The Great White Shark

Paleontologists are not just people who work on old fossils. Many workers are very interested in living groups. Some living groups have ancient histories. For example, sharks have existed as a group for over 400 million years! Unlike the true fishes, sharks do not have internal bone, but instead have a cartilaginous skeleton. Although many people are told that sharks are primitive in comparison to other groups, this is not true. Sharks are effecient and specialized hunters that have succeeded for millions of years. They are in no way "primitive". This small exhibit shows an amazing predator; the great white shark.

The 14 or so images that are located below are the end result of a pilot project run at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the Department of Integrative Biology, and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. Doug has been doing research on the interactions, particularly, feeding of Great White Sharks on marine mammals along the coast of Central California for several years now. His research has included autopsying dead marine mammals, studying the feeding behavior of sharks, and trying to estimate shark population size. These images are directly related to the latter two aspects of his research. From a post on the Farallon Islands, Doug and his crew watch the waters for injured marine mammals and signs of sharks feeding. When they spot a feeding shark, they travel in a small boat to the site, and when the shark comes close they stick a small hand-held waterproof video recorder under the water and film the shark as it passes by . The sharks are identified by characteristic marks like scars and skin blemishes. Most of the pictures in this small exhibit were taken with the express intent of looking for these scars, so they may not be the most aesthetic images possible. However they are the most useful. The ability to visually identify sharks allows researchers to tell more about migration, ranges, and the number of individual sharks in the area. Doug believes that there are a suprisingly small number of individual sharks off the California coast and that they have larger ranges than previously thought.

Douglas Long , a graduate student in the Department of Integrative Biology, has graciously made these images available. Below are some still shots from videotape.









PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHER.



SEE DOUGLAS LONG'S ELASMOBRANCH RESEARCH PUBLICATION LIST

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