Researchers may have discovered a nursery of hammerhead sharks off the coast of Florida, which if confirmed, would be the first ever identified in that part of the planet.
Experts have found that a small section of Biscayne Bay, a lagoon on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, may be a region where the endangered sharks give birth and where they spend many of their formative years.
Researchers may have discovered a nursery of hammerhead sharks off the coast of Florida
Experts have found that a small section of Biscayne Bay (inset), a lagoon on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, may be a region where the endangered sharks give birth and where they spend many of their formative years
'We report the first identification of a probable nursery area for young-of-the-year and juvenile great hammerheads off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Notably, these animals were all encountered within highly human-impacted marine habitats near Miami, Florida,' the authors wrote in the study.
'The capture of nine individuals under 200 cm (79 inches) total length in a 10-month period supports the hypothesis that this area represents a primary or secondary nursery habitat for great hammerheads.'
In June 2018, researchers caught the first juvenile great hammerhead near the lagoon. Until January 2020, nine great hammerheads were caught, tagged and released in total, one every few months over a span of 80 total fishing days.
'We were doing research on another species in Biscayne Bay, and just happened to catch a juvenile hammerhead,' the study's lead author, Catherine Macdonald, said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
'Then another. And then another. And after the third or fourth we realized, this isn’t a coincidence."
Nine great hammerheads were caught, tagged and released in total, all under 200 cm, between June 2018 and January 2020
Biscayne Bay is a 'large, shallow' area with seagrass beds and coral reefs that support 'considerable biodiversity,' the researchers wrote in the study, adding that it's likely the habitat could provide them with protection and considerable amounts of prey.
Three components are needed to call the area a nursery: more juveniles there than other areas; if the juveniles were there for a lengthy period of time; and if they were still present after a year
The researchers needed three components to call the area a nursery: more juveniles there than other areas; if the juveniles were there for a lengthy period of time, and if they were still present after a year.
According to Oceana.org, hammerheads breed once every two years, doing so via internal
