Before nice white sharks migrate north to Cape Cod for the summer time and fall, shark researchers are attempting to determine the place and when the apex predators mate.
Right now in early April, lots of the East Coast nice whites are off the North Carolina coast, and scientists from the nonprofit OCEARCH will probably be heading to the area quickly to gather knowledge from sharks.
The researchers hope to pattern mature white sharks to resolve probably the most elusive piece of the Western North Atlantic white shark puzzle: when and the place they breed.
“Our comprehensive studies of the white shark, the ocean’s top predator, are in their final stages in the Western North Atlantic, and now we turn our attention to a gap that still remains,” mentioned OCEARCH Chief Scientist Bob Hueter. “This is the nice migration of sharks from their overwintering grounds off the southeast U.S. in the direction of their summer time feeding areas, as rising spring temperatures and lightweight ranges sign to the sharks that it’s time to maneuver.
“Before they go, we seek to study the sharks’ condition after their winter south, and in particular, the reproductive state of the adult sharks,” Hueter added.
The science workforce will gather blood samples from the mature sharks off North Carolina, which will probably be used to measure hormone ranges. Also, ultrasound expertise will probably be used to scan mature females and consider their reproductive standing.
The researchers hope to evaluate the presence of seminal fluid and sperm in males, and mating wounds on females.
“Seeing the adults off the Outer Banks region is challenging, as they are spread out and ocean conditions can be rough, but we need data and samples from this part of the population to put the last pieces of the Western North Atlantic white shark puzzle into places,” Hueter mentioned.
Other vital research embrace assessing what these sharks are consuming once they’re down south, what contaminants they encounter there, and the way they take care of varied challenges to their well being and survival.
OCEARCH may even apply tags to the white sharks they examine and launch, permitting the workforce and the general public alike to trace the animals for years to return.
OCEARCH’s Western North Atlantic White Shark Study features a full well being evaluation of every shark, microbiological research, motion, temperature and depth research by means of the usage of three completely different tags, and extra.
With 88 sharks already studied within the Western North Atlantic, OCEARCH is within the final levels of their pattern assortment on this area. The workforce has simply 12 sharks left to succeed in their aim of 100 sharks sampled and tagged within the Western North Atlantic.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”