Victoria UR- Tigers, and Bulls, and Teeth!! OH MY!!!

Through thick and thin, you have to push your way to the top. It has been a long process, but the work has been accomplished.

Bluefish

The fishing trip on Saturday was an interesting event. Fishing took place from around 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. inside the inlet of New Smyrna Beach. There were a lot of other people fishing and enjoying the beautiful day outside. Through the 2 hours we were out, the only fish caught was a 15" bluefish.




Although no sharks were caught during my research this semester, I was still able to collect data through online sources such as OCEARCH and the George Burgess International Shark Attack File as well as the information from Dr. Eric Reyier at the Kennedy Space Center.

With all of the information available, I was able to put enough into excel to make multiple graphs, determining how many of the sample were male versus female, as well as an average length of the species caught. The species found were blacktips (the most abundant), one bullshark, two great whites (the largest in length), and some tiger sharks.

Although there were others found in the area, there were no sex, length, or weight recorded. Most of the information found on OSEARCH we the tracking of sharks that were tagged in other states, like the great whites tagged in Cape Cod. But the satellite tags tracked one, who swam to the shore right off of Bethune Beach at one point in her recent travels.

Myself and my boyfriend out shark fishing
with Dr. Woodall and Dr. Osmon.

Due to many conflicts in schedules, I was only able to be in the field once myself, but in future research, a planned out schedule will make data easier to collect. While collecting data, it is not guaranteed to collect the data you set out to find.

In the end, I found that of the species I found had been collected, there were more Females than Males. I had a sample size of 17 sharks, with 3 that had not been recorded and are marked as unknown.

I personally feel like continuing this research on my own to determine what conditions may affect the catchability of the different shark species as well.

Q&A
Phaleisa-section 01
          What species of sharks can we find in the Atlantic Ocean?

Book cover to sharks found in the Atlantic.

To answer this question correctly, it would almost be a book, since there are just so many different species. I will answer in a more simplified way.

The major species found here off the eastern coast of Florida can include Blacktips, Blacknose, Sandbars, Tiger Sharks, Sand Tiger Sharks, Spinners, Threshers, Scalloped Hammerheads, Smooth Hammerheads, Bonnetheads, Lemon Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Great White Sharks, Mako Sharks, Blue Sharks, Sixgills, Smoothfin Dogsharks, Altanic Sharpnose, Blacktip Reef Sharks, Carribean Reef Sharks, Whitetips, and Bull Sharks.

Among these are others, but farther off the coast in deep waters you can also find Whale Sharks and Basking Sharks since they are so huge, they need deeper waters in order to swim. There are a lot of other species of sharks found all around the world. These are just some of the most common species found around here, although the Great Whites are found here, they prefer deeper and cooler waters and can migrate from Cape Cod, around Africa, and into the Australian waters. So just listing the sharks in the Atlantic doesn't always work for these guys.

I hope that answers your question enough, and Thank you for asking such an interesting one too.