New Research Fills Gaps In Shark Data

July 23, 2004

Release from: Brian Seals
Santa Cruz Sentinel

MOSS LANDING -- Now the real work begins.

Two years into a multi-institution shark study, scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories unveiled this week a Life History Data Matrix of 105 known species of sharks found along the West Coast.

"Sharks and rays are probably the least studied groups of fish," researcher David Ebert said this week. "On some species there is a fair amount of literature. On some, there’s nothing at all."

While the Web site offers a comprehensive list of sharks, skates and rays in the Pacific Ocean, it also highlights gaps in data on the mysterious fish.

"A major part of it is, here is what we do know, here is what we don’t," Ebert said.

Scientists at the Moss Landing lab have gathered what is known about sharks from the Bering Sea to the tip of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.

The Web site offers a one-stop view on the various species, their common names, growth rates, movement patters and life spans, among other tidbits.

It also provides links to scientific literature, some dating from the 19th century.

The idea is to allow scientists, regulators and the public to have shark information with the click of a mouse.

However, the grid has plenty of sections stating "NA," meaning the information on a species was not available.

Those blanks provide a starting point for further research and findings. And the potential for new discoveries about sharks abound.

"We’re still finding new things out there up and down the coast," Ebert said.

For example, when writing his 2003 book "Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras of California," Ebert added previously unknown species to the ones of which researchers knew.

More recently, a couple of graduate students returned from research work in the Bering Sea with two skates whose species is unknown.

Scientists at the lab will continue their quest for more shark knowledge. Ebert is aided by researcher Gregor Calliet, two staff researchers and a team of 10 graduate students.

Scientists are engaged in an array of studies on sharks, from thresher sharks near Monterey Canyon to age and growth studies of skates that often end up in fishermen’s boats as by-catch.

The work on sharks at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, part of the California State University system, is part of a broader study that includes investigating sharks in the Atlantic Ocean performed by scientists at the University of Florida, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla.