The Whole Tooth

Aaron is testing how epaulette sharks respond to different temperatures that model future climate scenarios. He wants to understand the genetics that underpin how epaulette sharks might respond. These sharks already have adaptations that allow them to live in extreme environments, as when they are exposed to low oxygen levels and high temperatures at low tide. How do they do this? And how might this make them resilient in the face of change? Aaron believes that this information is vital to predict the success of different sharks and rays in the future.

Populations of the Pacific spiny dogfish are in freefall, but are current surveys assessing the right habitats to make management decisions? Alexandra worries that the absence of movement data from current fisheries surveys means that a part of their story is not being used. In fact, authorities have halted all management action until movement data are provided. Alexandra is tracking the dogfish using acoustic telemetry and will relate how these sharks move in the water to environmental factors before handing the data over to stock assessors and fisheries managers.

The barriers to the successful recovery of smalltooth sawfish are formidable, and some say it would take a century. But Ashley is hopeful that more can be done to ensure that we hasten these Critically Endangered rays towards recovery. Using the information from over 500 acoustic receivers and more than 50 adult and large juvenile smalltooth sawfish tagged by the Grubbs Lab since 2016, Ashley will look out for mating areas for this species in the USA. Identifying critical-use areas forms a key part of the recovery plan that can set sawfish populations on a positive trajectory.