When do sharks migrate

This may be to follow certain currents or in search of food. Examples include the Oceanic Blacktip, Tiger and Sandbar sharks. Tagging and satellite tracking play a major role in determining the movements of the wild sharks in the ocean. Such tracking has helped scientists to follow a shark from South Africa all the way to the waters of Australia.

Tagging of Pacific Pelagics. In November , Block and her colleagues launched TOPP -- the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics, a major research initiative whose objective is to complete the first comprehensive analysis of marine life in the Pacific using electronic tagging technology. As part of the global Census of Marine Life, TOPP's international research team plans to electronically monitor up to 4, fish, birds, mammals and large squid. TOPP scientists are working with engineers to develop even more sophisticated electronic tags that increase the amount of information sent back to researchers.

The scientists will launch a pilot program in the next two years to tag salmon, blue and white sharks, albatross, bluefin tuna, elephant seals, blue whales and squid. Knowing where they go and what they do has been challenging.

New electronic tags are making it easier to work in extreme ocean environments far from land, she added. How does satellite tagging technology work? Each tag was programmed to detach from the animal on a specific date, then pop up to the surface, where the data were transmitted via the Argos satellite system to computers at Hopkins Marine Station. Scientific name : Carcharodon carcharias.

Size : The great white shark can reach up to 21 feet 7 meters in length and weigh up to 4, pounds 2, kilograms. Reproduction : White sharks are ovoviviparous; the shark egg is fertilized internally, and the young are born live. Range : New research shows that white sharks off the California coast migrate thousands of miles each year.

All Rights Reserved. Stanford , CA The Nature study was co-authored by six marine scientists from three California institutions: Barbara A. Block and Andre M. Burney J. Broadly, migration refers to the large scale movement of an animal group from one place to another. The quest to understand worldwide shark migrations patterns has been a daunting task, even more so with such a notoriously difficult subject to study as the great white shark.

Great white sharks used to be regarded as predominantly coastal territorial predators, staying close to shore where their main food source, seals and sea lions, were most prominent.

However, with the advent of new satellite and electronic tagging technologies available, recent studies have started to prove otherwise. A study in tracked an individual tagged in Central California thousands of kilometres to the warm water of the Hawaiian Island chain. In South Africa, great white sharks in False Bay do not stay at Seal Island year-round although their food sources, cape fur seals, live at the island year round.

In a great white shark tagged in Gansbaai migrated 11, km to Western Australia.