hybrid sharks!!!!

Exciting exciting exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scientists have found the first hybrid sharks!!!!

What do you mean who cares??? I care. Why? Because sharks have traditionally been thought by scientists to adapt slowly to changes in their environment (check out the megalodon - looks a lot like a great white). That means that as the oceans get warmer and those shitbag Japanese keep finning sharks the species will die out quickly. Mahmood Shivji who works at the Guy Harvey Research Institute was one of the first scientists to use DNA analysis to show shark populations have distinct genetics within specific ocean basins.

But if they are interbreeding they have a shot at survival. Sad how most of the sharks caught these days are young. That means they are killed before breeding. That means less sharks. And since sharks are the trashmen (and trashwomen) of the ocean, it's going to have a terrible impact if they disappear.

So breed with abandon sharks! I know my Pacific great whites think that Australian great whites have a weird accents but go with it!

So you think the only good shark is a dead shark? Here's a surprise for you...

Juliet Eilperin has written a good (three stars) book about sharks and shark conservation called Demon Fish (for the shark but not science inclined Devil's Teeth is better). A great study she cites in her book (Trends in Ecology and Evolution) shows that the eco-system works much more efficiently and naturally when the apex predators are healthy. The study cites the example of Prince William Sound in Alaska. With sharks to eat harbor seals the harbor seals forage in shallower water and that keeps the walleye pollack population intact. In Shark Bay, Australia, tiger sharks keep sea turtles from overgrazing the sea grass habitat. The study was primarily authored by a scientist with the eclectic name Boris Worm. He says "Sharks are being kind of the 'cop on the street' in the ecosystem".

Sharks...

Ach. I am interrupted. My UPS guy just brought my new computer and he wants me to open the box and show it to him. More on sharks later.