Sharks

Be thankful you didn’t live 20 million years ago, when the seas were patrolled by the Megalodon. This monstrous prehistoric shark was more than twice the size of a great white, and now a new detailed analysis has found just how big it really was.

Scientists in Australia have delved into the dining habits of juvenile great white sharks and discovered a humble diet that belies their image as a fearsome predator, with bottom-dwelling creatures making up a decent portion of their meals.

Although the great white shark is one of the ocean's top predators, it's still a vulnerable species. Now, scientists have discovered what they say is a prehistoric nursery site for the sharks, and it could have implications for protecting them today.

It turns out that there still are new things under the sun – or in this case, under the water. Scientists have recently discovered not one but two previously-unknown species of the six-gill sawshark, which is itself rarely seen.

Scientists have observed four new species of shark using their fins to walk across the sea floor, a motion rarely seen in the animals and one that affords them a strong advantage over the smaller creatures they prey on.

In certain parts of the world, people such as surfers stand a real risk of being bitten by sharks. According to a recent study, however, a lightweight wetsuit fabric could greatly reduce the seriousness of injuries when such attacks occur.

Though there are just six fatal shark attacks each year globally, going for a swim off the back of a boat is not a pastime undertaken lightly. Now there's a scientifically-proven device which deters sharks and enables far safer ocean swimming. Is keeping the kids safe worth US$3,000?

A new electronic tag has been attached to four tiger sharks in the Caribbean in a test of a new satellite-connected fish tracking system. Described by co-developer ESA as cheaper and more animal friendly, the new tags will help to monitor the sharks' migration patterns for years.

​​Fans of a still-surviving megalodon, rejoice – a new species of deep-ocean shark has been identified. At just 5.5 inches long (about 144 mm), however, the American Pocket Shark is a bit smaller than the prehistoric super-predator.​

Scientists at the University of Exeter have turned to Twitter for a better picture of the effect ocean plastics are having on sharks and rays. Summing these reports, they identified more than 1,000 individual sharks and rays seen entangled in ocean waste.

The now-extinct megalodon was the largest predatory shark to ever live, while the great white is currently the largest of the predatory sharks. It now turns out that both fish likely descended from a small, flat shark that skulked along the seabed.

​Less than two weeks after it proclaimed a ban on single-use plastic items, Canada has now taken another step toward protecting the environment, by banning the import and export of shark fins. It is the first of the G20 group of industrialized and developing nations to do so.