Tonight - Lecture To Explore Juvenile White Shark Research

The Orange County Natural History Lecture Series will present a look at the Juvenile White Shark Research Project from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Back Bay Science Center in Newport Beach.

The evening will include a presentation by Christopher G. Lowe, who will share some of his findings and insight into the biology and behavior of white sharks in southern California. Lowe and his team are collaborating with Monterey Bay Aquarium as part of the Juvenile white shark research program, according to a statement.

The team works with fishers who capture the sharks in their nets, assessing and tagging them for release.

“Their work has indicated that southern California is an important nursery ground for juvenile white sharks and that sharks spend their summers here close to beaches, but move to the warmer waters of Baja in the winter,” the release states.

Lowe has run the Shark Lab at California State University at Long Beach since 1998.

The Back Bay Science Center is located at 600 Shellmaker Road. The gates will open at 6:30 pm.

To reserve a spot, call (949) 644-3038.

California Shark Research - Nuclear Options

Question: How do you age validate sharks?

Unlike trees or even mammals sharks are cartilaginous, they do not have bones or tree rings to look over after they die.

Bones and tree rings can give you the age of your target research specimen pretty quickly. With most shark species that's a much harder proposition.

Enter some smart folks at the Pacific Shark Research Center in California who are doing age validation of sharks and rays using radiocarbon isotopes.

As it turns out above ground testing of nukes in the 50's and 60's dropped these isotopes (¹⁴C) all over the planet and for a time every living thing on the planet had higher levels in their bodies. By tracking these higher levels in cartilage researchers can get a pretty accurate look at the age of long lived sharks like the white shark.

For more information go here.

Vanishing Salmon - A California Thing

As avid fly fishermen we have seen the effects of vanishing salmon in Northern California first hand - it's not a pretty sight. There are some first rate habitat and wildcare orgs out there tackling this serious and growing problem head on. One of them is SPAWN who have our complete support. Regional efforts for wildlife are sometimes where your best efforts make the most sense - even if these are not sharks:


QUEST on KQED Public Media.

Salmon Shark Mystery or Media Push?

Salmon Shark young of the year have been washing up along the coasts of both California and Oregon over the past three years with increasing frequency. At least one "marine expert" thinks there's something fishy going on...we're not so sure:

First came the fang-toothed lancetfish, washing up on Oregon beaches last spring and summer.

Then came the young salmon sharks -- which resemble baby great whites -- turning up on the sand through October.

Now Bill Hanshumaker, a marine education specialist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, wants to figure out why at least 10 or more of each species beached up on Oregon shores in the past several months. It's not unusual to find a few each summer, but this year's high numbers remain a mystery.

Critters You Never Want to Bathe With...

Out of Boston this morning a critter story about one of the most disgusting animals you could ever not hope to encounter. The Sea Lamprey.

We have encountered these critters on the Pacific coast fly fishing for Salmon and can testify to their absolute and unredeemed "ick factor".

Turns out they are once again making news-this time in Lake Champlain. Before you all start screaming "It's da global warming!" read the article:

BURLINGTON, Vt. -The ancient creature attaches itself to the body of its prey with the rasp-like teeth lining its jawless maw, punctures the skin with its chisel of a tongue, and then slowly sucks out the victim's blood.

Editors Note: To keep this sharky-there's a deep water critter called the Cookie Cutter shark that feeds by taking small circular chunks 'o flesh from it's victims. While not as gruesome as the Lamprey Eel, it's something to take notice of.

California Great Whites in Full Swing

Occasionally we drop by the Shark Research Committee's website for a quick update on the state of great whites in California. Looks like it has been another busy month:

Newport Beach — On October 13, 2008 Tom Cupp was surfing near the Newport Beach River Jetties at Newport Beach. It was 5:30 PM with a clear sky and moderate Santa Ana winds. Cupp reported the following: “I was surfing and sitting very close to shore waiting for the next set and a seal swam in front of me, maybe 75 yards out from my location jumping in and out of the water like it was being chased. It was heading North about 100 yards then it tried to get out of the water, but a man was standing on the shore. The seal looked at the man for a minute or two then decided to swim South. I saw the seal’s head surface in front of me three times and again it was about 75 yards beyond me. Trailing the seal by about 50 yards I saw a triangular shaped fin that was 18 inches above water. It submerged after a couple of seconds but I got a good look at the fin and it was a shark. There was also a dead dolphin on shore but it did not appear to have any bite marks on it."

