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Posted by Lauren Smith on

Two new species of saw sharks discovered

Two new species of saw sharks discovered

The newly discovered Pliotrema kajae and Pliotrema annae six-gill saw sharks, were discovered during research investigating small-scale fisheries operating off the coasts of Madagascar and Zanzibar. The discovery of these two new sharks highlights how little we still know about life in the ocean and the impact we are having on it.

Read more here: https://biomeecology.com/news/2020/04/two-new-species-of-saw-sharks-discovered/

Posted by Lauren Smith on

How do Sharks Grow?

How do Sharks Grow?

Over the years I have been asked all sorts of questions about sharks, covering a broad range of pretty much everything, from; “Do sharks fart?” to “How do sharks grow?”

Let’s start with the latter, this was asked by an Ecologist friend; Heather Lyons, and is a particular favourite of mine, not least because the answer takes you on a journey of discovery on both a physiological and evolutionary level.

Read more here: https://biomeecology.com/marine-biology/2019/11/how-do-sharks-grow/

Posted by Lauren Smith on

What is Biofluorescence? Shining a light on biofluorescence in UK waters.

What is Biofluorescence? Shining a light on biofluorescence in UK waters.

Biofluorescence is essentially the ability of an organism, to absorb electromagnetic wavelengths from the visible light spectrum by fluorescent compounds, and the subsequent emission of this at a lower energy level.

In this blog piece for the BiOME Ecology webzine i talk to plant pathologist James Lynott about this incredible phenomenon: https://biomeecology.com/news/2019/10/shining-a-light-on-shark-biofluorescence-dr-l-smith/