blacktip shark – Page 3 – Shark Research & Conservation Program (SRC)

Shark tagging with Island Christian School

October 16, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

October 12th, 2012
by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

It had been about two months since my last shark tagging trip, so needless to say, I was super excited. I barely got any sleep the night before thinking about how incredible this trip would be. At the same time however, I tried to not get my hopes too high as sometimes we don’t catch anything, but boy was I in for a surprise!

Austin, Fiona, Stacy, Becca, Christine and I loaded up the boat with all the supplies we would need for the day and then had a couple moments to relax while our group got to the boat.

When the guys from Island Christian School got there I immediately recognized a few familiar faces from previous trips. We also had Greg Markham join us that day and Margarita Cubano, one of Neil’s students. We loaded everyone on the boat and where soon our way to Everglades National Park. We were to set our lines at Middle Grounds, a shallow water site.

Exploring Broad Key with Our Lady of Lourdes

October 11, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

By Megan Piechowski, RJD Intern

I was ecstatic about my first trip to Broad Key from the minute I heard about it weeks ago, so naturally not much sleep occurred that Friday night. Nonetheless, I woke up excited to begin my weekend with the lovely ladies of OLLA and my fellow RJD interns. I knew that I would be spending the first day in the water with half of the students, and Ms. Taylor, experiencing Dr. Diego Lirman’s coral nursery and surveying the surrounding seagrass. After a short period of organizing everyone’s things at the house, we set off on our snorkeling adventure. We all eagerly leapt into the cool, refreshing waters near Broad Key ready to explore.

For several of the girls this was their first time snorkeling, and for most of them it was their first time to be instructed on identifying marine organisms. The girls were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the marine environment and did amazingly well! We spent the afternoon familiarizing them with the different species of coral and the names for all of the beautiful, colorful fish swimming past us.

Shark tagging with Miami Dade College and friends

July 2, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

Friday, June 22, 2012
Megan Piechowski, RJD Intern

Three weeks ago I imagined spending my summer at home, in Austin, TX. When I was offered an internship with RJ Dunlap I was ecstatic, as this incredible opportunity seemed to piece itself together nicely. Last Friday was my second trip as a member of the team, which was exhilarating as I was able to be truly involved in securing the sharks and collecting samples. We went to the Everglades National Park with a helpful group of Miami Dade College students and an enthusiastic family that bought a satellite tag, or Hammer-tag.

Shark Tagging with National Geographic’s Monster Fish

June 27, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

by Becca Shelton, RJD intern
Thursday, June 21

I have been dreaming of going shark tagging for as long as I can remember and last Thursday morning, I was headed down to Islamorada to join the RJD team for a day in Everglades National Park. Besides being a first timer and the chance to research sharks, there were other reasons to be excited for this trip. First, the boat trip was being sponsored by National Geographic for their show Monster Fish with Zeb Hogan. They bought a satellite tag and they wanted a nice, big bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), to wear it. After meeting up with Dr. Hammerschlag, the RJD team, the Monster Fish crew and Captain Curt, we loaded up the R/V Endsley and headed out to Middle Grounds in hopes of finding the film crew their shark.

RJD director Dr. Neil Hammerschlag and Monster Fish host Zeb Hogan work up a blacktip shark

Photo of the week: blacktip shark

June 19, 2012/0 Comments/in SRC blog /by aanstett

This week’s photo of the week shows a blacktip shark swimming away after being tagged and released by the RJD team. Enjoy!

Tagging sharks with the University of Denver, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, and Derrick!

June 18, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

by David Shiffman, RJD student
6/10/12

Last Sunday, the RJD team headed to one of our newest sample sites, “the bridge”, a popular recreational fishing spot for locals. We were fortunate to have three different enthusiastic groups with us- a course from the University of Denver which joined us as part of a series of adventures throughout the Keys, students from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy who liked their past shark trips so much that they came back again (this time wearing RJD shirts), and Derrick Whitcomb, a 7th grader who raised money for our research as part of his Bar Mitzvah project.

The bridge. Photo credit David Shiffman

Shark tagging with the UM Global Academy!

June 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

6/9/12
By James Komisarjevsky, RJD intern

Last Saturday, the RJD team took the UMiami Global Academy out for a fun filled day of shark tagging. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and everyone’s hopes were high for a day filled with lots of sharks. The team took the UM Global Academy out to a reef site in deep waters (about 150ft deep). It was not a spot for the weak stomach as swells had the boat rocking. The first ten drumlines were set out, and except for some of the people who were a little seasick, everyone’s hopes were high.

RJD intern Evan Byrnes helps a UM Global Academy student set a drumline

When life gives you lemons…

March 12, 2012/1 Comment/in Shark Research /by aanstett

Friday, March 2nd

Today was a wonderfully lemon-y day on the water for the RJD team and our friends from Miami Dade College. Captain Curt took us out in the beautiful R/V Endsley to a site in Everglades National Park called the middle grounds. We have often had great luck at this site before, catching blacktips, bull sharks and lemon sharks, but today we were in for a special treat: four female lemon sharks, the smallest of which was 242 centimeters—or just under eight feet! The largest was 8.3 feet, and estimated by the RJD team to tip the scales at around 350 lbs.

The use of cables help RJD staff and interns bring large sharks (like this lemon shark) on board safely, preventing too much pressure from being placed on the hook in the shark’s mouth.

Though we might joke that lemon sharks take their names from their zesty flavor (not true) or sour disposition (not true), the real reason is probably that they are yellowish in color. The intensity of their color varies based on the habitat they are in—lighter and brighter in sand, darker and browner in mud or seagrass. Because of the muddy bottom in the area where we were fishing, none of our lemon sharks were very brightly colored. Luckily, there is another easy way to identify them: although most sharks have both a dorsal and a second dorsal fin along their back, in lemon sharks the second dorsal is nearly as large as the first.

Starting the semester off strong

February 2, 2012/1 Comment/in Shark Research /by aanstett

1/29/12

Our first weekend of trips for the semester ended with a beautiful day off the coast of Key Largo with RSMAS PhD student Rachel Silverstein and her friends and family. The day started with overcast skies but that didn’t stop the group from showing their excitement for the day of shark tagging that lay ahead. After explaining some to the group why we study sharks and some of the different aspects of RJD research, we headed offshore to set our first ten drumlines. The first set turned up two very large and feisty nurse sharks! The team and visitors got to work taking a tissue sample from the fin, measuring the animal’s length, and fitting each animal with dart tags.

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