This week we are joined by Dr. Ana Martins, a postdoctoral researcher at Dalhousie University studying the shark meat trade. The shark fin and meat trade is a common media topic but angler knowledge and opinions seem to be rarely incorporated into these discussions. In her home country of Brazil, Dr. Martins utilized angler knowledge to uncover trends in the shark meat trade. Listen through the episode until the end for a rather fishy field story which will have you laughing in your...

This week we join Kate McKinnon as Miss Frizzle on the Magic School Bus to explore shark noses up close! Just kidding. But we do have shark-nose-specialist Dr. Lauren Simonitis! We break down her article Microstructure of the BonnetHead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo) Olfactory Rosette. (Simonitis & Marshall 2022). Learn all you could need to know about shark noses and more!  Summary: The weird shape of hammerhead sharks means that their naris or noses are also weirdly shaped. Previous research...

Just in time for Shark Week, we're going down under to investigate what warming waters will do to the distribution of tiger sharks on the east coast of Australia with tiger shark expert, Dr. Yuri Niella!  This week we break down Dr. Yuri Niella et al. (2021) article, "Forecasting intraspecific changes in distribution of a wide-ranging marine predator under climate change." Article Summary: (modified abstract) Climate change is causing animal distributions to shift in response to changing...

Have you ever wondered how sharks perpetually regenerate their teeth? Why can't humans do the same thing, or can they?! This week expert Dr. Gareth Fraser joins us to tell us all about this special shark superpower. We jump into Dr. Fraser's article, "The Dental Lamina: An Essential Structure for Perpetual Tooth Regeneration in Sharks" (Fraser et al. 2020) Article Summary: Methods of studying evolutionary, development, and regenerative biology have been improving over the past few years....

Manta ray research using drones?! This week guest expert Vicky Fong joins us to tell us all about the swimming behavior of manta rays, and why understanding these behaviors can be important for their conservation! We jump into Vicky's article, "Using Drones to Assess Volitional Swimming Kinematics of Manta Ray Behaviors in the Wild" (Fong, Hoffmann, and Pate; 2022) Article Summary: (abstract) Drones have become increasingly popular tools to study marine megafauna but are underutilized in...

Everything you need to know about Tiger Shark teeth! This week PhD student Julia Türtscher joins ut to tell us amazing things about shark teeth, like, did you know males and females can have differently shaped teeth? Or that teeth can change SEASONALLY?! Learn everything you need to know about shark teeth and what Julia and her team learned about tiger sharks from preserved jaws! This week we dive into Julia's article, "Heterodonty and ontogenetic shift dynamics in the dentition of the tiger...

Basking sharks on the West Coast USA?!?! Dr. Alex McInturf returns from season 1 and gives us a MASSIVE update about her career, basking shark populations, and the tea on basking shark conservation. Did you know basking sharks were along the West Coast USA?! Most don't, because these sightings are now extremely rare. This week we breakdown Dr. McInturf's article, "“Spatial Distribution, Temporal Changes, and Knowledge Gaps in Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) Sightings in the California...

SEASON 2 IS HERE!! We are kicking off the season with Jake Jerome, one of Field School's very own Assistant Director of Program Development and Intern Coordinator. What is shark stress? How do you even go about measuring shark stress? What do we see behaviorally, and what does this mean for them physiologically? Learn more this week with shark physiologist Jake Jerome! This week we breakdown Jake's article, "Integrating reflexes with physiological measures to evaluate coastal shark stress...

That's right, Meghan and Amani are wrapping up Season 1 of Sharkpedia! Jump in for an episode recapping how the podcast has grown, some of our favorite parts of Season 1, and things to look forward to in Season 2! Don't worry - We'll be back in just a few short weeks with new guests and papers to dive into!  Please don't forget to rate and review Sharkpedia wherever you get your podcasts so that other sharkies can find us for Season 2! Follow Sharkpedia on Instagram and Twitter...

This week we jump into the world of shark competition with Dr. Yannis Papastamatiou! We break down his article, "Spatial separation without territoriality in shark communities" (Papastamatiou et al. 2018). We talk about how to conduct field research in remote areas, combining multiple techniques together (such as telemetry and underwater video footage) to understand shark relationships, and how collaboration for large projects is key! Get ready to jump into the world of shark...

This week we jump into the world of cookiecutter sharks with expert Dr. Aaron Carlisle! We break down his article, "Integrating multiple chemical tracers to elucidate the diet and habitat of Cookiecutter Sharks" (Carlisle et al. 2021). We discuss the various techniques Carlisle and colleagues used to uncover that cookiecutter sharks eat a much more varied diet than you might expect! We also learn about new biochemical tracer techniques that made this research possible. Learn how Dr. Carlisle...

This week we talk about Manta ray nursery habitat off the coast of Florida with expert Jessica Pate! We break down her article, "Urban Manta rays: potential manta ray nursery habitat along a highly developed Florida coastline" (Pate & Marshall 2020). We discuss what defines an area as nursery habitat, how habitat off the Florida coast fits these criteria for Manta rays, and why this is so important for Manta ray conservation. Get ready to jump into the world of Manta rays! Satellite...

Meghan and Amani saw each other in person for the first time in 4 years when they reunited at Field School in Miami, Florida! Together, they spent a week on Research Vessel Garvin performing scientific workups on sharks. Find out about their time in the field together, the cool shark Meghan drew blood from, and more in this episode. You can learn about Field School by visiting their website www.getintothefield.com. This episode was edited by Kaela Shoe Follow Sharkpedia on Instagram and...

This week we jump into stress physiology with expert and PhD Candidate Alex Schoen! With Alex's help, we breakdown her article, "Simulated heatwave and fishing stressors alter corticosteroid and energy balance in neonate blacktip reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus" (Schoen et al. 2021). With climate change as an increasing temperature stressor on marine life, and human-influenced impacts such as fishing, it's important we understand how sharks withstand and process this stress to evaluate...

This week we go abroad to Sri Lanka with conservation expert Akshay Tanna! We discuss his article, "Where have all the sawfishes gone? Perspectives on declines of these Critically Endangered species in Sri Lanka" by Tanna et al. 2021. Akshay and his colleagues use critical historical knowledge from local fishers. This knowledge is often referred to as "Fishers Ecological Knowledge", or FEK. This knowledge that Tanna and colleagues gathered allows them to identify 2 distinct species of...

This week Amani and Meghan chat with Dr. Mark Royer about the swimming behavior of scalloped hammerhead sharks! With Dr. Royer's help, Amani and Meghan review his article "Scalloped hammerhead sharks swim on their side with diel shifts in roll magnitude and periodicity" (Royer et al. 2020). Did you know scalloped hammerhead sharks swim on their side to save energy? Do you know what a tri-axial accelerometer shark tag is? Find out about this and so much more on this week's episode! This...

This week we are jumping into a problem for sharks: entangling in marine debris with expert Kristian Parton! With Kristian's help we will review his article, Parton et al 2019 “Global review of sharks and ray entanglement in anthropogenic marine debris”. We discuss what marine debris is, how it ends up in the ocean, and exactly why it's an issue for sharks. We also discuss the importance of social media and how to incorporate entanglement reports as real data! You can follow Kristian on...