Hongray Shark

Shark Bite Severity Scale Created

University of Florida researchers have created a grading scale, similar to how burn severity is ranked by degrees. The new scale is detailed in this month’s The American Surgeon.

Lead researcher Dr. Ashley Lentz, a plastic and reconstructive surgery fellow at the UF College of Medicine, said compiling the total score using the SIT assessment indicates the level of bite severity as outlined in the newly created five-level grading system.

“If it’s just an extremity and it’s an abrasion, it’s just a Level I injury,” Lentz said. “If a shark comes up and takes a big bite out of a thigh and takes out the femoral artery, then that’s a life-ending bite — pretty quickly — and you are talking about a Level V injury.”

The new shark bite severity scoring system creates a standardized way for medical personnel to assess patient risk and for researchers to evaluate trends, as well as offers a consistent method for media and officials to communicate the impact to the public.

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Mating Hammerheads Caught On Film

A large school of hammerhead sharks has been spotted carrying out a rarely seen mating ritual about half a mile off Perth’s northern beaches.

The 17 sharks, some up to 12 ft long, were filmed from a Channel Nine helicopter Monday morning.

Shark expert Hugh Edwards said the ritual had only been filmed twice before, once off Mexico and once near the Rowley Shoals off WA’s North-West coast.

Watch the video!

The Biggest Fish Ever Caught!

National Geographic’s Expedition Great White airs Thursday, Dec 31. Watch a team of world-class anglers land an SUV-sized great white shark!

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Nightline Does Sharks

Watch the video here.

Glow-In-The-Dark Sharks

Shark Birth Caught on Film

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

Where do basking sharks go in the wintertime?

The mysterious basking shark, which can measure 35 feet or longer, is known to live in temperate waters around the world. Yet, no one has ever examined a newborn basking shark. No one has seen a pregnant female. No one knows where the animals give birth. And until recently, no one knew where they spent much of their time, particularly in the winter.

Researchers tagged some of these puppies and it turns out they swim all the way from New England to the Bahamas and across the equator to South America. Scientists used to think they spent all of their time in cooler waters but it sounds like they like things a little warmer.

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Fish With A See-Thru Head!

Talk about having eyes in the back of your head. The common name for the fish is “barreleyes.” Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute investigators recently figured out why this species has a transparent head. Its eyes can actually rotate within its “skull,” so the transparency allows it to keep an eye on what’s going on all around it.

See some more pics here.

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Thanks Luke!

Where The Shark Action Is

The International Shark Attack File has released (a little earlier than expected) the ISAF 2008 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary. According to ISAF Dirctor George Burgess, there were 117 alleged incidents of shark-human interaction occurring worldwide in 2008. Just 59 of these incidents represented confirmed cases of unprovoked shark attack on humans.

There were 71 unprovoked attacks 2007. Maybe it’s the recession…

Click here to read more.