#Carcharodon carcharias

[todropscience]

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is the largest predator fish in the world, however, the early life history and reproduction of this iconic shark is still poorly understood, in fact, no one has seen a white shark puppy in the wild, nonetheless, recent aerial observations made by drone off California, USA, have revealed the first images of a white shark puppy.

Footage done by wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and biologist Phillip Sternes in July 2023, revealed seconds of a single pale pup, which apparently was shedding its embryonic layer. This record robusts the idea the coast of central California acts a birthing location for white sharks. This shark was stimated to reach 1.5 m in lenght. Many researchers believe white sharks are born farther out at sea, due the elusivity to find pups. This finding means they are likely to born in shallow waters.

Photo: Carlos Gauna

Reference : Gauna & Sternes2024. Novel aerial observations of a possible newborn white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) in Southern California, Environmental Biology of Fishes

[chrissy-kaos]

I’m so excited!!! I went to my local Brick store today. They had a shark suit guy plushie!! As someone that’s obsessed with sharks I had to have it! I got the perfect place of him on my shelf too!

[fyanimaldiversity]

If you go to iNaturalist, and look for great white sharks, there is a sighting and a series of photos in Turkish waters, in northwest turkey right below Bulgaria, of a piebald specimen

Thank you so much! I’m in love with the white fin!

[marejadilla]

Victor Grasso, "Death From Below / Great White Shark (*)". 2020, oil on board. B. 1977, Cape May Court House, NJ, USA (*) Carcharodon carcharias (Great White Shark).

[comixqueen]

Repostober 21. More sharks from 2014

[duranduratulsa]

Spooktober Creature of the day: Jaws (1975-1987) #jaws #shark #greatwhite #greatwhiteshark #carcharodoncarcharias #spooktober #halloween #october

[whaleposters]

Large sharks of the World art print poster. Available at cetek.etsy.com.

[hellsitegenetics]

Can U blast this https://urbanshade.org/wiki/Documents/Sebastian_Solace pls

String identified: caTatcaaaaaataactGTtttatcagcatcttcagtctaaaattattatcttataCAagtataaaCCTaatccatttatacattcctaccatccttttattagtCAcatacatagataatatttgtccataAtggtctatattccagagtattGaaacggcaaccaactaaatatctatccagatctagacggttaCACCTcattagttacgtatacttatatctaacattatctgaaggtgatgctaaaattagaattaagaatAtgctactttatcgattgaagtaaatagtctaatctatctccaacaaaacttaaacacaaaacttatattgaggAtaaaaaaagattaatatagaaaattttataaccagatattatattaacttctTctctatttctatgcacatatGagattactTtagttatattattcactttatcattattaaaccaacttcaattcacataAtttgtattgaagtattatacattactatattaaaccatatactaagtctatttattacttattcaagacacaAtttaggttatagaatttttatagaaacagtgtttgctaacctcatagaaaatcctaccaatatactaaattctttaatctaaatattagtttggg

Closest match: Balaenoptera musculus genome assembly, ██████ ████████ genome assembly, Microcephalophis gracilis genome assembly, Carcharodon carcharias genome assembly, Bufoceratias wedli mutated genome assembly, Diretmus argenteus genome assembly, Gonodactylus smithii genome assembly, Homo sapiens genome assembly Common name: THAT FUCKING FISH THAT I HATE

(If this image source is shown to unauthorized personnel, you'll be BLASTed with my wizard beams)

[dougdimmadodo]

Cool Zoology Stories of 2024

Happy new year! As we head into 2025, here's a few fun zoology highlights from the last year.

The Iberian Lynx is no longer endgangered

Species Concerned: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the organisation responsible for compiling information on the size and trends seen in species’ wild populations and assigning them a “conservation status” based on how threatened they are determine to be. There are three increasingly concerning categories a species may be sorted into (vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, in that order,) and while species may be classified as increasingly threatened if their populations continue to decline they can also be raised to a less threatened category should their population increase. In the summer of 2024, the IUCN made an exciting announcement; based on an assessment carried out throughout 2023 the Iberian Lynx (the most threatened of the four lynx species, and among the world’s rarest wildcats) had done just that, being upgraded to vulnerable from endangered!

