Juvenile shark presence in an area does NOT mean that that area is a shark pupping or nursery ground. So how do we know what actually makes a shark nursery ground? What even IS a nursery ground? Is it different than a pupping ground? Why does any of this matter? Find out this week with our special guest, Dr. Michelle Heupel! Dr. Heupel joins us to talk about her article, "Shark nursery areas: concepts, definition, characterization and assumptions" (Heupel et al. 2007). Article Summary: Shark nursery habitats are critical areas that sharks rely on for their early life stages. However, the cri ..read more

This week we talk with Dr. Haley Dolton about how she studied the physiology of basking sharks in Ireland! This is no small feat. We read Dr. Dolton's article, "Regional endothermic traits in planktivorous basking sharks Cetohinus maximus" Article Summary: The majority of sharks are classified as cold-blooded or ectotherms. Sharks are constantly battling heat loss to the surrounding water. To combat this, some fast-swimming apex species are classified as regional endotherms, having uncommon physiological traits such as elevated internal body temperatures, centralized red muscle, and thick-wa ..read more

From the Vault - This episode was recorded with Dr. Brit Finucci back in 2022! But.... life happens. We are so excited to finally share this episode with our sharkies! Join us this week to hear about Dr. Finucci's work studying deep sea sharks and their associations with each other! How do you even research deep sea sharks? How many species are there? How do sharks glow in the dark? Find out this and more! The article we are reviewing with Dr. Finucci is titled, "Aggregations and associations in deep-sea chondrichthyans" Summary (modified abstract): Group living has been recorded across a di ..read more

This week we are joined by Dr. Julia Mason to talk about fishers ecological knowledge of Smooth Hammerhead sharks in Peru! Why is it important to incorporate fishers into management decisions? Why aren't they always included in the management discussion of species they target? Find out this and more! We read Dr. Julia Mason's article, Fishers' solutions for hammerhead shark conservation in Peru Article Summary: Shark populations have been declining worldwide, with heavy implications for the health of our oceans. The increase in regulations put forth by both national and international entitie ..read more

Happy New Year Sharkies! Join us as we talk about why we took such a long hiatus, our favorite shark experiences of 2023, and what's to come for Sharkpedia in 2024 ..read more

This week we are joined by Dr. Ana Martins, a postdoctoral researcher at Dalhousie University studying the shark meat trade. The shark fin and meat trade is a common media topic but angler knowledge and opinions seem to be rarely incorporated into these discussions. In her home country of Brazil, Dr. Martins utilized angler knowledge to uncover trends in the shark meat trade. Listen through the episode until the end for a rather fishy field story which will have you laughing in your seat.  The article which is the base of our discussion this week is, "Analysis of the supply chain and cons ..read more

This week we join Kate McKinnon as Miss Frizzle on the Magic School Bus to explore shark noses up close! Just kidding. But we do have shark-nose-specialist Dr. Lauren Simonitis! We break down her article Microstructure of the BonnetHead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo) Olfactory Rosette. (Simonitis & Marshall 2022). Learn all you could need to know about shark noses and more!  Summary: The weird shape of hammerhead sharks means that their naris or noses are also weirdly shaped. Previous research has shown that the flow of water in hammerhead noses has a complex structure that changes the pressu ..read more

Just in time for Shark Week, we're going down under to investigate what warming waters will do to the distribution of tiger sharks on the east coast of Australia with tiger shark expert, Dr. Yuri Niella!  This week we break down Dr. Yuri Niella et al. (2021) article, "Forecasting intraspecific changes in distribution of a wide-ranging marine predator under climate change." Article Summary: (modified abstract) Climate change is causing animal distributions to shift in response to changing temperatures. Typically shifts in these behaviors are evaluated at the species level, but in this stud ..read more

Have you ever wondered how sharks perpetually regenerate their teeth? Why can't humans do the same thing, or can they?! This week expert Dr. Gareth Fraser joins us to tell us all about this special shark superpower. We jump into Dr. Fraser's article, "The Dental Lamina: An Essential Structure for Perpetual Tooth Regeneration in Sharks" (Fraser et al. 2020) Article Summary: Methods of studying evolutionary, development, and regenerative biology have been improving over the past few years. This paper utilizes the embryonic small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) using new techniques that ..read more

Manta ray research using drones?! This week guest expert Vicky Fong joins us to tell us all about the swimming behavior of manta rays, and why understanding these behaviors can be important for their conservation! We jump into Vicky's article, "Using Drones to Assess Volitional Swimming Kinematics of Manta Ray Behaviors in the Wild" (Fong, Hoffmann, and Pate; 2022) Article Summary: (abstract) Drones have become increasingly popular tools to study marine megafauna but are underutilized in batoid research. They used drones to collect video data of manta ray (Mobula cf. birostris) swimming and as ..read more