Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide

12 “Sharkology”

221 Chapter 12 “Sharkology” Who studies sharks? Unlike ichthyology—the study of fishes—there is no accepted term for the study of sharks. Condrichthyology covers all the groups but is kind of clumsy. Elasmobranchology would work, but it excludes the holocephalan ratfishes (and is even clumsier). Most shark researchers think of themselves as just that, shark researchers, or as ichthyologists who focus on sharks and related fishes. Regardless of name, the study of sharks and their relatives is a large, valid, and active branch of biology. Shark researchers determine how to tell different species of sharks apart and work out the evolutionary relationships among sharks. They study ecology, behavior, physiology, genetics, distribution, and conservation of sharks to answer many of the questions addressed in the first eleven chapters of this book. In fact, most of the information you’ve been reading about was at some point the subject of careful scientific study. Fishery biologists use this information plus additional information on life histories and population sizes to manage shark populations so that we can continue to harvest fishes for food and sport without endangering the survival of species. Most shark researchers in North America are members of the American Elasmobranch Society (AES; www.elasmo.org). AES is a nonprofit scientific organization with an international membership of more than 400 individuals who work for universities, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations, and as private individuals. AES “seeks to advance the scientific study of living and fossil sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras, and the promotion of education, conservation, and wise utilization of natural 222 Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide resources.” Although anyone interested in the objectives of the society can join AES, membership requires endorsement, preferably by someone with a professional affiliation. The annual meetings of AES are lively affairs, usually held in conjunction with meetings of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, where active researchers present their latest findings, promote student research and shark conservation, and enjoy the fellowship of like-minded admirers of fishes with cartilaginous skeletons . Coauthor George Burgess is a former president of AES. Professional organizations in other countries also focus on research and conservation of sharks and their relatives. New ones are created each year as interest and concern grow. Links to many can be found at the AES website . Can anyone study sharks? Professional status is not required to study sharks. It all depends on what level of “study” we’re talking about. Both of your authors have been deeply involved in learning about (studying) sharks since we were quite young, and we truly hope that you, our readers, will move on from the information in this book to explore shark biology more deeply. Attend lectures , read actual scientific papers, write letters, get involved. But to become a real (bona fide) shark researcher requires a considerable amount of professional training, beginning with a college degree in an appropriate field such as biology. Research opportunities for college students vary greatly from place to place, but if you’re fortunate enough to be at an institution that has shark researchers on the faculty, drop in and say hello and say you would be happy to volunteer your time helping them. No shark researcher? Not a problem. Just volunteer with someone who studies any related field. Then work like the dickens to show you are reliable, tireless, and attentive. Take a class from that faculty member and do exceptionally well in it (this seems obvious, but we have learned otherwise). This person will be your passport to graduate school via a personal recommendation . (Of course you have to do well in your other classes too, including the ones you’re not interested in.) From there, you go on to graduate school and actually get to study sharks. Pursue a master’s and ideally a Ph.D, join AES, and you have arrived . Which species are best known? Shark size, habitat type and depth, abundance, and activity levels are probably the chief determinants of whether we know much or little about a 223 “Sharkology” shark species. A great deal of what we know about the anatomy, biochemistry , parasites, food habits, age and growth, and reproductive biology of sharks—in short, everything but their behavior and ecology—is acquired through dissection of dead offshore and inshore species caught commercially or by biologists. Tolerance of captivity is another important attribute of the sharks we know best. As a result, we...