Spotlight on Sharks
Dr Anjani Ganase discusses the latest findings from research on sharks Tiger sharks roam seagrass prairie in Bahamas Scientists have discovered the largest seagrass prairie in the world with the assistance of tiger sharks. Along the Bahamas archipelago, the area of seagrasses is estimated to be at least 66,900 km 2 with a upper estimate of 92,000 km 2 , which is roughly the size of Florida. This newly discovered area increases the known area of seagrasses globally by a whopping 41 %. The prairie consists of seagrass beds of varying species and densities, such as the turtle grass ( Thalassia testudinum ) but includes sparse areas of pioneer shoal grass species ( Halodule wrightii ). While over 2500 surveys were conducted by divers, tiger sharks allowed researchers to extend the area of observation considerably as the tiger sharks were able to roam a much larger areas and swim to greater depth, beyond diving limits of humans (down to 90 m in the D...