Latest Sharks Stories
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...
Officials said 1,261 live fish, including seven sharks, have arrived in Britain following a 4,000-mile plane ride from Barbados. Biologists with the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, England, said only 21 small fish died before the plane was unloaded in Exeter, England. The rest were taken to the aquarium, The Sun reported Wednesday. The fish, which came from a Barbados aquarium, include four 10-foot-long nurse sharks and three 6-foot-long blacktip reef sharks. The pilot could feel the...
LOS ANGELES and LONDON, Sep. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- 3D Entertainment Distribution proudly announced today that its unique trilogy of underwater-themed films for IMAX(R) 3D and Digital 3D cinemas -- "Ocean Wonderland 3D" (2003), "Sharks 3D: A Close Encounter with the Lions and Tigers of the Ocean" (2005) and "Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean" (2008) -- has reached a new milestone with over USD 70 million cumulated to date at the worldwide box office, and still counting. The films have...
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Experience an astonishing up-close encounter with the lions and tigers of the ocean when "Sharks" comes to the giant screen of the Dr. Phillips CineDome at the Orlando Science Center. Come face-to-face with a multitude of shark species, including the Great White, Hammerhead, and Whale shark. The film premieres during an ocean-themed Cocktails & Cosmos social event on Saturday, September 19, 2009, and daily public viewings continue through Spring...
Shark attacks worldwide are rare, with only 40 reported so far in 2009, a Texas A&M University at Galveston marine biologist said. The reason you hear so much about a shark attack when it occurs is the 'fear factor,' Andre Landry said. When you're in the water, you never really know what is lurking under you or near you. He said common sense should prevent any worries about shark attacks. Sharks don't go after humans, they only attack humans when they are mistaken for a food source or...
People have a greater chance of dying from a bee sting or eating peanuts than they do from being attacked by a shark, a Texas scientist said. When you consider all of the millions of people in the water all over the world at any given moment, the number of shark attacks is really extremely minute, said Andre Landry, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University. So far this year, just 40 shark attacks have been reported worldwide with no fatalities, Landry said in a release Friday. Sharks...
Study May Prove Useful in Conservation Efforts for Over-Fished Sharks A long-term field and DNA study by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, University of Miami, Field Museum of Chicago and others has shown that young lemon sharks born at the Bimini islands, Bahamas, tend to stay near their coastal birthplace for many years. While shark research and conservation typically focuses on baby sharks confined to shallow habitats, or ocean-roaming adults, less is...
A 9-year-old Washington state boy said it took him almost an hour to land a 150-pound sixgill shark while fishing with his grandparents near Burien. Cosmo Miller, 9, said he used a 30-pound test line to reel in the shark while fishing last week with his grandparents in Puget Sound, The Seattle Times reported Friday. It was really hard, Cosmo said, but I had a really big fishing pole. The boy, who released the shark after taking pictures for posterity, said it wasn't his first encounter with...
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...
