Posted on 03/02/2022 1:44:46 PM PST by Capt. Tom
The shark scientists have a pretty good hunch
Great white shark researchers are hoping to solve the most elusive piece of the Western North Atlantic white shark puzzle: when and where they mate.
Shark scientists with OCEARCH have a pretty good hunch that the white shark mating site is off of the Carolinas, and they’re looking to confirm that in the coming month while researching there.
From OCEARCH’s shark tracking data, it’s clear that the waters off the Southeast are a site for white sharks during the winter. The researchers have tracked both male and female mature sharks coming together off the Carolinas during the winter before the females head offshore to possibly gestate.
“The OCEARCH team is excited to return to the Carolinas, as we approach the end of our journey to complete our understanding of the white shark in the Western North Atlantic, from birth to old age,” OCEARCH Chief Scientist Bob Hueter said.
“A last critical piece of the puzzle — when and where these sharks are mating — is within our grasp,” he added. “All of our science points to the area off the Carolinas in late winter as the place where the adult females and males come together to mate, so that’s where we’re heading. With good weather and good luck, we will discover the remaining piece of the puzzle.”
OCEARCH’s Expedition Carolinas will depart from Charleston, S.C., on Friday before a final docking planned in Savannah, Ga., on March 24.
The Western North Atlantic White Shark study includes a full health assessment of each shark, microbiological studies, movement, temperature and depth studies through the use of three different tags, and more.
Researchers will collect blood samples to measure reproductive hormone levels of these sharks. Also, they will assess ultrasound images of the ovary and testes and semen samples. These samples and diagnostic images will help determine if the adult sharks in the Carolinas region are reproductively active.
Where do baby white sharks spend the winter? Shark researchers have better idea after tagging shark pups in Northeast
“As we wind down the western North Atlantic white shark life history puzzle, the challenge on the water gets even greater,” said OCEARCH Founder and Expedition Leader Chris Fischer. “Our scientists now only require mature animals out of the Southeast United States during the months of March and April. This is to solidify and nail down exactly where and when white sharks are mating.
“If we’re able to do so it will be the first time in history that a white shark mating site will be identified,” he added. “This location will be crucial to monitor into the future as we continue to enjoy our slow and steady white shark population recovery off the eastern seaboard and Atlantic Canada, which will ultimately ensure that our great grandchildren see a thriving ocean system full of fish.”
Great white shark researchers recently learned that baby white sharks spend the winter months off of the Carolinas around the Outer Banks. The scientists tagged the shark pups in Northeast waters during the summer months, and tracked the babies to off the coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina during the winter.
Club Med.
They are studying sharks mating?
Isn’t that hetero normative and binary? Don’t they want to be inclusive? What about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sharks? Don’t they deserve inclusivity in such studies?
It seems rather an invasion of their privacy.
* * *
Good observation, Delta 21. And yes, it's truly shameful. We know much more about those dangerous black holes 20,000 light years away. Not knowing the breeding ground of Great White sharks is a gaping black hole in our academic knowledge.
But I'm sure some enterprising charlatan scientist will get on the case right away. Perhaps a special electronic tracking device can be custom designed for a few million dollars and be harpooned onto a few Great White for this important purpose!
Don't forget the exciting wild life footage the "scientists" could collect here. Probably enough to run a PBS special. And let's be sure to get a few AI experts involved who create algorithms to predict exactly where and when the Big Whites will mate. Lots of publicity angles to pursue.
If all fails, a Deep Fake filming sequence can be made to simulate the mating of these Leviathans. It will be one helluva PG13 show, I can tell you that!
And don't forget to inquire at Joe Bidung's White House. Great White Mating could be easily interpreted as a Climate Changing event — and far more impactful than a few hundred butterflies flapping their wings.
Also, check to see if Bidung's team can spin Great White Mating as a major cause of Inflation. Look at the clever argument they made at the SOTU that Inflation can be solved by "protecting employee wages, but lowering business costs". It's brilliant!
Where there's a money-making scam to be had — and especially when academics and government get involved — there's always a way!
Great Whites mate off of the Carolinas? Maybe I shouldn’t have swum in the ocean while visiting my North Carolina grandmom.
Up close and personal.
PEEPING TOMS! they get their kicks just by watching.
Why not create grant monies to deliver to this crew
of notables who express so much concern? Start those
printing presses immediately.
Check the hotel records in Florida......................
Candygram...
Where do Great White Sharks mate in The Atlantic Ocean?
Um... I dunno. My guess would have to be... The Atlantic Ocean?
Where ever the female can be cornered
LOL, I wouldn’t be so harsh!
Understanding this kind of thing (which has indeed been a bit of a mystery, since...imagining White Sharks having sex is a bit like imagining Joe Biden having sex, just with bigger teeth and all...:)
After all, what kind of pervert would want to study and watch THAT?
I beg you, rlmorel. No more imagining Bidung doing what Great White Sharks do naturally. Enough is enough :- )
Well, he’s deathly afraid of Great Whites. Especially those who ridicule him and say he did nothing for the Great Blacks when he was in office.
LOL! Boy, did THAT ever pollute the mind!
Genitals?
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