Fish, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 4, 2023

Watch great white shark get mobbed by gang of seals in 'incredible and surprising' footage

Spectacular footage captured off the southern coast of Africa shows a huge band of seals swarming and driving off a great white shark. The scene features in the first episode of the new documentary series Planet Earth III. South African fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) feast on massive shoals of fish...

Nov 9, 2023

Shark has virgin birth after no male contact for 4 years in Chicago zoo

A female shark at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois has birthed a pup despite having no contact with a male for four years, the zoo announced on Nov. 1. The virgin birth occurred on Aug. 23 after a five-month incubation period and is only the second known birth without fertilization reported...

Nov 20, 2023

Great white sharks are hanging out in the twilight zone and scientists don't know why

Large marine predators including great white sharks regularly spend time in the ocean's twilight and midnight zones, far beneath the depths at which they feed, in a discovery that has mystified scientists. In a new study, data from 12 species of large predatory fish, including sharks, billfish and tunas showed...

Nov 29, 2023

Great white shark ripped in 2 was 'loaded' with orca DNA, scientists say

A mutilated great white shark that washed up in Australia in October was mauled by orcas and loaded with its attackers' DNA, scientists have confirmed. Only the shark's head and spine remained when it appeared on a beach in Portland, Victoria, fueling speculation that orcas disemboweled the great white shark...

Dec 12, 2023

Pregnant megamouth shark seen for 1st time after female washes up dead with 7 pups

The first ever record of a pregnant megamouth shark has been documented after a dead female washed up on the shores of the Philippines. The 18-foot-long (5.5 meters) megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios), which was found on Nov. 14 in Barangay Ipil, Dipaculao, Aurora province, was pregnant with seven pups when...

Dec 26, 2023

Super-healing shark regrows its fin after humans cut a huge chunk off

A super-healing shark regrew a section of its fin after suffering a traumatic injury at the hands of humans near Jupiter in Florida, researchers have found. The silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) had a satellite tag fitted to its dorsal fin in June 2022 so researchers could track its migration. A...

Jan 11, 2024

How a scientist accidentally discovered a shark that regenerated its mutilated fin: 'The revelation was astonishing'

I made an accidental and astonishing discovery while studying the movements of sharks off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. I set out to record the migration routes of silky sharks, named for their smooth skin. Instead, in a story filled with twists and turns, I ended up documenting the rare...

Jan 11, 2024

Humans now kill 80 million sharks per year, 25 million of which are threatened species

An estimated 80 million sharks are dying in fisheries each year despite global regulations aimed at protecting them from finning, scientists have discovered. In a study published Jan. 11 in the journal Science, researchers used data from 2012 to 2019 — when legislation to protect sharks from finning increased tenfold...

Jan 30, 2024

'One of the holy grails of shark science': Watch 1st ever footage of baby great white shark moments after birth

A newborn great white shark has been spotted in the wild for the first time, researchers have announced. The ghostly white pup was photographed off the coast of California on July 9, 2023 and was nothing like any great white shark documented before. Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and University of...

Feb 7, 2024

325 million-year-old shark graveyard discovered deep within Mammoth Cave harbors new fossilized species

Two new shark species that lived 325 million years ago have been discovered in Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park and northern Alabama. The sharks would have lived in an ancient seaway that existed before the supercontinent Pangaea formed, locking them away in the fossil beds we see today. The two...

Feb 7, 2024

'Unnerving' rise in fatal shark attacks recorded last year. Should we be worried?

The number of unprovoked shark attacks spiked slightly across the globe last year, with a high percentage being fatal, a new report reveals. However, these statistics do not indicate that shark attacks are becoming more common, experts say. In 2023, there were 69 unprovoked shark attacks recorded worldwide where humans...

Mar 1, 2024

16-foot-long shark bites stranded pygmy whale's head off as human tries to rescue it

A huge shark bit the head off a stranded pygmy sperm whale in New Zealand as a person standing in waist-high water attempted to get the whale back out to sea. The shark, likely a great white (Carcharodon carcharias), returned 30 seconds later to eat the rest of the whale,...

Mar 1, 2024

Great white shark gets liver torn out by lone orca in under 2 minutes in shocking shift of hunting methods

New footage captures a lone orca killing and eating a great white shark in just 2 minutes, revealing they do not need to hunt in packs to take down one of the ocean's most formidable predators. In the video, the shark desperately attempts to flee as the orca follows close...

Mar 4, 2024

Elusive megamouth shark caught off Zanzibar for 1st time, gets sold for $17

A rarely seen megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was recently spotted in east Africa for the very first time. It was recorded in a market in Zanzibar, where it was being sold after being captured and killed. The recent sighting was only the sixth time a megamouth had ever been found...