S.O.S: Save Our Sharks @sosharks - Tumblr Blog

MASSIVE GREAT WHITE SHARK PALEO-NURSERY DISCOVERED IN CHILE

For the first time, researchers have discovered the first prehistoric nursery site for Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) from fossil beds in tthe arid coast of northern Chile.

Great white sharks give birth in essential habitats, where young reside and grow in a safe place, free of predators and with plenty food. According to Jaime Villafana (University of Vienna), who led the study, “our understanding about current breending ground of great white sharks is still very limited, and fossil-nurseries are completely unknown”, until now, with the first clues.

He and colleagues analyzed statistically fossil teeth, from the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru, and reconstucted the body size and distribution patterns of the great white sharks in the past, from 5 to 2 million years ago. They found a high percentage of young sharks, in northern Chile, where sexually mature animals were completely absent. According to researchers, this fossil-nursery was much warmer than today, in terms of water depth, this area is interpreted as a shallow marine environment, with abundance presence of invertebrate organism, as bigger animals as horn sharks and semiaquatic ground sloths. This old nursery area is located in what is now the port of Coquimbo, a city with nearly 500,000 inhabitants.

- Researchers used fossil teeth, the only record left by the sharks, and through a regression, they modeled the size of the sharks that inhabited the place.

The earliest-known fossils of the great white shark are about 16 million years old, and despite its importance as top predator, they are currently threatened with extinction. This discovery provides a better understanding of the evolutionary success of one of the largest top predator in today’s oceans and could contribute to the protection of current nursery areas found in areas of South Africa, California, Australia, the Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

Photo: Great white shark at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, August 2006, photo by Terry Goss.

Reference (Open Access): Villafana et al., 2020. First evidence of a palaeo-nursery area of the great white shark, Scientific Reports.

[Photo description: Main photo, Mature and healthy female white shark surrounded by a lot of small fishes. She is swimming below the water, but near the surface.

utwo

B L U E Planet by :

mbari-blog

To celebrate Halloween, we’re bringing you some ghostly critters from the deep!

Ghostshark and ratfish are common names used for a chimaera, a group of unusual fishes which, despite the common name, isn’t really a shark at all! Their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone.

The males have prominent reproductive features called claspers, and the females lay eggs in leathery cases. These characteristics make sharks and rays their closest living relatives, but about 400 million years ago they branched off the evolutionary tree from those groups, remaining isolated ever since.

Most species have a venomous spine in front of their dorsal fin. One of the oldest and yet least known groups of fishes alive today, ghost sharks are deep-dwelling and rarely seen alive. They can be found at depths to 2,600 meters (8,500 feet).

magnificogreatwhites

Discover Sharks

Words by @calypsostarcharters female shark showing off swimming on her back! We do not see them do this very often at all, in fact it was the first time Captain Dave had seen it himself! Footage by guest @wendy_b_l_.

marine-conservation

Greenland sharks also don't reproduce until they're around 150 years old, a new study says.

Yet another reason why sharks are the coolest!

A new study published in Science from scientists at the University of Copenhagen have estimated that Greenland sharks can live up to be 400 years old! The team used radiocarbon dating and analyzed the ages of proteins built up in 28 female sharks’ eye lenses, and thus was able to estimate their ages. This revealed a life span of at least 272 years. Since they live to be so old, they don’t reach sexual maturity until they’re about 150.

The largest shark in the study was 16.5 feet (five meters) in length and was estimated to be approximately 392 years old. There is some uncertainty with this number though but the researchers did determine with a 95% certainty that this shark was between 272 and 512 years old, and most likely around 390.

Greenland sharks can be found swimming slowly throughout the cold, deep waters of the North Atlantic. They are essentially blind but have a fantastic sense of smell which allows them to hunt. This new finding makes these sharks the longest-living vertebrates on the planet, beating the 211-year-old bowhead whale which was holding the previous record.

You can find the full study in Science.

rumwik

laughingsquid

Scientists Determine Greenland Shark To Be Longest Living Vertebrae With Lifespan Up to 400 Years

Yao Ming, the eight-time NBA all-star who played for the Houston Rockets from 2002 to 2011, is a conservation all-star in his own right. Through a partnership with the conservation organization WildAid, Ming has become the face of the movement to end the consumption of shark fins in China....

