Look down into the waters of the Venice canals today and there is a surprising sight – not just a clear view of the sandy bed, but shoals of tiny fish, scuttling crabs and multi-coloured plant-life.

Whale watchers in Eyjafjörður, North Iceland, witnessed something new and exciting during a tour last weekend. A marine biologist describes the hunting behaviour as unique and something never before seen around Iceland.

Several dozen oil-covered seabirds have been discovered on the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago in recent days and weeks. The environment agency website states that most of the birds were found around the harbour on Heimaey and on Klauf beach. Oiled birds were first noticed as long ago as the start of this year.

Seals have suffered serious infections of the heart and lungs. Veterinarians do not yet know the cause.

A number of oil-soaked seabirds have come ashore in the Westman Islands in recent days.  Most of the birds have been found in the harbour on Heimaey Island and just off the coast of the Stórhöfði peninsula on the far end of the island.

At Unalaska's Tom Madsen Airport, temperatures haven't dropped below freezing yet this month. And in Cold Bay, the average temperature is running more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, making this the second warmest start to February since World War II.

Even if a storm does hit Western Alaska, thicker sea ice will always be more resistant than last year’s ice was at this time, a climatologist says.

The extreme weather "Elsa" left its mark along the Norwegian coast on Monday night until Tuesday. In many places the water has gone far above the ordinary flood level and many cellars have been filled with water.

Climate change has allowed spotted seals to find new hunting grounds, but the marine mammals ultimately depend on sea ice to survive.

Major rescue operation on the island of Sakhalin went on for two days. Some of the fishermen made their way back to safety on ice floes, using ice diggers as oars.

Several rainfall records in Nordland have already been struck. Now a warning has been sent out for even more of the same. - We are in the top tier of what we have measured by rainfall over the last 100 years, says meteorologist Bente Wahl.

Conception Bay South was dealt a hard hand by what some have dubbed the ‘storm of the century.’ At least two local churches, Topsail United and All Saints in Foxtrap saw siding ripped off their steeples by the 120 kph winds.The most extensive damage was along the coastline, with both CBS mayor Terry French and Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club Commodore Larry LeDrew estimating millions of dollars worth of damage.

Roughly 60 dead starfish were scattered on a stretch of beach about 1/4-mile long, showing potential signs of sea star wasting disease.

Ringed seal Cloudberry was rescued from Quilty by Seal Rescue Ireland after being seen in Kerry.

Sipilä said that during his 40 years working for state-owned parks and wildlife management agency Metsähallitus, he has never seen such poor ice conditions in January.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said photographer Marissa Baecker, who was visiting White Rock from Kelowna on Christmas Day. “It wasn’t just a feeding, it was a feast.”

People in White Rock, B.C. are used to seeing fish in their waters but not quite like this.

Hundreds upon hundreds of specimens known as "sea pickles" washed up on Monterey Bay beaches on Thursday. As explained by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, "Big waves and strong currents are pushing pyrosomes onto local beaches.

Ocean temperatures as much as 6 degrees higher than usual are developing off the east coast.