Ocean Beach — On October 13, 2008 Ryan Sincic was surfing at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. It was 11:00 AM and the sky was clear and the ocean calm. He had been on the water about one hour. One marine mammal was observed prior to the encounter. Sincic recounted the following; “While surfing outside the break, about 50-70 meters from shore, I saw a very large black fin with a white base come up above the water level. It moved horizontally along the water for 2-3 seconds and then disappeared. It came very high out of the water as well, higher then dolphins normally do. The fin was probably less then 15 meters from me, so I got a really good look at it including the details of the markings. My first reaction was ‘that was the biggest dolphin I have ever seen,’ my second thought was ‘wait that was way too big to be a dolphin.’ I continued to watch the fin to see if would surface again. It did not. I went online to see videos of dolphins and Great White Sharks to compare, and the size and markings on this fin resembled the inferior side of a pelvic fin of a very large Great White Shark. If I had to estimate the size of the fish I saw I would say definitely more than 10 feet. I swam in toward shore near a group of surfers, one of which also saw the fin as well and said it was very dark and very large.”

Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

Lowly Leopards in La Jolla-Chris Bahnsen

Chris Bahnsen, shark writer and adventure seeker extraordinaire, has just completed another article about shark diving for the L.A Times.

His subject this time-the lowly Leopard Shark-a shark species in our opinion that gets virtually no play in California, even though this critter is simply gorgeous to look at.

You'll remember Chris from the expose he did on Shark Diver a few seasons ago for the L.A Times:

As many as 30 sharks skulk around these waters most of the year. Those numbers grow to more than 200 animals during the hottest months of July through mid-September, when water temps max at 70 degrees. Locals explain away the summer shark phenomenon as a breeding ritual, but, among scientists, this behavior is not fully understood.

Teamshark California-What Became of Them?

Off the coast of California there used to be a company called Team Shark. They were one of the original blue and mako shark operations in California.

We say "used to be" because aside from a cool website this company has effectively dropped off anyone's radar.

So we ask the question of the day:

What happened to Team Shark?

If you happen to know or work with these guys feel free to alert us, we're as curious as the next shark blog... and that would be all three of us!

U.S. Shark Conservation Act - Act Now!

Melanie from Shark Trust Wines sent in this email this morning.

While the rest of America celebrates the 4th today please take 5 minutes out of your day to do something for the sharks. They need your help more than ever:

U.S. Shark Conservation Act

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the Shark Conservation Act of 2008 on Tuesday, July 8. The bill aims to close loopholes in the national fining ban, prohibit the removal of shark fins at sea, and encourage international shark conservation.

U.S. citizens wishing to support the bill should contact their Representatives as soon as possible. To find yours, go to www.house.gov and type in your zip code in upper left corner of page.

Tierney Thys Researcher-TED

O.K, so we got a crush on Monterey's Mola researcher Tierney Thys. There we said it.

Now-let's get on to the video. We blogged about this in December and with the current "Mola Crisis" off the shores of California (they have vanished) we thought another look at this most unlikely of critters would be timely:

Giant squid found off Santa Cruz dissected by researchers

You KNOW we never pass up a good giant squid story, so when this one hit our desk it landed with a local splat.

Researchers have discovered the remains of, and are 99 percent certain that they have a giant squid, only four or five of which have ever been found in California waters, according to John Field, a fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Santa Cruz.

Found off the California coast only about 40% of the critter was still intact. By all accounts what has been left for study will make a lot of calamari.

TED-If You Don't Know, You Should

Robert Ballard-Speaking at the TED conference back in 2007. Why are we looking into space when we have unexplored oceans right here?

Join him on a 16 minute trip to 70% of the planet:

Great White Sharks- Southern California Map

The California Great White Shark map (click for larger image) detailing the latest shark sightings up and down the So Cal coast lines in 2008.

If you happen to surf-Huntington Beach seems pretty active.

June 1. 2008
A great white shark was spotted two miles offshore near Doheny State Beach today by a whale watching charter boat.

Captain Chad Steffen said the shark, about 15-foot long, was cruising alongside the Ocean Adventure catamaran at about 2:30 p.m. when it caught his eye. A marine biologist on board also saw the shark, but by the time Steffen tried to swing the boat around for spectators to get a look, it was gone.

Underwater Times Reports:Giant Squid Caymans

From the good folks over at the Underwater Times the following story of one of our favourite critters in the ocean, the squid.

This rather large 7 foot specimen was found by local fishermen in of all places the Cayman Islands.

After 10 years of diving these islands we have never seen anything like this...apparently no one on the Caymans have seen anything like this either:

George Town, Cayman Islands (May 21, 2008 15:40 EST) A rare squid found floating on the surface of the ocean about 5 miles south of Little Cayman this weekend has been positively identifed as Asperoteuthis.

