bluntnose sixgill shark

The Cape Eleuthera Institute, located in the sunny Bahamas, has just begun a new study this past week, which aims to figure out the numbers and diveristy of deep ocean sharks living in the calm waters of the all too popular tourist destination.

The scientists behind this new study include: Lucy Howey-Jordan, of Microwave Telemetry Incorprated; Dr. Demian Chapman, of Stony Brook University; and Dr. Dean Grubbs, of Florida State University. This group of savvy researchers has traveled to the Cape Eleuthera Institute to help get the project on its feet, and have had some great success.

During three days, performing six different surveys, the group managed to reel in six different species of deep water sharks. The sharks reeled in included some 13 foot bluntnose sixgill sharks, and even an 18 inch, which is still fully grown, sawtail catshark.

We don’t really know a whole lot about the myriad of species which dwell in the depths of our oceans and this is no less true when we talk about deep ocean sharks. Of all the current species of sharks known to man, fifty-six percent of them dwell below 600 feet of water. Of these fifty-six percent, only five of the species encompassed have life history, and only three species have movement patterns mapped out.

This study aims to change all that, and they are off to a good start. It hasn’t been at all harmful to the local tourism industry either. While the teams are buying goods and provisions locally, tourists are also being drawn to the research as well.