Sharks explored at Rotary
What people know of sharks usually comes from certain types of media, mostly consisting of movies like “Jaws” and the occasional documentary. The St. Marys Rotary Club received a more thorough talk about the ocean species on Wednesday in order to get proper context on the infamous animals.
Dr. Chuck Ciampaglio teaches as an earth and environmental science professor at Wright State University, with some of his work revolving around studying sharks with his students. There are plenty of things people get right and wrong about sharks, and he wanted to dispute a few things he’s heard over the years.
“Today there are about 869 species alive, and really, they’re true name is chondrichthyes,” said Ciampaglio about their classification. Otherwise known as cartilaginous fish, they can be classified under two big branch
es. “One is called the Elasmobranchii’s, which are like the great white, mako, manta ray, skates, thins like that. The other groups called the Holocephali, and they’re like these weird holdovers from millions and millions of years ago.”
There are plenty of different species that have a variety of different physical differences, with Ciampaglio pointing out that definition is a broad one at times. The general species is as old as 450 million years old, and while some traits have lived on from some of those predecessors, they have evolved in many different ways.
“They have changed so much over time, it isn’t funny,” Ciampaglio said. Most of this evidence
lies in their teeth, with discoveries showing how shark’s teeth originally were more for crushing than biting due to the difference in food sources in certain time periods. “They adapt to the environment, they adapt to the ecosystem very, very well, very quickly.”
Ciampaglio has been studying these animals for a long time now and his job allows him to do so quite often. WSU offers programs that work with sharks and their relatives in various locations, with the professor heading some of these studies as well.
“I will say, the last two years, I haven’t gotten out really much,” said Ciampaglio. The reasons mostly lie in COVID restricting travel, as well as changes in his responsibilities. “I probably now get out three or four times a year. There was a time at least 10 years ago, I was probably out in the field
one quarter of the year.”
However, Ciampaglio and anyone in the program at WSU can work on the samples found at any time, with said samples coming as far as South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. It can be hard work, especially since the remains can be hard to find.
“Sometimes I’m in the water, sometimes I’m on land, sometimes we’re digging tunnels,” Ciampaglio explained.
“Sometimes we find whole remains, most of the time you find teeth and scales because the teeth are impervious to weathering.”
The job can be tough, and Ciampaglio does say that he thinks sharks get a rough reputation due to certain media portrayals, but he claims that it’s worth it. He encourages anyone that’s interested in looking into sharks and related topics to start researching when they can.