Fish and aquatic news

No less than 215 anglers from throughout the UK participated in the 2009 Scottish Sharkatag organised by the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN).

This Monday, a Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was caught by a Taitung fisherman off the coast of Taiwan.

The famous Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed near Bakersfield has tantalized the imagination of scientists and laymen alike since it was first discovered in the 1850s. How did a six-to-20-inch-thick layer of fossil bones, gigantic shark teeth and turtle shells three times the size of today’s leatherbacks come to be?

Just like dolphins, sharks can be trained to roll over to be cuddled by humans. In experiments carried out in the United States, several species of shark allowed themselves to be picked up from the water and cuddled by their trainers.

“We are not asking fishermen to stop fishing, only asking them to start releasing their catch,” says marine scientist Edd Brooks.

Brooks is a scientific advisor for the not-for-profit Company Shark-Free Marina Initiative, SFMI, who has just instigated a new strategy for preventing the deaths of millions of sharks belonging to vulnerable or endangered species.

Four Pacific Angel sharks have been born at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, USA. The pups weighed between 115 and 120 grams at birth and measured 21-24 cm.

If you want to learn more about how the charismatic creatures known as stingrays feed, you should check out a new study published in the most recent issue of Neotropical Ichthyology.

Shark fin soup has traditionally been a must-have among well-to-do Asians and an essential part of the menu at commemorative dinners, such as wedding banquets and New Years celebrations in countries like China, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Is ritual slaughtering of animals on the beach to blame for two fatal shark attacks in the waters off Port St Johns this year?

After two young men died after being attacked by sharks, a task team was set up to investigate the attacks and their conclusion, presented in an official report released on Tuesday, is that the sharks were attracted to the beach by the smell of blood and other animal remains from the ritual slaughtering of animals.

While conducting magnetic experiments in 2006, the company SharkDefense Technologies discovered how certain metal alloys would keep sharks away by affecting the shark’s electric sense.

The Spanish police have seized 11 tonnes of shark fins in destined to be shipped to Hong Kong.

According to a statement from the police, the shark fins did not appear to come from a protected species but were found in a warehouse that lacked authorization to export shark fins.

Basking sharks have surprised researchers by leaving the cold waters of the north Atlantic during fall and head down to Bahamas and the Caribbean. …

The elusive Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is such an uncommon sight that only 42 confirmed reports of this fish exists since the species was first scientifically described in 1976.

The most recent report, the 42nd one, comes from a group of Philippine fishermen from the city of Donsol who accidently caught a four-metre long specimen while trawling for mackerel.

According to a new report from Ningaloo Reef, the number of whale sharks in its waters is on the increase. The study, published in the journal Endangered Species Research (ESR), was made possible thanks to ECOCEAN – a new type of online photo-identification technology.

In Australia, a live shark was dumped on the doorstep of The Standard’s Raglan Parade office in Warrnambool shortly after midnight on April 22.

Fortunately for the shark, a local resident passed by, saw the shark, and alerted the police.