Tiger sharks help map world's largest seagrass discovery with cameras on their backs
Need something in the foreground to give that seagrass some scale?
Strap a camera on the back of a tiger shark, that's what scientists in the Bahamas have been doing.
That's man and sharks working together hand in fin to help one another, with scientists utilising the shark's skills to map out the world’s largest seaweed....we mean seagrass ecosystem, which is an astonishing 35,500-square-mile meadow in the Bahamas.
If that sounds impressive, that's because it's twice the size of the next largest seagrass ecosystem, which is in Australia.
The new find expands the known seagrass coverage globally by over 40%, which is positive news for both marine life and for humans.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rain forests, meaning this discovery by tiger sharks could help us in the fight against climate change.
Lead author of the research paper behind the find is Austin Gallagher, the chief executive officer of the non-profit Beneath the Waves, spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about the discovery.
He said: “The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas, which we now know is likely the most significant blue carbon sink on the planet.”
Clearly things have moved on a bit since the days of Michael Brody and Jake getting a grant for the lives of giant sea snails, as depicted in Jaws the Revenge (1987).
And Hendricks can breathe a sigh of relief as being 2022 he doesn't need to take any film to Fogarty’s for processing.
Of course, cameras on the backs of sharks are nothing new, just look at this behind the scenes shot from Jaws 2 (1978).
It's great to see such a positive story about tiger sharks, when so often they are only mentioned as part of the trinity of terror, the three species of sharks which have been regarded as those that have carried out the most attacks on humans, from the great white, tiger shark to bull shark.
Especially in the same week that there have been sensationalist stories about Ocean Ramsey almost ‘stepping into’ the open mouth of a tiger shark.
Words by Dean Newman
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