All week, sharks splashed across TV screens as viewers who love (or fear) the kings of the sea tuned into shows about the allure (or revulsion) of great whites, hamnmerheads, makos and more. But if you want to unravel a great shark mystery – and learn why it gives researchers hope about the future of threatened shark populations – turn off your TV and listen to what this UT student helped discover.
Moisés A. Bernal, a Ph.D. candidate at UT's Marine Science Institute, and a team of researchers found that brownbanded bamboo sharks have a surprising way of producing offspring – a way that gives hope to the future of wild sharks threatened by overfishing and habitat loss.
Bernal and the other scientists found that the female brownbanded bamboo sharks can be separated from the male fathers of their pups for an astounding 45 months – nearly four years – and still have a viable baby.
The female sharks are able to produce young regardless of whether or not they are ovulating or when mating occurs, and the discovery affirms the long-suspected (but little-documented) ability to produce offspring even under challenging conditions.
How did scientists unravel the mystery of this unusual shark birth? Watch Moisés A. Bernal, a Ph.D. candidate at UT's Marine Science Institute, talk about the discovery:
In honor of #SharkWeek, the UT Austin digital team took a look at some of the other sharks Longhorns might encounter related to the Forty Acres:
- To study how marine animals move, scientists from UT's Marine Science Institute, including Professor Lee Fuiman, invited colleagues from across the world to report on various aspects of migration, habitat use and dispersal in the ocean by animals. In that project, they found whale sharks play a killer game of hide-and-seek, disappearing from human sight.
- Brad Erisman, an assistant professor in the Department of Marine Science, conducted research in Palau and studied how tens of thousands of fish will form tight, tornado-like columns to avoid the threat of large black-tip sharks.
- Erisman has also studied the growth of sharks and other aquatic-life populations in Mexico's Baja peninsula. In the 10 years studied, his team saw the number of tiger, bull and black-tip reef sharks increase significantly.
- If you want to see an impressive collection of fossilized shark teeth here on the 40 acres, they're on display at the Texas Memorial Museum.
Adapted from a UT news post.
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