#sosharks #sharks

alexandertheswell-deactivated20

I LOVE SHARKS!!!!!!!!

skeetbucket

THIS IS MY FAVORITE VIDEO EVER

bird-baby

this is so fantastic do not skip this

thrustytheclown

@bisexual-trash

A little good news to start the afternoon.

#sosharks #sharks

iguanamouth

FOR LIKE YEARS I'VE IMAGINED A SHARK WITH RLY NICE LEGS AND FISH NET TIGHTS AND HEELS BUT I CANT DRAW BUT I CAN SEE IT CAN U PLS DRAW IT

for YEARS huh why you gotta drag me into your shark leg fetish NAH how about

#artists on tumblr #because

#sosharks #sharks #science

sketchshark

The stingray bra.

sosharks

#because

heliocathus1

I wanted to draw some shark babies <333

*:･ﾟ✧AVALIABLE as THINGS on REDBUBBLE! [x] [x] [x]*:･ﾟ✧

magicastrology

let’s discuss something that i haven’t seen much around tumblr lately.

i suppose those who don’t live nearby the ocean don’t recognize the issue of ocean pollution and the lives it has an effect on (including ours). underneath our oceans, which covers the majority of our planet, is a huge problem. so, of course, i am here to educate you with some facts you may not have known.

640,000 tons of fishing gear is lost in our oceans every single year, which combined, weighs more than the Titanic. [x]

many of the plastics used in fishing gear are very durable. some are expected to last in our oceans for 600 years. [x]

136,000 sea mammals become entangled and trapped in nets and lines every year, and that’s not including fish. being trapped in the nets for a long period of time can cause the sea mammals to drown, or unable to find food. they can also become entangled in these nets, and accidentally choke, cut, or injure themselves. [x]

plastic is the most common element found in the ocean and is often confused as food by marine animals. so many animals are dying due to choking, intestinal blockage, and starvation. it’s also very harmful to our environment as it does not break down easily. [x]

plastic debris can absorb toxic chemicals from ocean pollution, therefore poisoning whatever eats it. In fact, plastic pollution is one of the most serious threats to the ocean. plastic does not degrade; instead, it breaks down into progressively smaller pieces, but never disappears. they then attract more debris. it poses a significant health threat to the various sea creatures, and to the entire marine ecosystem. overall, plastic is the number one source of pollution in the ocean. [x]

small animals at the bottom of food chain absorb the chemicals as part of their food. these small animals are then eaten by larger animals that again increases the concentration of chemicals. animals at the top of hierarchy of food chain have contamination levels millions times higher than the water in which they live. [x]

oil and chemicals from local industries can leak and seep through the soil and eventually enter ocean currents.

there are more than 400 known dead zones worldwide, where there are low oxygen concentrations due to no life in that area. this is usually because of pollution.

at Puget Sound in Washington, a dead gray whale was washed up on the shore. it had been in good health, but inside of it’s body was about 20 plastic bags, surgical gloves, plastic pieces, a pair of sweat pants, a golf ball, and other things we discard into our oceans. this has happened on several occasions. [x]

how it affects us:

honestly, after reading the facts above, and you still need a reason to care, then continue reading.

people get contaminated easily by eating contaminated seafood that can cause serious health problems, from cancer to damage to immune system.

pollution also has huge costs for taxpayers and local governments that must clean this trash off of beaches and streets to protect public health. the national resources defense council analyzed a survey of 95 California communities and found their total reported annual costs for preventing litter from becoming pollution is $428 million per year. [x]

um???? unclean water, obviously??

how to help:

advocate and tell global leaders to cooperate on fresh water

donate to organizations such as WWF, Blue Voice, World Animal Protection, and Ocean Conservancy

symbolically “adopt” an animal

pick up trash when you go to the beach to prevent it from going into the ocean

reblog this post and spread the information

these poor creatures can’t fend for themselves, so we have to try and be their voice. together we can clean our oceans and help the sea mammals and fish who are affected by pollution.