SECRET LIFE OF REEF SHARKS
REEF
Sharks play an extremely important role in the Earth’s ecosystem and the research of one Townsville scientist is helping us understand them.
Michelle Heupel is a marine biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science at Cape Cleveland, south of Townsville, and is a pioneer in the acoustic tracking of sharks.
Dr Heupel is leading research on the movements of sharks, which is helping create better management plans to support reef shark populations.
The world’s oceans are home to more than 400 species of sharks, nearly half of which live in Australia. Most of these are harmless to humans and grow to less than 2m long.
“Sharks come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes and have been helping keep our oceans healthy for more than 450 million years,” Dr Heupel said.
She said by tracking sharks we could find out how far they travel, where they go and how long they stay in various places. She has been working with the Oregon Coast Aquarium, in America, with an online tool called Oceanscape to describe her research on the Great Barrier Reef.
The tool lets you virtually visit the bottom of the sea and next week, the sharks of the Great Barrier Reef will be featured in Oceanscape online. Tracking Sharks on the Great Barrier Reef will be hosted on the Oceanscape network at oceanscape. aquarium. org, from August 28, to September 1. The program is free and will have daily blogs, videos and downloadable items. * Some sharks can live for up to 70 years * Most sharks have up to three working rows of teeth with 20 to 30 teeth in each row. * Some sharks lay eggs while others give birth to live young. * Most sharks must keep water moving across their gills and so they don’t stop to sleep.