Victoria Czupta- UR "There's plenty of fish in the sea"

      Have you ever wanted to meet someone who you idolize and want to be like? I haven't made it quite that far, but since my last post, I have had the opportunity to talk with a shark researcher who works in Cape Canaveral for the environmental group. He emailed me some of the information they collected on black tips, which are one of the most common shark species in the area. He also sent me a few papers he wrote and co wrote about sharks in the area. Once I have the chance to review the papers, I'll have more information to post about it.

      In order to identify the species of shark being caught out in the field, I found a website that had links for a dichotomous key. I took the information and pictures and spread it out in a Microsoft Word Document. This will be used for identifying the species caught as well as general information about that species to help understand it better.

     

Pictured dichotomous key

I am also making a spreadsheet of the information that will be recorded for this project, including the lengths, species, gender, and umbilical scar.                                                                                                                                                      The umbilical scar is basically like a belly button, but on the sharks underside. It can show how healthy the shark was growing up and whether it grew up in a high oxygen or low oxygen environment. The umbilical scar is located on the belly either near the pectoral fins or closer to the anal fins, depending on the species. Also, if the shark is still a "newborn" the umbilical scar will still be slightly open and more pink in color, just like a fresh wound on a human.

Q&A: Aleecia Sec. 65 You say the information you recieve will reduce our fears. How is that possible? I say the more sharks you catch the more fearful I'll be! (LOL) But really what value is your information? What will you be doing with it?

Well, the idea is that knowledge is power. That is how we as humans have worked our way up to the top of the food chain is by knowledge, which allows us to create things to help our survival. But we aren't just animals that go around killing things we fear. The more we understand these animals, the better it will be for us and them, as well as keeping the food chain going. Once a species dies off, the whole web gets altered and can cause a giant disruption to the ecosystem. Once we understand what species come through our waters though, we can get an idea as to what fish are their food, which makes it important to know how much of a species should be fished and during what season. Some of these species just pass through, while others live here year round. With information like this, we can get a better understanding of when it might be a good time to stay out of the water, instead of splashing around in their home. Plus, it would prevent a lot of needless slaughter of the sharks, and injuries to surfers and swimmers.