Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overharvest, due to their slow maturity and reproductive cycles. Shark meat, cartilage, and other products are consumed and sold in many countries around the world, with varying degrees of formal protection or regulation of shark fisheries, making global attempts at conservation a tricky matter. The International Union for the Conservation […]
Article First record of recurring reproduction of captive tawny nurse sharks Nebrius ferrugineus. 2019. The fisheries Society of the British Isles. Lewis N. Cocks, Jonathan K.L. Mee, Alex P. Shepherd Sharks have been kept in public aquariums since the 1860s. Many different species of sharks can be found in aquariums around the world, but […]
Eat or be eaten is the way of the ocean, and many marine species have adapted ways to accomplish one while avoiding the other. The velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) is a small deep sea dogfish species found in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Lanternsharks get their name from their ability to light up like a […]
Did you know there could be shark in your dog or cat’s food? Did you know they could also be in your beauty products? Now that you’re back from reading your product labels, I’ll tell you the bad news. They might be there even if it isn’t on the label. Keep reading to learn how […]
Article Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries. Nuno Queiroz, Nicolas E. Humphries, et al. Nature (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1444-4 Background Over the past 50 years, world fisheries production has increased significantly. Many studies have shown fishing impacts on ocean health. Beyond the direct effects of fish removal, fishing causes an indirect […]
Drymon, J. M., K. Feldheim, A. M. V. Fournier, E. A. Seubert, A. E. Jefferson, A. M. Kroetz, and S. P. Powers. 2019. Tiger sharks eat songbirds: scavenging a windfall of nutrients from the sky. Ecology 00(00):e02728. 10.1002/ecy.2728 Tiger sharks are well known to be opportunistic feeders, and that description isn’t limited to just live […]
If you’ve ever tickled the back of a stingray in an aquarium’s touch tank, you’ve likely introduced yourself to a cownose ray. Despite their popularity in aquaria throughout the U.S., little is known about the movements of these fish in the wild. Grace CasselberryI am currently a Marine Science and Technology Doctoral student at the […]
Check out the latest from Matt Larsen about shark habitat around the globe, and how these areas overlap with fishing hotspots! Matthew LarsenI am a second year master’s student at Coastal Carolina University in the Abel Lab. My interests focus on the ecology and life history of large marine megafauna with a central focus on […]
People often associate intelligence with mammals because humans are mammals and we like to think of ourselves as being pretty smart. The movie Deep Blue Sea toys with the concept of genetically modified hyper-intelligent sharks running loose in a research facility. While this Sci-Fi thriller is a sensational over-exaggeration, it does pose an interesting question: […]
A few months ago, I wrote about sawfish research in Papua New Guinea, but if you live in the U.S. you can find sawfish much closer to home. The smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) once roamed throughout the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast, but now calls South Florida, particularly Everglades National Park, home. […]
Everyone knows all sharks are carnivores. Or are they? Grace CasselberryI am currently a Marine Science and Technology Doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I use acoustic and satellite telemetry to study the spatial ecology of lemon, nurse, Caribbean reef, and tiger sharks in St. Croix to better understand habitat selection, residency, and […]
Fear of sharks has been a long standing yet irrational notion facing beachgoers for decades. Herein we discuss how we may be able to curb this fear to change public opinion and promote conservation efforts of many species. Carolyn WheelerI am currently a PhD student studying marine science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, with […]
Happy Shark Week! In this article we discuss the potential use of disco-like stimuli to deter various species sharks from being accidentally caught in fisheries. Carolyn WheelerI am currently a PhD student studying marine science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, with my research based at the New England Aquarium. My research interests center around […]
We often think of sharks as the top of the ocean food web, chowing down on seals and big fish to their heart’s content. That is often not the case! Where does the Caribbean reef shark fall in this hierarchy? Let’s find out. Grace CasselberryI am currently a Marine Science and Technology Doctoral student at […]
What if I told you sharks have cousins that are so morphologically distinct, they swim around sporting a toothy, chainsaw-like projection between their eyes, called a rostrum? Now what if I told you that largely because of that unique rostrum, these are some of the most endangered shark relatives in the world? Don’t lose hope! […]
If I asked you to name a migrating shark, you might list pelagic ocean rovers like the white (Carcharodon carcharias), shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), or maybe even the filter feeding whale (Rhincodon typus) shark. I would be willing to bet that no one would say “the nurse shark of course!” With their new paper, long-time […]
Check out this article about how tourist pictures of whale sharks are helping scientists learn about whale shark populations around the globe! Matthew LarsenI am a second year master’s student at Coastal Carolina University in the Abel Lab. My interests focus on the ecology and life history of large marine megafauna with a central focus […]
A Prehistoric Nightmare? The Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon), or “big tooth” is arguably one of the scariest creatures that has ever roamed the ocean. You may have heard about the Megalodon as a prehistoric gigantic shark that dominated the ocean millions of years ago, or even that scientists are still looking for them today, just like […]
Capturing pregnant elasmobranchs can induce stress-related abortions. Read more to understand why and what can be done to prevent this! Aditi TripathyHello! I received my B.S. Marine Biology with a minor in Acoustics at the University of Rhode Island. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student at the University of New Hampshire with a research focus […]
Through my journey as a shark defender, I have realized the most challenging obstacle to tackle is the fear of sharks, rather than the actual killing of sharks; most people never encounter a shark in their lifetime, yet they are still scared of them and therefore don’t take the time to think much about shark […]