In Reply to Shark Attacks and Shark Diving

Transatlantic migration and deep mid-ocean diving by basking shark.

Despite being the second largest fish, basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) have been assumed to remain in discrete populations. Their known distribution encompasses temperate continental shelf areas, yet until now there has been no evidence for migration across oceans or between hemispheres. Here we present results on the tracks and behaviour of two basking sharks tagged off the British Isles, ...

Changing patterns of shark attacks in Australian waters

Although infrequent, shark attacks attract a high level of public and media interest, and often have serious consequences for those attacked. Data from the Australian Shark Attack File were examined to determine trends in unprovoked shark attacks since 1900, particularly over the past two decades. The way people use the ocean has changed over time. The rise in Australian shark attacks, from an ...

Allometric relationships of the dentition of the great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in forensic investigations of shark attacks.

As a result of a systematic morphometric study of shark dentitions, a system of notation for describing the location of shark teeth has been developed and is proposed as a standard to be adopted for use in similar studies in the future. The macroscopic morphology of White Shark teeth has been characterised in order to gain quantitative data which might assist in identification of these sharks f...

Shark skin and locomotion.

Shark Immunoglobulin Light Chains

The humoral adaptive immune system of sharks is partly based on the same H2L2 heterodimeric antibody structure seen in all jawed vertebrates (reviewed in Flajnik 2002). The constituent vertebrate immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy (H) and light (L) chains provide obligate defense against pathogens and their toxins via neutralization, opsonization, and activation of the classical pathway of the complemen...