Spawn

The hundreds of thousands of dead fish that flooded the Pagasetic Gulf off the eastern coast of mainland Greece in recent days died of natural causes and not of poisoning by an industrial effluent or some other toxin, an Environment Ministry official said on Saturday.

As sea turtle spawning season has commenced along the beaches of Alanya district in the southern province of Antalya, the urgency to safeguard these delicate creatures at the brink of extinction has come to the fore.

The nesting and spawning phase of sea turtles in southern province of Antalya's Çıralı Beach has been protected by three volunteers for 25 years.

Sea turtles come to this beach every year to nest and lay their eggs. The new-born turtles that meet with the sea do not forget the beach where they opened their eyes to the world and come back years later and build their nests.

The migration of pearl mullets, a fish species living in the Lake Van region, has started. The fish migrate through the lake's tributaries in May and June for the spawning season every year, but they always have to contend with predatory seagulls that try to hunt them.

The female octopus meticulously takes care of her eggs until they hatch, not eating the entire time. She blows current across the eggs to keep them clean and protects them from predators. They incubate from two to 10 months depending on the species and water temperature and are on their own once they hatch, giving them a 1% survival rate.