So I asked leading shark ethologist and behaviourist, Professor Samuel 'doc' Gruber to elaborate. After pointing out how much pain women feel when they give birth, making the point that suffering has no effect on reproduction, he reminded me that sharks evolved their mating behaviours and the physical structures involved, separately from other animals.
New research, mentioned in a post on National Geographic, suggests that great white sharks can change colour—perhaps as a camouflage strategy to sneak up on prey.
A team of researchers from Murdoch University, the New England Aquarium and Mote Marine Laboratory who have been tagging and monitoring several species of sharks in the Gulf of Mexico discovered that some sharks share resources by foraging at different times.
Complex interactions and conflicts between protected populations may challenge the recovery of whole ecosystems. Several factors indicate that white sharks may be currently limiting the recovery of California sea otters.
Protected white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) and pinnipeds have an established predator–prey relationship along the California coast.
White sharks are considered threatened by the IUCN Red List, and though they are protected at state, federal, and global scales, their current status in the northeastern Pacific is debated.
Text by David McGuire
Imagine witnessing a white spot moving quickly up from below. From a blur of white and gray, it turns into an open mouth, two black eyes, and large wing-like fins. In three seconds, the image transforms from a vague spot to a great white grin. Five rows (with two protruding rows) of around 300 triangular serrated teeth line a jaw of cartilage around one meter (three feet) wide in a mature great white shark sized around 5 to 6 meters (16.5 to 20 feet).
The great hammerhead shark is categorized as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That’s the designation just before “extinct in the wild.” The species is highly threatened with extinction.
To that end, the Center for Biological Diversity has submitted a petition urging the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect the great hammerhead shark under the Endangered Species Act.
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As whale sharks assemble in coastal regions to spend substantial time in surface waters, experts theorised collisions with ships could be causing substantial whale shark deaths. Previously, there was no way of monitoring this threat.
Scientists from 50 international research institutions and universities tracked both whale shark and ship movements across the globe to pinpoint areas of risk and potential collisions. Satellite-tracked data from nearly 350 whale sharks was submitted to the Global Shark Movement Project, conducted by MBA researchers.
A neonate (newly hatched) ghost shark was found in the net during a trawling survey at about 1,200 metres below sea level. The survey had been conducted by NIWA to estimate the population of blue grenadier (hoki fish) at the Chatham Rise, off New Zealand’s South Island.
Its body was translucent and gelatinous, and it had two giant eyes on its pointed head—with a belly full of egg yolk. "You can tell this ghost shark recently hatched because it has a full belly of egg yolk," said Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist from National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
Florida International University (FIU) marine scientist Yannis Papastamatiou, Ph.D. candidate Sarah Luongo, and a collaborative team of researchers wanted to uncover some of the mysteries of the white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) that gather seasonally around Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
