8 Things We Now Know About Sharks & Rays
The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. According to NOAA, just 26.1 percent of the global seafloor had been “mapped with high-resolution technology.” Clearly, there’s a lot we don’t know about these vast, deep waters and their inhabitants. With hundreds of different identified shark and stingray species, we still have so much to discover! Here are eight shark- and stingray-related findings that have made the headlines in the 12 months since Greater Cleveland Aquarium celebrated Fin Fest 2023.
1: THE STINGRAY SHUFFLE
Recent scientific findings suggest that shuffling can help those who want to avoid being struck by stingrays buried in the sand. Vibrations from these little movements alert rays and give them time to move out of harm’s way. Taking tiny steps also means surfers and ocean lovers are less likely to squish a ray midbody. Stepping down where the rays’ organs are located “makes them strike 85 percent of the time,” say researchers from California State University, Long Beach.
2: LEAN & NOT SO MEAN?
The megalodon has so captured the popular imagination that despite being extinct for millions of years, it is the titular star of a box office franchise starring Jason Statham. Depicted as massively terrifying on the big screen, scientists reevaluating fossil records think the “the meg” might have been somewhat longer, possibly less agile and significantly thinner than previously believed.
3: OH BABY!
A wildlife photographer and filmmaker took footage of a shark off the coast of Carpinteria, California, that might be a newborn great white. IF (and that’s a big IF) it is a baby great white pictured, the imagery could verify that female sharks give birth in the area from Santa Barbara to Baja California. “Anything that gives clues to the lifecycle of their reproductive behaviors of any species is really important in understanding and preventing their decline or extinction,” noted Northeastern University professor Dan Distel.
In related news, the existence of a shark nursery near the “Big Apple” was confirmed. The urban location is believed to be “the primary nursery for North Atlantic great whites, where juveniles learn to feed, navigate and evade predators in relative safety.”
4: PALEONTOLOGY ROCKS
Two new-to-science sharks—Troglocladodus trimblei and Glikmanius careforum—were identified via fossils found in Mammoth Cave National Park, an area that would have been covered by a seaway hundreds of millions of years ago. Meanwhile, an exceptionally well-preserved fossil found in a Mexican quarry is expanding our understanding of the body shape and feeding habits of a distant relative of the modern-day great white shark.
5: WARMING UP TO THE IDEA
Researchers were surprised to only recently discover the globally endangered basking shark might be partially warm-blooded. While the majority of fish are ectothermic and cannot regulate their body temperatures, a few have been found to be regional endotherms, meaning they cannot generate heat in parts of their bodies. “The basking shark is a shining example of how little we know about shark species in general,” zoologist Haley Dolton commented.
6: GHOST HUNTERS
A deep-sea survey discovered a new fish species with an otherworldly appearance. A distant shark and ray relative, the primitive chimaera, or ghost shark, had “giant, glow-in-the-dark eyes, a huge head and feather-like fins.”
7: NOT KISSING COUSINS
When an apparent pregnancy of a lone female ray in North Carolina sparked wild public speculation, the public learned that (due to anatomy and genetics) there was no way that a round stingray could have mated with a neighboring bamboo shark. Although some species of sharks and rays are capable of parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction, it was eventually reported that this stingray had a rare reproductive disease that led to its loss.
8: GOING THE DISTANCE
Researchers documented a silky shark traveling 17,190 miles—by far the most extensive migration recorded to-date for this overfished and vulnerable species. Tracking showed “Genie” journeying into international waters. The study’s authors believe the long migratory pathway reinforces that international coordination is imperative to help reverse the declining populations of silky sharks.
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We dive for a variety of reasons. To commune with nature, to unwind, to explore. Our “pale blue dot,” as astrophysicist and author Carl Sagan pointed out, is just a “very small stage in a vast cosmic arena,” but perhaps by diving in we can learn to better appreciate that fragile ecosystem largely invisible to us as we commute between school, work and the grocery store in our busy daily lives.
Scuba diving and Cleveland, Ohio . . . sort of go together like peanut butter and monkey wrenches, right? I challenge you to find one of those “101 Places to Dive Before You Die” books with a cover that isn’t turquoise, tropical and filled with colorful reef fish. And yet Cleveland has its own extensive dive community. Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes, has hundreds of shipwrecks to explore and is serviced by several dive shops that teach classes, sell gear, and organize trips all over the world. Northeast Ohio is home to around 4.5 million people and an untold amount of scuba divers who love to explore the waters in their own backyard as well as adventure to distant places to see what there is to see in the 70% of our planet that is underwater.