#leafscale gulper shark

[shark-a-day]

Todays shark is...

The Leafscale Gulper Shark!

Fun Fact: They are nocturnal predators and are known to be great hunters, they primarily eat smaller fish cephalopods, like squid!

[shark-of-tha-day]

shark of the day: leafscale gulper shark, centrophorus squamosus

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leafscale gulper sharks are large gulper sharks named for their rough, leaf-like dermal denticles. they can grow to reach lengths of around 1.6 metres(~5.2 ft). leafscale gulper sharks are found in deep waters near the continental slopes in the eastern atlantic, western pacific, and indian oceans. the prey on deep sea fish and cephalopods.

[toucandrawz]

Here’s Gaz and Laswell! I sorta butchered their faces, since I haven’t drawn either of them much, or at all, so I gotta improve it once I digitalize it! Laswell is a Small spotted catfish and Gaz is a leafscale gulper shark! Next up: Horangi! I’ll be posting his and König’s designs side by side so I have an even number and post them separately from the original post I made with König’s. I’m also working on a couple other things so my posts on this may not be every day :]

[murroughod]

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/a-deeper-look-at-our-mysterious-neighbour-the-shark-1.4455512

A deeper look at our mysterious neighbour the shark

In Ireland we are becoming more accustomed to sharks, with an increase in sightings of basking sharks along the west coast

“We need to get to know sharks better,” says artist Dorothy Cross. “There are 35 different types swimming in Irish waters, and yet we’re largely oblivious. These beautiful, svelte creatures have been on this planet for over 400 million years, and are so perfectly formed that they have remained largely unchanged for the last 100 million years.”

Her introduction to the world of sharks was a typical one of fear – while living in California and reading of attacks by great whites in San Francisco Bay. But once she learned to scuba dive it quickly turned to fascination.

"The first dive I ever made was with hammerheads in the Galápagos, and it was an extraordinary experience: realising I was in their territory and seeing how calmly they observed me, these exquisite, amazing creatures."

Winter Nights

Since then she has dived with different types of shark all around the world, and spent time with shark-callers on the island of New Ireland off Papua New Guinea, where local men ritualistically sing to lure sharks up from the deep, believing their ancestors guide the shark to be caught to feed the community.

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“The shark-caller sleeps in isolation and abstains from many things before heading out alone on a small dugout canoe to fish. When he catches a shark he sounds a conch, and the villagers rush to the shore to share the animal,” says Cross. “The caller gets the liver and the fins, and everyone cooks the meat together on hot stones in pits.”

Closer to home we are all gradually becoming more accustomed to sharks, with the increased sightings of basking sharks along the west coast, and even a confirmed report of a smooth hammerhead shark 160km southwest of Ireland on the continental shelf edge last year.

This was the first time the species has been seen in Irish waters, and with its classic hammer-shaped head and tall, slender dorsal fin it's unlike anything encountered here before. This discovery followed closely on the announcement by the Irish Marine Institute of a deep-water nursery of blackmouth catsharks 300km west of Ireland, which they spotted while surveying with a remotely operated vehicle.

Scientists believe that up to 10 new species of shark may become common in Irish waters as sea temperatures rise in coming decades, including blacktips, sand tigers and longfin makos. The hammerheads too will be more frequent – these placid monsters that have never killed a human and give birth to live young in the shallow sandy waters near the Caribbean and West Africa. Many of these species are facing increasing threat from over-fishing, plastic waste and climate change. Some are facing outright extinction.

The hammerhead is listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and is being increasingly targeted for the shark fin trade. The porbeagle and angel shark found in Irish waters are both on the “critically endangered” list, while the leafscale gulper shark and basking shark are classified as “endangered”.

Symbiotic

Cross’s lingering memory of her time in New Ireland in 2006 was how the silky, mako and oceanic white tip sharks were becoming worryingly scarce due to increased fishing by Malaysians and Chinese, who harvest their fins for traditional cures and shark fin soup.

“The ancient way of life for the New Irelanders is coming to an end,” says Cross. “What was a balanced life, symbiotic with what nature provided, is becoming extinct.”

The fact that shark fishing is becoming an increasingly popular tourism activity in Ireland is particularly upsetting for Cross. It's a key feature offered all along the Wild Atlantic Way from Cork to Donegal.

“I wish these people realised how important sharks are for the biology of the ocean,” says Cross. “They are top of the food chain and so everything beneath relies on them. They are vital to ensuring ecological balance, yet they are under such threat from anglers.”

Dorothy Cross holding shark. Photograph: Sue Flood

Ireland is not currently involved in shark finning, but we do catch a significant amount of sharks for sport – it is “catch and release” and the fish are tagged as part of a marine programme overseen by the Irish Central Fisheries Board.

Yet many sharks still end up with barbed hooks corroding in their bodies, and long lines of broken tackle trailing from their mouths.

Deep-sea angling enterprises along the west coast of Ireland claim to have landed more than two dozen blue sharks in one day with average catches in double figures. During the season almost every shark fishing trip is successful, but luring and landing a blue shark that can weigh up to 65kg or a porbeagle that can reach 100kg without doing harm is very difficult.

“What pleasure could anyone get from traumatising an animal for hours on the end of a hook that is probably lodged in their stomach?” asks Cross.

Their release is of no real solace to her, as her brother, zoologist Prof Tom Cross, suggests that if the sharks are “played” too long on the line their muscles build up an excess of lactic acid that can prove fatal, or they can bleed to death after release.

That said, sharks that have been caught and tagged in Irish waters have been recaught as far away as the Cape Verde Islands, but the impetus is to bring them aboard and tag and release them as quickly as possible.

