News

A new study out of the United Kingdom is pointing to collisions with large marine vessels as a possible reason for the years-long decline in whale shark populations. Marine biologists from the Marine Biological Association and University of Southampton led the study, started in 2019 and published earlier this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which tracked the movements of ships and whale sharks around the world.

A team of marine biologists have welcomed the discovery of a huge endangered freshwater stingray during a recent expedition to a remote stretch of the Mekong River in Cambodia, though they warned the biodiversity of the area was under threat.

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi on Tuesday announced it has discovered a new species of eagle ray in the emirate's waters. The new species can be distinguished from the blue-banded eagle ray and banded eagle ray by having a larger number of pale-blue bands across its dorsal surface (8-10 bands), a larger number of tooth plate rows, and a shorter tail.

Over the last century, the rapid increase of carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere thanks to the combustion of fossil fuels has led to an observed increase in acidity and surface temperature of seawater. Professor Sean Connell from the University of Adelaide set out to answer the question of whether or not ocean acidification and warming had an effect on the mechanical properties of shark teeth “because theory suggested that ocean acidification might reduce the strength of shark teeth and their ability to feed themselves.”

It is one of the world’s most endangered species, rarely spotted due to decades of over-fishing. The white skate was once a regular sight around the waters of the UK, but is now on an international red list of threatened species. Two rare finds in Argyll suggests that conservation measures, including a ban on fishing or harming the species, could be helping its recovery.

A marine conservation group calls for defense of hammerhead, silky and thresher shark species in Costa Rica. This decree would guarantee their protection by categorizing them as wildlife and not commercial species.

The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, and the Minister of Environment and Energy, Rolando Castro Cordoba, signed this Friday, April 22nd, an Executive Decree that aims to protect and conserve the shark sanctuary in Cocos Island and its connection with the Sweet Gulf (Golfo Dulce) Hammerhead Shark Sanctuary.

Basking sharks can be over 30 feet long and are characterized by their enormous gill rakers and three-foot tall dorsal fins. But these mysterious, massive, filter-feeding cousins of the great white shark aren’t just a scientific curiosity – they also seem to be vanishing from California and the rest of the Eastern North Pacific.

In an update to our story from March's New Digest a rare Greenland shark found washed up on a Cornish beach died of meningitis, a post mortem has found. The female found just outside Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall in March is thought to be 100 years old by marine biologists.

Great white sharks around Mexico's Guadalupe Island sometimes hang out with each other—and while it's not a popularity contest, some might just be a little more social than others.