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.
The paper presents the reasons why large predators of great ecological importance cannot supply the rising demand for shark fins, which is driven by profits that rival the drug trade and involves the fisheries of nations around the globe. They have essentially run out of fish so are targeting sharks now that the shark fin trade has made them valuable.
Development of a vaccine against Covid-19 could come at the expense of sharks, researchers warn; A key ingredient used in vaccines to enhance immune response and increase effectiveness, squalene — an oily substance found in plants and even human skin — is particularly concentrated in shark livers.
Many divers dream of the day they find themselves swimming beside a whale shark. Its gentle demeanour and huge size presents a unique humbling experience that is second to none.
Yet, there is much we still do not know about whale sharks.
Today, one of their hidden mysteries have been unlocked–their age.
Until recently, it was hard to fix a number to their age, as they do not have bony structures (otoliths) which are traditionally used to calculate the age of fish.
What we see is that sharks are being targeted by international factory fleets around the world who trail millions upon millions of baited hooks through their realm, trawl the sea floors for rays, skates and other bottom dwellers to 4,000 metres, and slaughter them by the millions. Sharks are the only profitable prey remaining, now that ninety percent of the original (fish) fisheries are fished out.
Standing on the swim step, trying to time my entry with a gap in the dozen or more lemon sharks circling directly below me was a bit daunting the first go around. Of course, the sharks knew this routine well and skillfully avoided my clumsy splash into the water. The reward waiting beneath the surface was an assemblage of sharks that cannot be collectively encountered anywhere else in the world.
Tiger Beach in the Bahamas is firmly established as one of those global dive destinations of which almost everybody has heard. Its fame is largely derived from the many published images of its most celebrated visitor—Galeocerdo cuvier, the tiger shark.
“You’re crazy; I don’t get in the water with bitey things!” The announcement of my impending great white shark trip drew a variety of such responses from horrified friends. The undisputed bad boys of the shark world, great whites are the largest of all predatory sharks, reaching lengths of up to 6m and weighing in at over 2,000kg.
So as the Year of the Shark in 2019 begins, here is a review of how their actions reveal some of their mental states.
After studying 611 fishes from different sites in Rowley Shoals and Scott Reefs in northwest Australia, scientists discovered that having fewer sharks around caused the fishes in the vicinity to develop smaller eyes and tails.
The lead researcher, Kye Adams, a PhD student at the University of Wollongong, said that shark fishermen should be made aware of the danger of inducing abortions in pregnant sharks, rays, or skates. So far, the loss of the young aborted by fished sharks has been ignored by both science and fishermen.
Adams said, "It's quite prevalent across a lot of species and also seems to be not well known by both researchers and recreational fishers. "They don't realise these events are abortions, they think they are witnessing a natural birth."
