Scientists record first evidence of shark making noise
The scientists recorded New Zealand rig sharks (Musteluslenticulatus), small sharks found in coastal waters all around the country, producing clicks when handled underwater, in what they believe is the "first documented case of active sound production by a shark."
Ten juvenile rig sharks - five female and five male - were used for the study over the 11-month study. The sounds were recorded in an experimental plastic tank set up to record the sounds.
The researchers, led by Carolin Nieder from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US, found that on average "the sharks produced significantly more clicks" in the first 10 seconds of handling compared to the following 10 seconds.
They believe that the forceful snapping together of the rig shark's flattened teeth is the likely source of the sound.
They base the hypothesis on the rig shark's plated teeth morphology as well as the type of noise produced, specifically its short duration (48 milliseconds) and high peak frequencies (2.4-18.5 kHz),but said that more research is needed to confirm this.
The biologists said that the purpose of the clicking sound "remains uncertain," but it may be produced "in response to disturbance or distress." Further behavioural research will be required to investigate this.
The research was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. —dpa
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
Trump aims to boost US space industry with less red tape
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump aims to stimulate the domestic space industry by cutting bureaucracy as the competition from countries like China and India heats up. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, the administration outlined plans to strengthen the US position in space by 2030 through a competitive market for launches, a significant increase in launch frequency, and "novel space activities." To achieve this, the government plans to simplify and accelerate approval processes for commercial licenses and US-based operators. The order says ensuring efficient launches and re-entries by US operators is "critical to economic growth, national security, and accomplishing federal space objectives." The policies will help maintain "American space competitiveness and superiority." The executive order sets deadlines for federal agencies, including NASA, to propose measures to reduce regulatory hurdles and identify conflicts with existing rules, such as environmental regulations. The US aims to return humans to the moon by 2027, decades after the last crewed US lunar missions, but ahead of other nations with ambitious space programmes such as China and India. Rapid commercialization and privatization have dramatically changed the space industry in recent years, intensifying the race for a leading position in the sector. — dpa
Observer
03-08-2025
- Observer
Swiss glaciers suffer rapid ice loss following weak winter snowfall
GENEVA: Switzerland's glaciers are melting at an alarming pace this year, with scientists warning that the loss of ice cover began weeks earlier than usual due to a snow-poor winter. Glacier Loss Day (GLD) is marked every year by researchers in Switzerland. It represents the point when a glacier has melted away all the snow and ice it gained during the winter. Depending on the glacier, it arrived as early as late June or early July this year. 'In some regions in north-eastern Switzerland, we've never had such a small amount of snow on the glaciers at the end of winter', researcher Andreas Bauder of ETH Zurich said of the mountain conditions going into the summer months. 'As long as there is snow on the ground, the ice won't melt. But this year, the snow melt began at the end of May and continued rapidly throughout June and into July', he said. In Switzerland, snow and ice cover are measured in detail every spring and fall on about 20 of the country's roughly 1,400 glaciers. Between 10 and 15 of those are also monitored during the summer. These observations are used to determine the Glacier Loss Day. Looking back to last year, the summer began with much larger snow reserves than this year, according to Bauder. Even so, glaciers still lost more mass in 2024 than they gained during the winter, leading them to shrink. 'In the past, Glacier Loss Day usually came at the end of August or early September-but we haven't seen that in the past 20 years', said Bauder. — dpa
Observer
27-05-2025
- Observer
This Fossil's 3 Eyes Are Not Its Most Surprising Feature
More than 500 million years before 'The Simpsons' introduced us to Blinky, a fish with an extra eye swimming through Springfield's Old Fishin' Hole, a three-eyed predator chased prey through seas of the Cambrian Period. Known as Mosura fentoni, this creature is a worthy addition to the bizarre bestiary preserved in the Burgess Shale, a fossil deposit in the Canadian Rockies. But the animal's anatomy, described in the journal Royal Society Open Science, shows it may not be as alien as it looks. The first Mosura specimen was unearthed by a paleontologist more than a century ago. Over recent decades, paleontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto have uncovered many more Mosura fossils, which they nicknamed 'sea moths' because of flaps that help them swim. Sea moths were not fish, but they were related to radiodonts, a group of arthropods that dominated Cambrian food chains. But a closer inspection would not occur until Mosura specimens were unearthed in 2012 in a Burgess Shale outcrop. Having both old and new specimens encouraged researchers to 'finally figure this animal out,' said Joseph Moysiuk, who studied the Marble Canyon fossils as a doctoral student. Moysiuk teamed up with his adviser at the Royal Ontario Museum, Jean-Bernard Caron, to examine 60 sea moth specimens. The specimens were photographed under polarized light to capture the flattened fossils' detailed anatomy. A defining feature of living arthropods is the division of their bodies into specialized parts. For example, crustaceans like crabs have different appendages adapted to perform certain functions like feeding or walking. Fossils of many early arthropod ancestors reveal relatively simple body plans. Researchers have therefore long proposed that segmentation took a long time to evolve. Mosura bucks this trend. Despite measuring only 2.5 inches long, the creature's body was divided into as many as 26 segments. 'It's something that we've never seen in this group of animals before,' said Moysiuk, who is now at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg. In addition to its wide swimming flaps, the animal possessed a highly segmented trunk at the back of its body brimming with gills, resembling the abdomenlike structures that horseshoe crabs, woodlice and some insects use to breathe. — JACK TAMISIEA / NYT
