Victoria Czupta UR- Let's go fishing

So a day has been set to get some shark fishing accomplished. The fishers are at their marks, ready to catch what's out there and win with the biggest catch! And the bell starts the tournament! There are people everywhere trying to catch the biggest shark and prove they are the best fisher!

A thresher shark caught in a New Jersey Shark Fishing Tournament

There are many tournaments that are set up to actually catch and kill sharks, with the winner getting a grand prize at the end. Many people fish in these tournaments to just kill the animals that scare them, while some fish them just for the sport of it. But why kill these animals if they aren't even going to be eaten like a regular fish. We know all animals are important, but why is it allowed to just kill something that many people don't like? This is a big reason that many people today are working on shark research.

I personally will be catching these sharks and releasing them to get an idea at to how many sharks live in the local waters and find the characteristics that define them. Learning this can help determine how important a certain fish species can be or a particular environment can be, especially when it comes to mating and nursing.

It was been determined that catching sharks first thing in the morning will be best, along with an ebb tide, as it is going out instead of coming in. This is the same idea as fishing for any other fish, where they don't like the heat during mid-day, and with the tide going out, many fish will be leaving the inlet and going out to the ocean for deeper water, where the sharks will be waiting.

I am still determining a few details as the exact type of leaders, which I have been given tips on. But most everything else is now set up to head out. My identification sheet is still being worked on, since it right now is 40 pages, but it is easily understood when trying to figure out what kind of shark was caught. This leads me into a question that was asked:

Jacob sec. 65 asked    It looks like there are some stingrays on that key of yours. Why is that? What do they have to do with sharks?

Eagle ray, with Ampullae of Lorenzini under it's nose.

Ampullae of Lorenzini on the underside of a Tiger sharks nose

Well, sharks are called cartilaginous fish which are in a taxonomic class called Condrichthyes. Rays are also in this class, since neither have actually bones aside from their teeth. Their bodies are made of cartilage, just like the ears and nose of humans. After the class is a sub-class, which seperates animals called chimeras (Holocephali) from the sharks and rays known as Elasmobranchii. From there, sharks and rays and skates are seperated. But they do have a lot of similar features aside from having no bones. In most of the Elasmobranchii, they have an organ called Ampullae of Lorenzini, which are the pores on the underside of the nose which have a gel inside. Just like with an ultrasound, this gel absorbs electrical waves that are given off by all living organisms, and the pores send the waves to the brain. This is what allows most sharks, rays, and skates to hunt for their food and avoid anything that may cause them harm. This is also the reason that for a long time people said to punch a shark in the nose and it will flee, because it disrupts their ability to sense their environment.

To Angela Boney: The shark researcher is working at the Kennedy Space Center for the KSC Ecological Program & Integrated Mission Support Services