March has brought with it unseasonably warm weather to New England. Earlier this week it was 60 °F and sunny!

Because of the beautiful weather this winter we were able to begin sampling earlier and more frequently and we are continuing collections for spiny dogfish and little skates up here in the Gulf of Maine.

We have also scheduled some trips for later this spring and summer to collect more samples from both Atlantic sharpnose sharks, and Atlantic stingray in the Gulf of Mexico.

Extractions from both plasma and muscle have continued, and we are getting more promising results! We also just registered to present our findings at the 2012 American Elasmobranch Society Meeting that will be held during the World Congress of Herpetology in Vancouver Canada this coming August. Stay tuned for more updates!