Fish, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 20, 2023

'Cocaine sharks' off Florida may be feasting on dumped bales of drugs

For decades, huge bundles of cocaine have washed up on Florida beaches, having been smuggled from South and Central America. Hauls are often dumped at sea (both to give to smugglers and evade law enforcement), and currents and tides push them to shore. In June, the U.S. Coast Guard seized...

Jul 20, 2023

Pyjama sharks filmed mating in a giant, otherworldly underwater forest in 1st footage of its kind

Stripy alien sharks have been filmed mating in extremely rare footage captured as part of Discovery's Shark Week. The footage shows two pyjama sharks (Poroderma africanum) as they coil around one another and sink to the seafloor, before parting ways. It's likely the first time this species has ever been...

Jul 25, 2023

Shark bites man wading in waist-high water off South Carolina beach resort

A shark swimming in the shallows near a beach resort in South Carolina has bitten a man in a seemingly unprovoked attack. The 60-year-old man, who has not been named, was in water just 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meter) deep off the Sea Pines beach on Hilton...

Jul 25, 2023

How to watch Shark Week 2023: Jason Momoa hosts this year's fin-tastic line-up

Shark Week 2023 has reached our shores, offering 20 hours worth of new shark shows for your viewing pleasure. We've put together a handy guide on how to watch Shark Week 2023, including lists the live TV air times, streaming services, and some of our standout shows that you don't...

Aug 2, 2023

Cape Cod is one of the world's largest hotspots of great white sharks, study finds

Cape Cod in Massachusetts is home to one of the world's biggest hotspots of great white sharks, new research finds. Between 2015 to 2018, an estimated 800 great white sharks visited the area, according to a study published July 27 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. This is the...

Aug 8, 2023

Odd new shark species with humanlike molars discovered in Australia

Scientists in Australia have discovered a new species of shark with bizarre, human-like molars that it uses to smash down on prey. The new species, named painted hornshark (Heterodontus marshallae), is part of the order Heterodontiformes, which are classified by their unique body shape and small horns that protrude from...

Aug 17, 2023

Great white sharks are washing up on Canadian beaches — but experts claim this could be a good thing

A record number of great white sharks have washed up in Canada over the past year. But perhaps surprisingly, this spate of dead shark reports may actually be a good sign for the local great white population, experts say. On Aug. 7, a beachgoer on Prince Edward Island reported seeing...

Aug 18, 2023

2 male great white sharks have traveled thousands of miles together and no one knows why

Two great white sharks seem to be following each other all the way from the southeast U.S. to Canada. Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are usually solitary animals and travel vast distances alone. So the pair's 4,000-mile (6,400 kilometers) swim together has left scientists puzzled. White sharks lead a very...

Aug 18, 2023

Great white sharks: The world's largest predatory fish

Great white sharks, (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as white sharks, are the largest predatory fish in the world. They belong to a partially warm-blooded family of sharks called Lamnidae, or mackerel sharks, that are able to maintain an internal body temperature that's warmer than their external environment — unlike other...

Aug 30, 2023

Every year, dozens of female hammerhead sharks mysteriously convene in French Polynesia under the full moon

An unusual, all-female assembly of great hammerhead sharks has been gathering in the tropical waters of French Polynesia every summer for over a decade, with numbers peaking around the full moon, scientists have discovered. These critically endangered sharks convene during the austral summer, between December and March, around openings in...

Sep 18, 2023

2 liver-eating orcas forced an entire population of great white sharks to flee their home waters

South Africa is renowned for having one of the world's biggest populations of great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). Substantial declines have been observed, however, in places where the sharks normally gather on the coast of the Western Cape province. Sharks congregate at these locations to feed, interact socially, or rest....

Sep 25, 2023

Scientists have figured out when the biggest bull sharks are most active — and it's not when official advice suggests

Scientists in Australia have called for swimming advice to be updated to reflect new information about one of the most dangerous shark species. The call came after researchers tracked the movements of bull sharks off the coast of New South Wales and found the times when the largest individuals are...

Sep 27, 2023

The strange story of sharks that lived in a golf course pond for 20 years — then vanished

For nearly 20 years, a group of bull sharks lived in an artificial pond on an Australian golf course after having been stranded by receding floodwaters. Then, they vanished. A new paper published Aug. 18 in the journal Marine and Fishery Sciences chronicles the history of this unique population. Bull...

Oct 19, 2023

Orcas attacked a great white shark to gorge on its liver in Australia, shredded carcass suggests

The carcass of a torn-up great white shark has washed up on a beach in Australia, fueling speculation that orcas attacked it to gorge on its liver — a first in these waters. Residents found the 10-foot-long (3 meters), disemboweled shark near Cape Bridgewater, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) west...

Oct 20, 2023

Big, healthy great white shark washes up dead on Canada beach in latest of string of mystery strandings

A large, healthy-looking great white shark that washed up dead on a beach in Canada is the latest in a string of mystery strandings in the region. The 14-foot-long (4.3 meters) male adult shark was seen thrashing in the water near North Bay Wharf in Nova Scotia before stranding on...