Local fisherman Derren Burlington, who was taking part in the Brac Jackpot Fishing Tournament, discovered the 24lbs 4oz creature, which is over 7 feet (2.5m) long, on Saturday 18 May at around 9:00 am, and transported it to the Little Cayman Research Centre operated by the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI).

Dr. Clyde Roper, Emeritus Zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution, has confirmed that it is only the fourth specimen known in the entire Atlantic Ocean. He said all other specimens known of this species – a dozen or so – have been found in the Indo-Pacific waters.

White Sharks+Inflatable Boat=Not a Good Idea

What happens when you get hired to tow a dead Blue Whale carcass off the coast of California in an inflatable vessel?

1. You attract a Great White shark

2. You attract another Blue Whale

3. The Great White you attract decides to "sample and deflate" part of your vessel

If you answered three you get to watch this video. Lesson for the day, if you happen to own an inflatable vessel, never deploy it in white shark rich waters. Of course there are those who would disagree:

Great White Lies-"Fair and Balanced Media"

This mornings news from San Diego also included this article about white sharks. In the aftermath of a recent shark attack near here this piece serves as a critical look at the myths and biology of the great white shark.

Overall the reporting is fair-if not "glossy".

Enduring myths about sharks create mistaken identity

May 15, 2008

Peter Benchley once said he could not have written “Jaws,” his best-selling 1974 novel about a giant white shark terrorizing a New England beach town, if he knew then what he later learned.
“When I wrote 'Jaws,' I really didn't know much about sharks,” Benchley said in 2002. “There wasn't a lot of material about them.”

These days, much more is known about white sharks. (The “great” is a misnomer. It's not part of the species' traditional or scientific name.) Benchley, who died in 2006, came to be an ardent advocate of stronger efforts to protect and understand sharks.

Click link for complete article.

Christie Fisher and "One Eyed Jack"

The two images you are looking at were taken at Tiger Beach in 2007 and 2008. Shark Diver Christie Fisher has been diving with us for 4 years now. She's also been honing her underwater shark photog skills. To say she's become fearless in her new pursuit is a complete understatement.

In 2007 she was introduced to a frisky Lemon shark who's one eye was damaged beyond repair. This particular animal from the looks of things took a "liking" to Christie.

This week she was going through her images and emailed us:

"This is the SAME shark (One-Eyed Jack)!! I was looking
through last year's pictures tonight and noticed the eye again."

There's a lot going on at Tiger Beach with the sharky wildlife at this site. Having the same Lemon shark in what is usually a complete cloud of critters show up two years in a row is why divers come here year after year.

For Christie it's just another day at her new office in the Bahamas.

Shark Diving-New Website for Six-Gills

If you were not at the Northwest Dive Travel Expo last weekend you missed one of the most exciting dive operations to hit the West Coast in the past 5 years.

Hydrus has pioneered Six-Gill caged shark feeding encounters in the waters off of the Pacific Northwest. Thus far Team Hydrus has played host to many of the old timers in the film and dive industry who are always first to "sniff out" the next big thing. Howard Hall and company to mention some names.

"We were the first team in history to successfully attract and dive with Six Gill Sharks in shallow water while the animals were feeding. Over a 5-year period we created a one-of-a-kind program to attract Six Gill sharks. During those years we documented animal behavior never seen before by scientists, started documenting the behavior of individual animals, designed and build many custom pieces of equipment to enhance the observation experience, and conducted a “proof of concept” event at the Seattle Aquarium, which helped them start their Six Gill Shark research program."

Dust off those camera housings and seal up that dry suit...it's Six-Gill time!

Busting a Shark Myth Wide Open

This image and story have been making the rounds on the Internet like a Nigerian Bank Email. Unfortunately both image and story are completely fake.

It's a classic Underwater Onion.

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS FIRST BEFORE LOOKING AT PICTURE.

Family on vacation in Australia for a week and a half when husband, wife and their 15 year old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the navy and has had some scuba experience. His son wanted a picture of his mom and dad in all their gear so he got the under water camera ready to go. When it came to taking the picture the dad realized that the son looked like he was panicking as he took it and gave the 'OK' hand sign to see if he was all right.

The son took the picture and swam to the surface and back to the boat as quick as he could so the mom and dad followed to see if he was OK. When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat and absolutely panicking. When the parents asked why, he said 'there was a shark behind you.' The dad thought he was joking but the skipper of the boat said it was true but they wouldn't believe him. As soon as they got back to the hotel they loaded the picture onto the laptop and this is what they saw.

Giant Squid Video-Autopsy

The Giant Squid autopsy from New Zealand we blogged about earlier this week now has a video for your review. Thanks to the good folks at current.com for sending this in.

While it's not an alien autopsy, it might as well be.Rumor is these are also tasty critters: