Wild Tobago

Scientists are finding out more about the creatures in the ocean even as they continue to be threatened by human-induced global warming, Dr Anjani Ganase looks at recent research on coral reefs, dolphins, whale sharks and jellyfish. How will they survive human traffic and warmer oceans?   Sharks thrive in the Marine Protected Area off Cuba, Jardines de la Reina. Credit: Philip Hamilton / Ocean Image Bank Protected coral reefs mean more fish Marine Protected Areas (MPA), according to scientific studies, account for about 10% of global fish stocks. Existing MPAs make up just 8.4% of the ocean and merely 3% are fully protected and equivalent to 1244 reefs around the world. A study led by the University of Sydney in Australia has estimated the amount of fish biomass in the world’s ocean that results from the presence of no-take, marine protected areas. The study reveals the importance of MPAs to boosting fish productivity especially when associated with cora...

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...

Dr Anjani Ganase discusses recent research and findings about sharks .   MEGALODON THE SUPER PREDATOR The megalodon (Big Tooth) sharks were massive predators that roamed the oceans for over 13 million years until they went extinct three million years ago. During that time, megalodons could grow to 15 m in length. The closest rivals were the great white sharks that overlapped with the megalodons for about 400,000 years but were dwarfs - 5m - in comparison. From the size of the skeleton and teeth - one tooth is the size of a hand - the megalodon was a major predator on the high seas feeding on large fish, whales, and even other sharks. Scientists found a fossilized whale bone with markings and pieces of megalodon teeth in it. Recently scientists were able to chemically confirm that megalodons were on the very top of the ocean food chain, capable of feeding on whatever, whenever it wanted.   Through nitrogen found in the teeth of a megalodon species - Otodus megalodon ...

  Whale or shark? Whale sharks are called whale because of their immense size but they are fish not mammal, sharks that do not bite. Anjani Ganase recalls an encounter with a gentle giant.   Even though my job as a marine biologist has allowed me special encounters when working in the ocean environments, the whale shark seemed to be a creature of legends only heard about through chance encounters. Their mystery continued to build in my mind after several occasions of poor timing and missed opportunities where others in the cohort got the opportunity to see what these whale sharks were all about. I resigned to the fact that I probably would never see one, and it was at the moment – as usually happens when you go diving - that I got my first meeting with a whale shark.   We were surveying the reefs off Karimunjawa in Indonesia and as we swam along shallow coral reefs, we noticed a wall of fish cruising towards us. The fish were taking advantage of the slipstream of ...