East Coast: New England Sharks: Mako Shark

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Mako Sharks

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortfin_mako_shark

These are the fastest species of shark, and if you ask me they look like one of the menacing species of shark. Mako sharks are either longfin or shortfin, which I found pretty cool through extra research. These sharks will get six feet long like most of the species of sharks. Which again makes me sad because most sharks are taller than me....anyways these sharks give birth to live young.

But the problem when giving birth, come species of shark only have a few pups but it takes a little over a year for them to fertilize. Mako sharks are one of these species where a female could only have four pups but it took her 18 months to fertilize those puppies.

Which is why Mako sharks need to be conserved because people will hunt them for sport and for Shark Fin Soup (which I've heard is starting to cease to exist). People kill 100 million sharks a year and some of them are Makos, so by killing so many of them, you're not helping the population have a enough time to replenish.  This is one of the big reasons why I am doing this blog to help educate you all to conserve them, and respect them instead of just killing them or fearing them.

To end on a lighter note, you will find these Mako sharks everywhere because they can easily adapt to cold and warm temperatures and they will eat all kinds of fish.

For more information: http://www.sharks-world.com/mako_shark/ and http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=36

Again please comment and vote! Thank you again for everything and hope you enjoyed this post about Mako Sharks!!!

Next time: GREAT WHITE SHARKS!

East Coast: New England Sharks: Blue Shark

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Blue Shark














Blue Shark Picture

These guys swim deep in the water so you're not very likely to see them frequently. They are one of the few fastest sharks and grow to about 4 meters long (12 feet or so). One thing to note about these species they give birth like humans by the pup growing inside of them unlike having dolphin purses like other sharks. When I was younger I was led to believe by a friend that only a Sand Tiger and a Nurse shark only gave birth like humans but that is false. Blues can also have a big liter of pups the max being at least about 100...that's a lot of pups! (for better idea of numbers look at the article below!)

A cool thing about Blues is that they will actually travel in groups. Basking Sharks will do it too sometimes, but Blues will hang out with fellow Blue Sharks their size. These Blue Sharks in groups or maybe sometimes alone, will go after squid to eat or small fish. They can be dangerous to humans because you're in their territory and they don't like that so if I saw one I'd give it space.

Another thing about Blue Sharks I would like to point out is that they mate aggressively. Basically what Blues will do and other sharks is bite the female and turn her on her dorsal (back) side. So if you're ever diving and see a female shark with a bunch of bites on her, it's from the mating.

This is a White Tip but I thought I would bring up some anatomy now and so you know, these are claspers so this is a male White Tip.

Blue Shark Picture 2

The picture above showing what a Blue Shark looks like, looks to be a female.


I hope you enjoyed this installment of a Blue Shark, please comment on this posts and others giving me your thoughts and vote on the side if you found this information useful.


For more information: Blue Shark Info~ Click on me!

East Coast: New England Sharks: Basking Shark

So every week or a couple times a week I will be posting sharks that are near you!
First one: the East Coast so basically New England

*I will be posting pictures of sharks that aren't mine so I will provide a link to give credit also any other information that is not mine*

Basking Sharks

These sharks are HUGE!

Basking Shark Picture

They are about 13 meters long so if you think about it, a Great White is only 6 meters (20 feet). They still have teeth of course, but what they do is that they open up their mouths and use their gills to help filter out food. So basically they eat just like a whale. These sharks are harmless to humans and if you really want to meet one, it'll probably be on a whale watch. These animals are beautiful and they are the second largest fish in the world with first being the Blue Whale. Basking sharks are endangered though because I learned over this past weekend that they have a population less than 8,000 because back in the old days they were killed for human resources like for oils for lamps. They are really beautiful creatures and just amazing. 

More Info on Basking Sharks (For more information to look at and for more detail about how long their populations have been declining and the specific reasons why they were fished)

About Me

My name is Catherine Bilodeau and I'm a freshman in college right now. I am majoring in Marine Biology with the hopes of studying Great White Sharks. I want to find out more about this animal like behaviors and where they go to mate. I want to study Great Whites because they are so misunderstood! I've wanted to study sharks for a long time now and one of the reasons why is Shark Week. I love Shark Week and it even gets better when it's shown in my birth month, but that happens on rare occasions. I own a bunch of shark stuff and books because I just love them. I really hope you enjoy this blog and please comment because I want to know about what you think!

 I also play ice hockey!

Why I'm doing this:

This is for a school project, but I was inspired to do this. After going to my Marine Biology club's trip to a conference, I started to realize people might not know what kind of sharks live near them. I adore Great White Sharks and I actually want to study them when I'm older after getting a Master's degree. Right now I am a freshman in college majoring in Marine Biology. I really hope you enjoy this educational blog and realize that sharks should be protected not feared.