Easily distinguished from other lynxes by it’s the distinctive pair of “beard-like” fur tufts on its chin, the Iberian Lynx, as its name suggests, is found only in the southern Iberian Peninsula which stretches across Spain and Portugal. Its already small range has shrunk further due to rapid declines in its primary prey, the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), further aggravated by habitat loss, disease outbreaks, conflict with humans and the addition genetic pressures that species with small populations experience. By 2001 the species’ population had declined to as few 62 adults, but since then intensive efforts to increase the populations of European Rabbits, protect remaining Iberian Lynx populations, introduce captive-bred individuals and encourage land owners to reduce impacts on any lynx populations on their land has allowed for a steady increase – as of 2023 the population was believed to have risen to 648 adults, and members of this species have returned to long-vacant regions of their former range! While the Iberian Lynx remains threatened and continued efforts are needed to maintain these increases, the species’ new conservation status shows that these efforts are working, and that there may yet be hope for this beardy big cat’s future.

Big News on Baby Sharks!

Species Concerned: Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

Despite its large size, near-cosmopolitan distribution and status as easily one of the most famous and recognisable fish on earth, there’s a lot we don’t know about the Great White Shark. In particular, there are some major gaps in our understandings of the mating habits of adult Great Whites, and in the early development of their pups. This year, however, progress was made in filling some of these gaps; in April an article published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science described activity within a “creche” of young (1-6 year old) Great Whites off the coast of California, demonstrating that (among other things) they moved between deeper and shallower coastal waters throughout the day and seemed to carefully position themselves within the water column in order to maintain a healthy body temperature and thereby facilitate growth and development (unlike many fish adult Great White Sharks are able to regulate their body temperature through metabolic activity much like mammals can, but it seems that younger individuals have a reduced ability to do so and are more reliant on environmental conditions to regulate their body temperatures. This is particularly exciting as an article published this January to another journal, Environmental Biology of Fishes critically examined footage recorded by wildlife photographer TheMalibuaArtist of a small, round-featured Great White Shark off also found near California’s coast that had an odd, pale film attached to its skin and concluded that (while it is possible that the film is the result of some previously undocumented disease or mutation) it may represent the first ever video footage of a newborn Great White Shark, with the film being debris that attached to the potential pup during live birth. The Great White Shark, despite its dreaded reputation, is itself classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, so gaining greater understanding of how members of these species live in their earliest years may prove invaluable in protecting wider populations!

The 200th Anniversary of the First Dinosaur Getting Named

Species Concerned: Megalosaurus (Megalosaurus bucklandii)

Source: Here

Image Source (excluding some...minor additions): Here

On February 20th 1824 the geologist and palaeontologist William Buckland became the first person to give a formal scientific name to a (non-avian) dinosaur, describing a set 160 million year old reptile-like bones found in Oxfordshire, England as “Megalosaurus”, which can be translated literally to “big lizard” (though is more often translated as the more dignified-sounding “great lizard.”) This means that this February marked the 200th anniversary of Megalosaurus getting its name and, in some ways, the beginning humanity’s long-standing love of and obsession with dinosaurs.

Based on the incomplete remains that had been discovered Buckland originally imagined Megalosaurus as being an enormous, slow-moving, lizard-like animal (kind of like an iguana crossed with an elephant.) However, further studies into the fossils of Megalosaurus and of numerous anatomically similar and therefore likely related animals have since demonstrated that it was a large, likely relatively fast-moving carnivorous biped, and a relative of modern birds (which, like Megalosaurus, are therapods.) Megalosaurus lived in what is now northern Europe throughout the mid-Jurassic period, while its closest relatives, the Megalosaurids, could also be found across Africa, Asia and North America and survived until the very end of the Jurassic. 17 years after Megalosaurus got its name it, alongside the early cretaceous ankylosaur Hylaeosaurus and the iconic spiky-thumbed ornithopod Iguanadon (all still imagined to be iguana-like at the time) would be recognised as relatives of one another based on similar anatomical features, becoming the first three genera to be classified as part of the clade that today contains all dinosaurs, the Dinosauria.

The Golden-Crested Helmetshrike was Photographed for the First Time

Species Concerned: Golden-Crested Helmetshrike (Prionops alberti)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

Between December 2023 and January 2024 a collaborative team of researchers from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the USA set out to document the wildlife living in the Itombwe mountain region of South Kivu, DOC. Records of the species present in an around Itombwe are limited and every observation made during the trip was valuable, but perhaps the most exciting was the several sightings of the Yellow-Crested Helmetshrike, marking the first time this species has been formerly recorded in nearly 20 years and allowing for it to be photographed for the first time ever!

While several potential sightings have been reported elsewhere in central Africa, the Golden-Crested Helmetshrike is believed to be endemic to the DOC, making its home mainly in humid forests at high altitudes. Immediately distinguished from other birds in their range by the titular crests of bright yellow feathers that runs across their heads, members of this species live in small flocks and are extremely agile in flight, using their agility to hunt airborne insects. A lack of internationally available documented sightings of this species since the early 2000s had led to fears of its potential extinction, but as at least 18 individuals were sighted during the team’s expedition the species is now known not only to be surviving, but potentially to be more abundant within its home range than previously thought!

