There is a recently developed term making its way into common use amongst the wider dive community, and that term is, citizen scientist. The science community is waking up to the fact that the common man and woman are valuable resources for acquiring many missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle that is marine research, particularly for migratory species
It has been widely known that sharks have a special sensory organ on their heads, called the ampullae of Lorenzini, which enable them to detect the very weak electrical fields that prey emit when they swim or bleed.
But now scientists have found that a gel-like substance plays a big role in this process known as electroreception, explaining why sharks pursue bloody victims, even when other easy target´s prey is around, and the gushing blood obscures the shark´s vision and smell.
Their Bahamas-based Manta Ray Cognition project leader Csilla Ari reported in her blog that a newly-introduced manta at the Atlantis Aquarium may be of a previously undescribed species.
Here is the blog entry and you can go to the full report by following the link below.
