Jaws Hold Crucial Knowledge on the Fate of Sharks
Published:07 May2022 Source:Technical University of Denmark
The fear and fascination for sharks have made people collect shark jaws for decades. These collections of shark jaws from museums, national fishery institutes and personal collections, including modern samples from fishery institutes represent a great opportunity for scientists. Using genomic data retrieved from historical tiger shark jaws, an international group of scientists including Professor Einar Eg from the Technical University of Denmark has found evidence of the disappearance of a local southeastern Australian population of tiger sharks. A disappearance associated with a documented local decline in abundance of tiger sharks, likely caused by the ongoing shark control program.
The international study Retrospective genomics highlights changes in genetic composition of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) and potential loss of a south-eastern Australia population has just been published in the journal Scientific Reports. "Our study shows that tiger sharks can have local and genetically isolated populations at a restricted geographical scale -- such as the south Eastern Australian coast -- and that these local populations are vulnerable to direct exploitation and shark control programs," says Einar Eg.