How did the arctic shark end up in Belize? Science is trying to explain it | environment

A sample of a type of shark Its natural habitat is the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean It was located in the reefs of Belize, a country on the Caribbean coast of Central America, a strange find, perhaps the first of its kind, that sparked scientific interest.

Experts from Florida International University (FIU) studied this unusual finding, Given the sheer distance of the habitat of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) with respect to the point where it was located, in the warm Caribbean waters of Belize.

A university representative told Efe on Tuesday that the shark had been caught It was later released for its own safety, although the goal is to monitor the area so that if a specimen or another species of the same species is found again, a mechanism can be attached to it. Follow-up that allows to know the behavior of migration.

The captured shark is a half-blind specimen that usually lives in arctic waters It feeds on the carcasses of polar bears, A species that lives for hundreds of years.

The sample appeared recently somewhere Unexpected as coral reefs off the coast of Belize.

FIU experts have determined that this is the first time a shark of this type has been found in the waters of the Western Caribbean in Belize, in front of the world’s second longest barrier reef.

Researcher Devanshi Kasana, who works in the Financial Intelligence Unit’s Predator Environmental and Conservation Laboratory, was with local Belize fishermen observing tiger sharks when the discovery was made.

“I knew it was something unusual and so did the Hunters, who had never seen anything like this in their years in the area.”The researcher referred to the results.

After consulting with the Shark and Ray Conservation Research Department at the Mote Marine Laboratory Aquarium, in Boca Grande, Florida, it was determined that, according to the images received, A specimen of the family of Greenland shark or Somniosus microcephalus.

They determined that it could also be a hybrid between a Greenland shark and a Pacific sleeper shark. (Somniosus pacificus).

Greenland sharks remain a mystery to science, even though they are known to be They prefer the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean.

You may be interested in:

It is estimated that these sharks live more than 400 years, This gives them the designation of the longest-living vertebrates known to science.

The first hypothesis to explain Presence in the Caribbean indicates that sharks in Greenland They can track the depths of oceans around the world.

The Financial Intelligence Unit and the Belize Fisheries Department are working together to reduce shark fishing and protect the population of this kind.

One of the world’s leading experts on sharks in Greenland, and British Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Windsor, Nigel Hussey, andFIU researchers have sent a team of four satellite trackers to track the migration behavior of the species in the event that new sharks are discovered in Greenland.

Listen to the podcast “Foxes and Hedgehogs” and learn why the famous meeting of the former president and the president-elect did not bear fruit: