Latest news with #sharks
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Science
- Washington Post
Where will the next big hurricane hit? Ask the sharks.
In the so-bad-it's-good TV movie 'Sharknado,' heroes armed with bombs and chain saws battle sharks tossed inland by a hurricane. In reality, biologists have found a way for sharks to help anticipate the next big storm. Researchers are enlisting sharks as mobile marine monitors, attaching sensors to their dorsal fins. The hope is that as the sharks swim through the ocean, they will collect temperature readings and other information that can be used to predict the power and trajectory of Atlantic hurricanes.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Week-Long Exploration Of Sharks, From Their Forecasting Capabilities To Their Public Perception
Summer sends people flocking to the beaches, which means more opportunities to meet up with the ocean's most fearsome creatures — sharks! We're celebrating sharks with a week of discovery and exploration into the ocean's most feared predators, and maybe we'll be able to convince you not to be so afraid of them along the way. Here's what you can expect this week: A New Aquatic Competitor Enters The 'Best Forecast' Ring Sharks … as meteorologists? Say it isn't so! Sharks can in fact do a rudimentary form of forecasting, using a biological system that allows them to sense changes in pressure that often come before significant weather events like hurricanes. A Georgia Aquarium aquarist explains how this is possible. How To Keep 6.3 Million Gallons Of Water Shark-Safe UNLOCKS MONDAY, JULY 21 Fin Fact: 4 Things Shark Specialists Wish You Knew UNLOCKS TUESDAY, JULY 22 Climate Change: Warming Oceans And Warning Signs For Sharks UNLOCKS WEDNESDAY, JULY 23 Join Us On A Journey From Fear To Fascination UNLOCKS THURSDAY, JULY 24 Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with and has a bachelor's and a master's degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with a master's degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.
CNET
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Shark Week 2025: How to Watch and Stream the Toothy Programming Event
Looking for sharks? You've paddled to the right place. Discovery Channel's Shark Week programming event starts tonight, bringing loads of shark-centric content for those who want to celebrate the iconic top predator. It's the kind of annual tradition that really shines on the right screen. According to a press release, Shark Week 2025 will include 20 hours of new specials debuting Sunday, July 20, through Saturday, July 26. The first program up is Dancing with Sharks, which involves "an unprecedented underwater dance competition between expert divers and their shark partners," per Discovery. If you want to pile up your week with specials tied to sharks, here are streaming details for Shark Week 2025. You'll also find a full rundown of programming for the fin-filled extravaganza in its 37th year. Read more: Netflix Jumped In on the Shark Week Action in July, Landing Two New Hits How to Stream Shark Week 2025 Shark Week will kick off on Discovery Channel on Sunday, July 20 at 8 p.m. ET. Specials will be available to stream the same day and time on HBO Max and Discovery Plus. Here's the Shark Week 2025 lineup. Sunday, July 20 -- Dancing with Sharks (8 p.m. ET), Air Jaws: The Hunt for Colossus (9 p.m. ET), Great White Assassins (10 p.m. ET) Monday, July 21 -- Great White Sex Battle (8 p.m. ET), Jaws vs. Mega Croc (9 p.m. ET), In the Eye of the Storm: Shark Storm (10 p.m. ET) Tuesday, July 22 -- Great White North Invasion (8 p.m. ET), How to Survive a Shark Attack (9 p.m. ET), Black Mako of the Abyss (10 p.m. ET) Wednesday, July 23 -- Expedition Unknown: Shark Files (8 p.m. ET), Expedition X: Malpelo Monster Shark (9 p.m. ET), Alien Sharks: Death Down Under (10 p.m. ET) Thursday, July 24 -- Surviving Jaws (8 p.m. ET), Caught! Sharks Strike Back (9 p.m. ET), Frankenshark (10 p.m. ET) Friday, July 25 -- Great White Reign of Terror (8 p.m. ET), Florida's Death Beach (9 p.m. ET), Bull Shark Showdown (10 p.m. ET) Saturday, July 26 -- Attack of the Devil Shark (8 p.m. ET), Battle for Shark Mountain (9 p.m. ET) CNET/Discovery Plus Discovery Plus Streams Shark Week Discovery Plus, like Max, lets you stream content from brands like HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, and Discovery Channel. You won't get access to HBO and HBO Max originals like The Penguin and Hacks, but it's cheaper than Max. Ad-supported plans are $6 per month and ad-free plans are $10 per month. See at Discovery Plus
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Shark diver busts Jaws myths and shares her top tip to avoid a similar attack
When Andriana Fragola slips into the ocean, she's not just diving into saltwater. She's entering the habitat of some of the world's most feared and misunderstood creatures - sharks. Fragola, a 31-year-old marine biologist, conservationist, and shark diver known to her online followers as Andriana Marine, has built a life around challenging the myths that have haunted our cultural consciousness since 1975 - the year Jaws hit theaters and turned the great white shark into a cinematic supervillain. Now, with Shark Week 2025 kicking off July 20 on Discovery and Max and coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Jaws, Fragola says it's more important than ever to set the record straight. 'Jaws, specifically, has done quite a lot of damage for sharks and just the image of sharks,' Fragola said. 'It's something that people are already nervous about - being in the ocean or being in that environment - and then it just amplifies it by making it this shark that's specifically hunting people. And that is not the case at all.' However, she does admit to one or two terrifying encounters, including a dive in Hawaii where she was almost savaged by a Tiger shark. Daily Mail caught up with Fragola to distinguish fact from fiction and get her top tips for avoiding a similar fate. The truth behind the terror Fragola grew up in Miami, where a childhood love of the ocean led her to snorkeling, scuba diving, and eventually a master's degree studying sharks at the University of Miami. Today, she leads shark diving tours, creates educational content for social media, and works with conservation-focused dive operators around the globe - including her latest project in the Maldives, helping design a new tiger shark free diving program. Still, she's no stranger to skepticism. 'People really don't understand that if that were the case, there would be people every single time you go to the beach - there would be someone there, you know, multiple people getting injured or attacked because they're in the water all the time,' she said. 'In reality, out of the global population, there's only about 10 human fatalities in the entire world' due to shark interactions each year. 'In comparison to how many sharks are killed by people, that's actually over 100 million sharks killed by people every single year.' 'If you compare the number between 10 and 100 million, it's pretty jarring.' Could Jaws actually happen? Not according to Fragola. 'I think it's pretty off-base with sharks,' she said. 'Sharks are attracted to splashing because when something's injured or dying at the surface, it's usually splashing or thrashing around.' But the image of a relentless man-eating predator? Pure Hollywood. 'In an extremely small chance that could happen, but it's so, so unlikely and so uncommon that a shark would continue to try to attack a person. So I would say it's pretty off-base.' Even Shark Week, she says, sometimes gets it wrong. 'I think the current image of sharks in pop culture and media and movies still has that really negative image,' she said. 'Unfortunately, a lot of times movies are still bringing up the drama... Even a series like Shark Week, they do often still dramatize the most crazy thing with sharks or the most intense moment of their behavior.' 'That's maybe like five percent of what they do in a day. It's really, really different from what's actually happening and the way that sharks are actually behaving every single day.' Beauty and power, side by side Despite spending thousands of hours in the water with sharks, Fragola says she's never been bitten. That doesn't mean every dive is peaceful. 'I have definitely had encounters where the sharks have been either really competitive - whether that's because there's baitball and they're feeding, or a situation where they're just being competitive with each other,' she said. 'Sometimes that can get really heated and escalated.' But those moments are the exception, not the rule - and they're part of what makes sharks so remarkable. 'Specifically with the tigers that I work with in Hawaii, there'll be moments where the same shark is extremely intense - and she's tried to bite me before,' Fragola said. 'But it's really displaced aggression when it comes to the other sharks in the area, and she's just frustrated.' 'An hour later, it's just completely beautiful - super soft-touching, when I have to push her away - very curious. Seeing the same power in the one shark, where it's super incredibly peaceful, and then completely strength in the other side of it - I think is really beautiful.' What to do if you see a shark It's the summer beachgoer's worst-case scenario: spotting a fin near the shore. But Fragola says the solution is simpler - and calmer - than most would expect. 'The best thing to do is just to remain calm,' she said. 'If you do want to get out of the water, just slowly kind of back out of it - that way you can keep an eye on the shark while getting out.' 'Any type of screaming and splashing, they can feel the vibrations of all of that, and it's definitely going to make them more interested in pursuing you or just checking you out.' 'Honestly, standing still is probably the best thing.' If you're in the water and a shark is curious, eye contact is key. 'You want to look like a predator,' she said. 'You're going to stand your ground and show the animal that you see it - show the shark that you see it - by making eye contact and continuing to look around, just in case there's any other sharks in the area.' 'And then if the shark ever continued to approach you... you could push down on the top of the head and push it away from you. That's like last-case scenario.' Changing minds and facing critics Through her videos, Fragola documents not just the beauty of sharks, but the transformational experience of diving with them - especially for first-timers. 'I've been able to have people in the water and see sharks, and see the reaction they have when they're getting on the boat and they're terrified and nervous,' she said. 'And then the reaction afterwards, when they have a little bit more understanding of the behavior and how different it is from the perception that they had.' Still, not everyone is supportive. Some critics accuse her of interfering with nature - especially when she redirects a shark with her hand. 'It's when people say not to touch them, and it's like - the shark is approaching and I have to redirect in the sense for safety. I can't just let the shark run into my chest,' she said. 'If I didn't touch the shark to move it away from me, there's a potential it could bump into me or even bite me - and then that is going to create a whole negative slew of videos and things that people would share about someone getting hit by a shark. And that's the opposite of what I would ever want to happen.' Fragola also believes gender plays a role in the backlash. 'I get more negative comments because of being a woman,' she said. 'I'll see a post that's really similar that a man posts, and then a post I post... they could be very similar in content, and then the comments and reaction are completely different.' The real threat While fear of sharks still dominates headlines, Fragola says the real threat is going largely unnoticed - and it's on our plates. 'A lot of sharks are caught as bycatch from fisheries, and unfortunately they don't - a lot of times they don't even use the sharks,' she explained. 'They're just thrown back in the ocean.' 'And most of the time, because there's so much gear to bring in, the sharks that were caught usually are dead.' Her advice? 'Probably the number one way you can help sharks is honestly not eating seafood at all,' Fragola said. 'But if you're going to eat seafood, just really minimize it, or try to get it from a fisherman that's local and you have a more direct source. If you don't know where it's coming from, it's better not to eat it.' 'Even though it's not a shark fishery, when they're setting out big long-line fishery or gill net fishery, they're setting out all of this gear... and unfortunately, it's so much gear that it catches a lot - dolphins and turtles and other sea birds, sea lions, things like that.' 'So if you want to help the ocean in general - that's my number one thing.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Are there sharks in Delaware waters? Yes, here's what you need to know
Fifty years ago, the first summer blockbuster made people wonder if it's safe to go in the water. "Jaws" was nightmare fuel for people who enjoyed going to the beach but wondered if the apex predator was lurking in the blue void. Fast forward 50 years, and sharks are still roaming the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. However, there isn't much of a reason to fear going in the water. How many shark attacks have happened in Delaware? Since 1837, there have been five shark attacks in Delaware waters, according to the database at the University of Florida. The biggest period for shark attacks was in the 1960s when two were reported in Delaware. The last two attacks were a 14-year-old boy who was hospitalized after a shark bite at Cape Henlopen State Park in June 2020, according to a Delaware Online/The News Journal story from 2021. That bite was likely from a sandbar shark, a state expert said. In 2014, another teen was bitten by a shark, also at Cape Henlopen State Park. How many sharks are in Delaware? According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, as many as 62 species of sharks can be found in the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay and inland bays. Included in the 62 is the great white shark. The great white, which has terrorized people ever since the movie "Jaws" was released in 1975, is the least common species found in Delaware waters. What are the most common sharks in Delaware? Sandbar shark According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the sandbar shark, also known as a brown or thickskin shark, can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. The sandbar is among the largest sharks found in coastal waters. They live in shallow coastal waters and can be found on the East Coast from Cape Cod to Florida. Dogfish shark There are two varieties of the dogfish shark – smooth and spiny. Spiny dogfish can grow up to 4 feet and have two dorsal fins with ungrooved large spines. Smooth dogfish sharks can grow to 5 feet. They live in shallow bays, continental shelves and near offshore banks. Sand tiger According to Oceana, the sand tiger shark lives near the seafloor in surf zones, shallow bays and coral and rocky reefs. They can grow to more than 10 feet and weigh 350 pounds. The sand tiger shark is the only shark known to maintain neutral buoyancy by gulping air at the water's surface and holding it in its stomach. This allows the sand tiger shark to hover motionless in the water. Atlantic mako shark According to Oceana, the Atlantic mako shark lives in the open ocean and reaches lengths of 12 feet and weights at least 1,200 pounds. It is one of the fastest fish on the planet, swimming at speeds around 45 mph. These sharks are caught commercially or accidentally in fisheries. These sharks are valued for the high quality of their fins and meat. Hitting the beach: Are Delaware beaches safe for swimmers? Here's what the numbers say How to avoid sharks Again, once you enter the ocean or Delaware Bay, you are in their world. So here are a few tips from the DNREC and the County of Maui, Hawaii: Swim at lifeguard-monitored beaches, and follow their advice and any posted warning signs. Always swim in a group. Don't stray too far from the shore. Swim in water where you can see your feet. Avoid the water at dawn, dusk and at night. Don't enter the water if you have any open wounds or are bleeding in any way. Don't wear shiny objects in the water. Leave the water quickly and calmly if a shark is sighted; if you see a shark, alert lifeguards or other swimmers immediately. SHARK WEEK: Learn about the TV event and its copycats If you watch What: Discovery Channel's Shark Week When: Through July 26, starting at 8 each night Where: Airs on the Discovery Channel and streams on Discovery+ and HBO Max This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Which sharks are in Delaware waters. How to stay safe Solve the daily Crossword
