shark wildlife tourism | Southern Fried Science

Dear Shark Man, can rubbing a shark’s snout cause blindness?

Posted on January 17, 2018 by David Shiffman

Welcome to Dear Shark Man, an advice column inspired by a ridiculous e-mail I received. You can send your questions to me via twitter (@WhySharksMatter) or e-mail (WhySharksMatter at gmail).

Dear Shark Man,

Someone I follow on Instagram posted this earlier this week. In this post, she claims that a shark became blind in one eye because SCUBA divers were regularly rubbing it’s snout. Is that a thing? It doesn’t seem like a thing.

Sincerely,
Frustrated in Fort Lauderdale

17 amazing and important things about sharks and rays that scientists discovered in 2017

Posted on December 22, 2017 by David Shiffman

2017 was… yeah. Of all the years I’ve lived through, 2017 was definitely one of them. Anyway, some interesting things happened in the world of shark research. Here, in no particular order, are 17 amazing and important things that scientists discovered about sharks and rays over the last year.

1 Sharks can switch between sexual and asexual reproduction. We’ve known that several shark species can reproduce asexually for over a decade now, but this year, Dudgeon and friends showed an individual shark switching between sexual and asexual reproduction for the first time!

Noteworthy media coverage: CNN, National Geographic, Gizmodo