Latest Sharks Stories
Hit-and-run attacks by sharks can be solved with a new technique that identifies the culprits by the unique chomp they put on their victims, according to a University of Florida researcher and shark expert.In a method analogous to analyzing human fingerprints, scientists can make identifications by precisely comparing shark bites to the jaws and teeth of the powerful predators, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, which is housed at UF's Florida Museum of...
These breakthrough findings provide strong evidence for enacting international trade protection for hammerhead sharks at the March 2010 CITES meeting in QatarMillions of shark fins are sold at market each year to satisfy the demand for shark fin soup, a Chinese delicacy, but it has been impossible to pinpoint which sharks from which regions are most threatened by this trade. Now, groundbreaking new DNA research has, for the first time, traced scalloped hammerhead shark fins from the...
Hammerhead sharks are some of the Ocean's most distinctive residents. 'Everyone wants to understand why they have this strange head shape,' says Michelle McComb from Florida Atlantic University. One possible reason is the shark's vision. 'Perhaps their visual field has been enhanced by their weird head shape,' says McComb, giving the sharks excellent stereovision and depth perception. However, according to McComb, there were two schools of thought on this theory. In 1942, G. Walls speculated...
The white shark may be the ultimate loner of the ocean, cruising thousands of miles in a solitary trek, but a team of researchers has discovered that the sharks have maintained such a consistent pattern of migration that over tens of thousands of years the white sharks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have separated themselves into a population genetically distinct from sharks elsewhere in the world."White sharks are a large, highly mobile species," said Salvador Jorgensen, a...
Researchers gained 3 more Sharks for Adoption WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Non-profit organization Iemanya Oceanica today announced the addition of 3 newly tagged whale sharks to their family of sharks for research and conservation. The 3 new sharks are available to the public for adoption online and represent the need for urgent conservation of sharks. The organization's Adopt A Shark Program now has a total of 10 sharks that, with the aide of the tags, will...
ILLINGEN, Germany, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Underwater photographer Klaus Jost has been pursuing his fascination with great whites, tiger sharks and bull sharks many for years and follows these impressive animals up close in their natural habitat. His incentive, however, is not just to share his unique photographs with the public on his homepage http://www.jostimages.com but also to contribute to the protection of these animals. "I would like to use these photographs of the great white to...
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating San Francisco Bay's enigmatic shark species, Aquarium of the Bay, in partnership with Sea Stewards, presents SHARKtober, a month-long event focusing on the local shark population. SHARKtober celebrates the White Sharks' annual return to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, while increasing awareness of the five different species of sharks that live in the Bay. Shark-related activities will take place all month at the...
The Pacific Republic of Palau is banning all commercial shark fishing in its waters in an effort to create the world's first "shark sanctuary", BBC News reported.President Johnson Toribiong announced the sanctuary during Friday's session of the UN General Assembly.Many conservationists are calling it a "game-changing" move, as half of the world's oceanic sharks at risk of extinction. As a result, some 230,000 sq miles of ocean, an area about the size of France, will be...
NEW YORK, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Matt Rand, director of the Pew Environment Group's Global Shark Conservation Campaign, issued the following statement in response to the United Nations General Assembly address by Johnson Toribiong, president of the Pacific island country of Palau: "The declaration that Palau will become the world's first international shark sanctuary helps fill a dire need to save sharks. Sharks have inhabited our planet for more than 400 million years, but...
20 openings available to tag sharks in Baja California LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Non-profit organization Iemanya Oceanica today announced that they are organizing a shark-tagging research expedition to Baja California in October 2009. The organization is actively seeking up to 20 scuba divers/snorkelers from the Southern California community as a means to educating consumers to the challenging processes of today's ocean preservation efforts. Departing the L.A. Area...
Latest Sharks Reference Libraries
The barbeled houndshark is found off the western coast of Africa from Mauritania to northern Angola, occasionally found in the Mediterranean Sea. It lives on the sea floor generally around river mouths where the bottom is muddy at depths up to 246 feet, and the water temperature is 68 - 81 °F. The barbeled houndshark is a very active swimmer having a slender body, long tail, the eyes are oval and set horizontally on the head; behind each eye there is a tiny sphere. It has a long arched...
The Nurse Shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum, is a shark in the nurse sharks family, the only member of its genus Ginglymostoma. It may reach a length of 14.1 ft (4.3 m). Taxonomy The name nurse shark is thought to be a corruption of nusse, a name which once referred to the Catsharks of the family Scyliorhinidae. The nurse shark family name, Ginglymostomatidae, derives from the Greek words for hinge and mouth. Distribution and habitat The nurse shark is a common inshore bottom-dwelling...
The Bala shark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, also known as the tricolor shark, silver shark, or shark minnow, is a schooling community fish of family Cyprinidae and the sole member of the genus Balantiocheilos. This species is not a true shark, but is commonly called a "shark" because of its torpedo-shaped body and large fins. Native Habitat The Bala shark's native habitats include streams and rivers in Southeast Asia (Sumatra, Thailand, Borneo, Malaysia, etc.) Aquarium Care...
The Pilot fish (Naucrates ductor) is a carnivorous fish that is a horse mackerel and belongs to the Carangidae family of fishes. It is widely distributed and lives in warm or tropical open seas. The Pilot fish is known for following large vessels and sharks, where it feeds on parasites and leftovers. Its relationship with sharks has been described as nearly symbiotic: it is extremely rare that a shark will feed on a pilot fish, and smaller pilot fish are frequently observed swimming into...
The long-tailed thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus, is a thresher shark inhabiting tropical and temperate waters worldwide. Like all thresher sharks, it has a very long upper lobe of the caudal fin, sometimes as long as the body. Its body is brown or grey with a white underside. They can grow to about 25 ft in length and 750 lb. Thresher sharks often hunt in groups or pairs, stunning their prey with their tails before feeding on it. They mostly eat other fish and squid, but have been known to...