Shark’s heart

As an artist Cross has done more than most to highlight the plight of sharks in works like Relic (2009), which consists of the skin of a porbeagle shark she bought from a fishmonger in the English Market in Cork that was then lined with 14 carat gold, or Shark Heart Submarine (2011), which has a preserved shark’s heart encased in a model of a nuclear submarine and is now in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.

"I've used blue sharks, basking sharks and porbeagles in the work. All were washed up dead on the coastline or caught by fishermen when shark was still allowed to be sold to eat in Ireland. Gladly that is no longer the case. When I went to Trinity College to meet the queen of England I had the skin of a basking shark defrosting on the back seat of my car."

Cross acknowledges that some of her art could be regarded as pro-shark polemic, although works such as Basking Shark Currach (2013), which consists of the skin of a basking shark hand-stitched on to the skeleton of a small currach, or Everest Shark (2013) are important pieces in their own right.

It gave her particular pleasure to have the artwork Relic, featuring the gold-lined porbeagle, displayed in the Bloomberg SPACE in London, a centre of international currency speculation. "The currency traders would have recognised the value of the gold, but probably not that of the poor shark."

The work Relic, a porbeagle shark lined with gold leaf

It is regrettable that Hollywood has commodified the shark; making it a crass motif to signal fear and threat. “They now epitomise the human fear of our own mortality,” says Cross. “We are all going to die, but unlikely from an accidental shark attack.”

She acknowledges that sharks, in rare circumstances, can be dangerous, but attacks occur largely through misidentification. “We appear from below like their food – like seals and small fish. Their preferred food is blubbery and soft. Our bony bodies are not palatable.”

Her desire is to see Irish people becoming guardians of our sharks, as we are for dolphins and whales.

“We need to start appreciating the mystery of them; the fact that scientists had no proof that they sleep until recently, or that no human has ever seen a great white mating.”

The fact that they disturb us is valuable, she believes – “it’s good for us to be shaken out of our complacency”.

“I like that both art and sharks are elusive and disturbing, navigating between the seen and unseen. They are both revelatory and essential.”

[sharkfactoftheday]

The leafscale gulper shark can have up to 5 young per litter.

[profoutofoffice]

NEAFC / OSPAR Collective Arrangement, Germany: 7-8 May 2018

Setting out in the middle of a heatwave?

 The warmest May Bank Holiday on record and I’m heading to Heathrow Terminal 5. Joy. Driving past a patchwork of fields of yellow rape flowers, bright green new leaves and blousy hawthorn bushes bursting into blossom. Here I go again on my own….

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSlSaGcc0QM

 But surely it’s all about joint initiatives?

 Deep-water sharks my dear - Gulper shark, Leafscale gulper shark and Portuguese dogfish. Discussions about whether we know enough about where they are and what is needed to collectively reduce bycatch. An opportunity for me to present some results from our ATLAS Project: implications of the weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, warmer more acid seas resulting in a shifting biology. And more updates. Chit chat over dinner followed by a breakfast meeting with the German delegation. A chance to reconnect with former colleagues and better understand the workload of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. But then I had to hightail it back to Blighty…..soaking up the sunshine as I walked past the Brandenburg Gate, the edifice of the German Parliament’s Reichstag building and across the river to the central station. Hop on the Tegel airport bus and job’s a good un (as they say in Germany).  

[artscult-com]

Leafscale Gulper Shark - high resolution image from old book.

[sharkseasta-blog]

Types of Sharks

Bahamas Sawshark

Basking Shark

Blacktip Reef Shark

Blue Shark

Bluegray CarpetShark

Bluntnose Sixgill Shark

Broadnose Sevengill Shark

Bronze Whaler Shark

Bull Shark

Burmese Bamboo Shark

Caribbean Reef Shark

Caribbean Roughshark

Cookiecutter Shark

Copper Shark

Crested Bullhead Shark

Frilled Shark

Galapagos Bullhead Shark

Goblin Shark

Gray Reef Shark

Great Hammerhead Shark

Great White Shark

Greenland Shark

Hammerhead Shark

Horn Shark

Japanese Sawshark

Japanese Wobbegong

Leafscale Gulper Shark

Lemon Shark

Leopard Shark

Mako Shark

Megalodon Shark

Nurse Shark

Pacific Sleeper Shark

Porbeagle Shark

Port Jackson Shark

Portuguese Dogfish Shark

Prickly Dogfish Shark

Reef Shark

Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Sand Shark

Sailfin Rough Shark

Sawback Angelshark

Sharpnose Sevengill Shark

Shortfin Mako Shark

Silky Shark

Silvertip Shark

Thresher Shark

Tiger Shark

Whale Shark

Whitetip Reef Shark

Zebra Shark

Zebra Bullhead Shark

[popsealife-blog]

The Anime-eyed Shark

The leafscale gulper shark (Centrophorus squamosus) is a deep-sea shark that is valued mainly for its liver. This shark is caught by a number of fisheries in the Faeroe Islands, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and France. 

It also has wonderfully large eyes, reflective and sparkly and full of EMOTION. And yes, that is really what the shark actually looks like.

image source: Pop Sea!

reference: Gordon, et al. 2003.

[underthevastblueseas]

The Leafscale Gulper Shark or the Centrophorus squamosus belongs to the family Centrophoridae. This is family of dogfish. The distinctive features of this shark Shark includes large green eyes and denticles (tiny flat v-shaped scales on the skin) that are leaf like. The first dorsal fin is quite long and low. The dorsal fins have spines on them and the shark does not have an anal fin. Very little is known about these sharks due to the fact that they are found at depths of 230 and 2,360 meters, but usually below 1,000 meters.

[sharkfactoftheday]

The leafscale gulper shark is reported to have a lifespan of roughly 70 years.