{"id":30258,"date":"2013-08-06T12:47:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T17:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=30258"},"modified":"2013-08-06T13:33:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T18:33:12","slug":"what-scientists-are-learning-about-sharks-in-the-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/08\/06\/what-scientists-are-learning-about-sharks-in-the-gulf\/","title":{"rendered":"What Scientists Are Learning About Sharks in the Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scientists<\/a>

Photo by flickr user USFWS Headquarters<\/p>

Scientists in the Gulf are conducting groundbreaking research on shark behavior.<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s early August, and that means that this week millions of Americans are watching one of TV\u2019s greatest aquatic traditions: Shark Week<\/a> on the Discovery Channel.<\/p>\n

Texans, whose state borders a body of water teeming with sharks of all sizes and species <\/a>may want to take special notice. According to Dr. Greg Stunz<\/a>, there are some sizable specimens in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig ones,\u201d he said in describing some of the Gulf\u2019s sharks. \u201c9-feet, 600-pound kind of [sharks]. \u2018They-could-easily-eat-people\u2019 kind of size<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Stunz is a Professor of Marine Biology and an Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health at Texas A&M University \u2013 Corpus Christi\u2019s Harte Research Institute<\/a>. He\u2019s currently researching shark behavior and population trends off the Padre Island National Seashore.<\/p>\n

Stunz is one of the first scientists to gather data on shark growth and movement in the Gulf. He and his team have tagged<\/a> over one thousand sharks in order to better understand which species are most common, where they occur, and how often they breed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have answers to those questions,\u201d Stunz said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Consequently, Stunz\u2019s work has produced some important findings \u2013 notably that climate change hasn\u2019t really affected sharks in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong the Texas coast, we haven\u2019t experienced a lot of climate change on the scale that would affect shark distribution patterns,\u201d Stunz said. \u201c[Sharks] are typically highly migratory, so they\u2019re moving in response to temperatures on an annual basis that\u2019s independent of long-term trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

One shark that Stunz tagged covered over 600 miles in just a few months, swimming from Corpus Christi to Houston and then back down to Mexico.<\/p>\n

 
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