LONG BEACH (USA)- A new bill proposes a five-year, 4 million dollar budget to fund research, education and monitoring of white sharks in southern California. With this budget researchers and marine biologists of SharkLab will have the power to know where sharks are, why they hang out in certain California hotspots and when they will migrate back to the area […]
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Sixgill sharks that live in the Atlantic Ocean are different from their relatives that live in the Indian Ocean. A team of scientists led by Florida Institute of Technology’s Toby Daly-Engel confirmed this after genetic testing. So we welcome the Atlantic Sixgill Shark to the large family of shark species. Using 1,310 base pairs of two mitochondrial genes, Daly-Engel, an […]
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LOS ANGELES (USA)- 2017 saw more shark sightings and shark attacks along the US Pacific Coast than the years before. Last year saw a total of 9 authenticated unprovoked shark attacks, according to the report of the Shark Research Committee. None were fatal. Eight of the attacks took place along the coast of California and one in the state of Washington. […]
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MIAMI (USA)- If you think of sharks you think of apex predators, of hunters and fisheaters. Yet some shark species enjoy their veggies. Like Bonnethead sharks, a small species of hammerhead shark. Thanks to a special enzyme they can digest seagrass and live a flexitarian life. Bonnethead shark can be found amongst others in the seagrass meadows in the Gulf of Mexico. […]
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CAPE TOWN (South Africa)- A little added stress may be helpful to flee a dangerous situation, or to meet an approaching deadline. But what if you continuously live in stressful situations, where in the lurky cold waters the great white death awaits you? Researchers of the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that Cape […]
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MANCHESTER (UK)- Forget about baiting, hooking and filming sharks for research. New methods are at rise. What about monitoring sharks through samples of seawater? Now a UK study, published in Scientific Reports, has shown it is possible to monitor these animals via environmental DNA (eDNA), whereby a sample of seawater can provide the identifiable ‘tracks’ of numerous species of shark. Like forensic detectives […]
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Shark diversity and abundance is highest in remote reefs, as far as 25 hours away from main cities. That’s the conclusion of an international study conducted in the New Caledonia archipelago. The authors urge to protect remote coral reefs, as only 1.5% on the entire planet – including a third of this found in the Natural Park of the Coral Sea […]
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