announcements the boat was boarding." more ›

A reported fish fatality in the Staten Island Ferry's newly installed $750,000 fish tanks has spurred a lively discussion about what could be happening to the scaly creatures on SILive's forums. One poster wrote the fish death (perhaps the second) was "possibly a princess parrot fish...By 7:30AM it hadn't become a meal yet, but some of his buddies were starting to show some [interest]." more ›