Frogs and Wolves got in on Pollination

Species Concerned: Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog (Xenohyla truncata) and Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis)

Sources: Here and Here

Image Sources: Here and Here

Insects are by far the most important pollinators on earth (with some 80% of plants relying on insect-based pollination to reproduce,) but there are also many important vertebrate pollinators (most notably nectar-drinking bats and birds.) Pollinating vertebrates are important not only to wild plants but also to crops, wit mangos, durians and bananas all relying heavily on vertebrates to spread their pollen. 2024 saw two surprising new additions to the list of potential vertebrate pollinators; the unusual Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog and the endangered Ethiopian Wolf!

Found only in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog is unusual among frogs in that while almost all frogs are carnivorous members of this species prominently feed on fruit and nectar. Like other nectar-feeding animals, as they move between flowers they carry pollen with them, making them the only known amphibian pollinators. The Ethiopian Wolf, native to high-altitude regions of Ethiopia, is among the rarest wild dogs on earth and has typically been thought of as a strict carnivore. In November of 2024, however, members of this species were recorded feeding on the flowers of the Red Hot Poker Plant (Kniphofia foliosa), transferring pollen on their muzzles in the process. While further studies are needed to determine quite how important either species is in pollination, it still suggests that the number of pollinating vertebrate species in the world may be greater than previously thought!

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Have a great new year!

[antiqueanimals]

Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), Common thresher (Alopias vulpinus), Shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), Porbeagle (Lamna nasus), Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus)

Fishes of the World. Written by Hans Hvass. Illustrated by Wilhelm Eigener. Originally published in 1964.

Internet Archive

[mesozoicmarket]

A fossilized shark tooth of a great white shark, or Carcharodon carcharias from the Pisco Formation in Sacaco, Peru. This Pliocene aged great white shark tooth shows nice shades of blue colors known from this deposit.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

trick or treat

Watch out-- you got a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)!

[terry-the-insane]

Animal of the day for October 29: Great White Shark (Species Carcharodon carcharias)

The largest carnivorous shark, Great Whites travel hundreds of miles every day across the vast ocean in search of food. Great White Sharks have the ability to alternate between warm-blooded and cold-blooded metabolisms (heterothermy), which allows them to survive long periods without eating, or to explore colder waters. This would have likely given Great White Sharks and their kin an edge against other large sharks that existed, such as Alopias grandis or Hemipristis serra.

[babylon-crashing]

Q: what do you think/ feel about the elemental realm?

[sisters Maria and Estela, Côte d'Ivoire shark shamanesses, yanyan Aje.]

Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills. Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the sea, which is itself the most elemental realm those mortals, with no training or interest in the esoteric, will ever experience. We can only survive under its surface for minutes, sometimes seconds, without artificial assistance. It is the source of all life and utterly indifferent to humanity and our narcissistic need to always be the Chosen Ones.

It’s no mistake that the Inuit placed Sedna, their creator, and her home where the dead go, Adlivun, not up in the sky or deep under the earth but at the bottom of the ocean. Shamans, if they wished to petition Sedna, had to travel to the ocean’s floor and comb out Sedna’s long hair in order to be granted her favor.

Of all the spirits that swim, none is so dear to me as Carcharodon carcharias, that which we call the great white shark. My first spirit guide came in the form of Big Blue (a pregnant great white). I wrote this poem earlier today, thinking about the sea as an elemental realm. What I appreciate about poetry is that it allows me to speak my own truth in ways that fall flat in my prose. To give oneself up to the briny deep, as they say, is also a shamanic experience.

But the language of sharks is difficult enough to master. Few try. Few can boast, without pheromones, or La Mer's occult craft, that they grok a gill flap's flutter; most basic sound in their ten-million year old tongue. Their poems unfold in waves, music few of us No-gills can fathom. I told that joke once to a Queen Mum, a mystic Itchy Mouth, who chortled. Get a Queen Mum to laugh, love, and the Seven Seas are yours until, for a bowl of soup, ten-million years are snuffed out. Just like that: going numb in the surf, calling and ... Stand on the shores of all the seas. Call. None will answer. None.

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on DuranDuranTulsa's Creature Feature...Jaws: The Revenge (1987) on classic DVD 📀! #movie #movies #horror #scifi #monstermovies #creaturefeature #jaws #shark #greatwhite #greatwhiteshark #carcharodoncarcharias #jawstherevenge #jaws4 #lorrainegary #MichaelCaine #LanceGuest #mariovanpeebles #JudithBarsi #KarenYoung #mitchellanderson #dvd #80s #durandurantulsa #durandurantulsascreaturefeature