Record Migration for a Great White Shark (continued)

Finally, after many months hard effort, Lydia the great white shark has crossed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is the border between the East and West Atlantic, making her the first ever trans atlantic swimming great white shark!!
  When a scientific research boat hauled her on board for a medical checkup recently, they pronounced her healthy and, what's more, pregnant. Soon, a new great white could be stepping up to face the challenge that its mother was the first to complete. Chris Fischer, one of the scientists who has been monitoring Lydia stated that she was mostly likely heading for the supposed great white birthing grounds in the Mediterranean Sea, which, if that became her destination, make her the longest migrating great white shark in history. Mr. Fischer also added that "If you forced me to guess where that (the birthing grounds) was, I'd say it was over in the Mediterranean, near Turkey... but that's longball I'm playing. She could turn around right now and head back to Florida."
  Congratulations to Lydia, the first ever trans-atlantic swimming shark.

Lydia the great white shark during her medical checkup.

Record Migration for a Great White Shark?

  A great white shark, affectionally named Lydia, was tagged off Florida in March 2013. She was 4.4 metres long. Until now, no great white shark had ever been recorded to have swum across the Atlantic, but Lydia is currently swimming near to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range which marks the border between the East and West Atlantic. 
  She is 1, 000 miles from Cornwall, England and an amazing 3, 000 miles from where she was first tagged in Jacksonville, Florida. Since being tagged, she has travelled a breath-taking 19, 000 miles.
  The longest ever migration of a great white was when the shark Nicole swum from South Africa to Australia over a nine month span from November 2003 to August 2004, covering 12, 400 miles.
  Lydia could be well on her way to breaking that record. Any day now, news could come of success.
  Dr Gregory Skomal, senior fisheries biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, stated that "We have no idea how far she will go, but Europe, the Med, and the coast of Africa are all feasible."
  Good luck to Lydia, who could possibly become the first great white shark to make a trans-Atlantic crossing.

Dangers to Sharks Part I

  Over the next few months, I will be publishing new posts on dangers to sharks. Each post will be about a different shark.

So what creatures pose a threat to sharks in the watery world they seem to lord over? The answer is that several do. Of course, all this varies depending on which type of shark you are talking about.

  Let’s start with the more imposing of the sharks: the great white. Many see this as king of the sea, mighty lord of all marine life. They are mistaken. Throughout its life, a great white shark will have a minimum of two threats to it. The one permanent threat is human beings. The reasons why- although none are good reasons for it, there cannot be a good one- I have mentioned countless times elsewhere on the blog. As a pup, the threat to great whites comes from octopi. These creatures will wrap a long, suckered tentacle around the shark’s body and reel it in, either for food or protection. Another danger comes from their brothers in arms, for if several great white pups were to be attracted to one, small sized piece of food, there is a chance that they would do damage to each other in order to eat it. 

  As adolescents, these sharks tend to travel between warm coastal waters around the world. These include the Great Barrier Reef, South Africa - for the yearly sardine run - Northern Africa and Southern Europe in the Mediterranean Sea and finally, in some of America's most popular beaches like Florida and Hawaii. Travelling between these places, however, leaves them open to a new danger: adult bull sharks. These sharks do not so much attack to find a meal - there are many easier pickings in these areas like dolphins, turtles, squid and large fish - but to rid themselves of a competitor for food and territory. 

  Finally, as adults, these sharks face a peril more terrible than those it has faced before: killer whales. Although, as their misleading name suggests, many people believe these are the smallest type of whale, they have been, in truth, recently reclassified as dolphins. They often travel in large packs and even when they are alone they do not hesitate to attack a great white. These amazing creatures from the deep always use the same tactics: the killer whale launches towards the great white's side, clamping its massive jaws around the middle of the shark. It then tosses the badly bleeding creature into the air. Sometimes, if the shark is badly hurt enough for there to be no risk of an attack in mid-air, the killer whale will leap after it and grab it again just to show off. If the shark continues to thrash about, then the killer whale will grab it in the middle with its jaws (again) and clamp down as tight as possible. It will race through the water like this, shaking its head while the shark fops like a rag-doll, until its nemesis is dead.
  
  So there you have it, despite its fearsome reputation as king of the seas, the great white shark will always have another creature capable of killing it.

A great white shark feeding on a large school of fish.

Several Species of Shark are Nearing Extinction

Several species of open water sharks are on the verge of extinction as they continue to be caught and finned by illegal fishing. The fishing of certain sharks has been banned but illegal fisheries continue to kill them for their fins. The shortfin mako, silvertip, sand tiger, oceanic white tip, bigeye thresher, pelagic thresher, and porbeagle sharks are all in danger of disappearing of the face of the earth. Soupfin sharks, great white sharks and pacific sleeper sharks are so endangered that they could die out any day now. Meanwhile, blue sharks and tiger sharks are decreasing in numbers rapidly and may soon die out.There is but 1% of the original population of the porbeagle shark left since their discovery. The same is true for the smooth hammerhead, dusky and bull sharks.

  The world must now fight for the lives of the sharks WE have killed. WE killed them and now WE must save them. If one shark species dies out, it will be OUR fault. WE must stand together and fight for the shark's rights.

The Great White Shark

The great white shark. The white death. The white pointer. Jaws. The undisputed king of the seas since the mighty carchadon megladon (an extinct shark that grew up to 18m long). The great white has 3,000 teeth arranged in rows, if it loses one, another takes it's place. The shark itself can grow to lengths of 6m and can weigh 2,268 kg. They can live for up to 30 (human) years and have been around since the Miocene period. They feed on dolphins, seals, turtles, large fish, dead whales and other sharks.
  This is what gave the great white shark it's terrible reputation and what caused it to strike fear into the hearts of any person from diver to doctor, from surfer to businessman. Yet this supposed man-killer is not what it is said to be. In fact, this 'cold blooded killer' has killed less humans than humans have killed great white sharks. We humans have less to fear from it than it has to fear from us.
  The reason we fear this fascinating creature is mainly down to one film. Jaws. It featured a single great white shark terrorizing a seaside town, biting boats in half and killing swimmers. True, sometimes a great white shark will attack a human but only if it has been provoked by that person. Or if it was pregnant and the person came too close for comfort. But mainly it is a mistake. Sharks, great whites particularly have bad eyesight and to them, a swimmer or surfer looks quite like a dolphin or a seal and it will launch an attack. Normally if it realizes it's mistake it will let go and swim away.

A surfer's silhouette from beneath.

A seal's silhouette from beneath.

  See the similarities? For a great white shark, it is exactly the same.
  Great white sharks are clever and curious, if they see bait on a line, they will cruise around it until they think it is safe to eat it they have electrical sensors that guide them to food, and other objects such as diving cages. They will open their mouths, bare their teeth, lift up the skin above their top jaw and lunge forward. All that takes about a second.
  In some amazing cases, great white sharks will allow themselves to be petted by humans. Valerie Taylor managed to get a great white shark to poke it's head out of the water, eat a dead fish calmly and let her pat it's nose before telling it to swim away (which it did). What a miracle. But in that moment, the world was shown that great white sharks weren't monsters, but, intelligent, fascinating and misunderstood creatures just waiting to be learnt about.

A great white shark drifting peacefully in the Pacific Ocean.