Dr. Sal Jorgensen is one of the scientists whose research helped discover the White Shark Cafe in the Pacific. Last year he shared new data from his tagging projects which showed very interesting details regarding the white shark's migration from the California coast out to the middle of the Pacific and back. I smashed his years of research into a couple of minutes in this episode of Shark Minutes. Key points of interest:
1. White sharks don't seem to feed much during their migration as indicated by their relative constant speed. 2. They use their massive livers for buoyancy in the absence of a flotation bladder that bony fish have. 3. White sharks "coast" to save energy between tail beats, much like gliding birds during migration. 4. Since the energy in the liver is used to fuel the migration the liver also shrinks, thus the shark becomes less buoyant as the journey goes on. 5. The depletion of the liver coincides with the return to coastal waters to once again feed and fatten up. Such details help us understand how important it is to have a successful feeding season before attempting a long migration. ​Shark Minutes shirts are now available! Click here. |