We're always terrified when it comes to sharks, but it brings balance to the marine ecosystem
The long-tailed whisker shark is the newest shark species in the ocean
Leaf-whiskered shark in corals off the coast of West Papua, Indonesia
(Mysterious Earth uux.cn report) According to Sina Technology: We are always afraid of sharks, as a majestic and rich and diverse animal, sharks bring balance to the marine ecosystem, but they themselves are in serious danger. Every day, when the sunset shines on the coral-surrounded Raja Ampat Islands (also known as the Four Kings Islands), an underwater predator stirs. As a predator, it is not particularly large or fierce. It is only as long as a human arm from beginning to end, and has a handful of "whiskers" around its nose.
It is unique in that it is not so much swimming at the bottom of the sea as it is walking on the bottom of the sea. It wiggles its body like a lizard with 4 fins as legs; it can crawl out of sleep and hold its breath for up to an hour; it strides through the bare reef with its head held high, crawling between tidal pools in search of prey.
This is a walking shark belonging to the genus Hemiscyllium. It presents an alternative image and way of life of sharks, very different from the stereotypes of such terrible animals. Biologists have found 9 species of long-tailed whisker sharks in the ocean. They are the latest shark species to emerge in the ocean, probably only 9 million years old, with the two youngest species separating less than 2 million years ago. This challenges the long-held view that sharks are ancient and unchanging. They are not evolutionary survivors of Earth's past epochs, but animals that continue to adapt to their environment.
Among the largest species of sharks, the long-tailed whisker shark is only a small part. From spiny sharks, wrinkled lip sharks to long-snout sharks, broad-petaled sharks, from cloud-patterned lute sharks and splenoid lantern spiny sharks to bold lighttail sharks, Icelandic sawtail sharks, as well as small-headed sleeping sharks, bull sharks and blunt-snouted sharks, there are more than 500 species of plate gills in the world today. One in every 10 sharks is bioluminescent; some are small enough to tuck it into your pocket, while it has its own small pocket filled with glowing sticky substances. Some sharks have bodies that swell up and look bigger and scarier than they actually are. Some female sharks can become pregnant for up to three years at a time, while others can reproduce asexually.
If you know about sharks all from Hollywood, you might think of them as aquatic horror monsters.
In some of the seemingly more believable films, sharks are portrayed as horrible "villains," which is even more problematic. In 2016, the movie "The Shallows" depicted a female surfer being attacked in retaliation by a brutal great white shark. That led a group of marine scientists to write an open letter to Columbia Pictures warning that the film was dangerously misleading and could make public attitudes toward sharks worse.
In fact, millions of sharks are overfished. As predators, sharks are not adapted to being prey. They grow slowly, going through more than a decade of youth before maturing; they lay few eggs and lay few larvae that are not enough to replenish the dwindling population. Those sharks that survive, over the course of decades or even centuries, tend to absorb large amounts of man-made pollutants and plastic. For individual sharks, they are experiencing a world getting hotter and more acidic over the course of their lives; many of the surviving Greenland sharks were born several degrees cooler in the Arctic Ocean than they do now. All of these not-so-optimistic outcomes are predictable. According to the latest statistics, a quarter of sharks and other plate gills are at risk of extinction.
Sharks are important to humans. When they disappear from the ocean, many things disappear with them. We can actually learn a lot from sharks, such as researchers are studying how quickly sharks heal wounds and how they evolve immunity to many diseases. If they are gone, the historical information of evolution is lost. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps wore a swimsuit inspired by shark skin with tooth-like bumps that reduced drag and increased speed, which helped him win eight gold medals. Later studies showed that this swimsuit can adsorb bubbles and help swimmers float on the surface of the water, so it is prohibited.
Sharks are important not only in their benefit to humans, but also in what they mean to the entire marine ecosystem. Many shark species have proven to be key predators, maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, maintaining order, driving away weak, sick prey, and preventing a single species from surging and dominating. A study comparing remote islands in the central Pacific suggests that when sharks are exhausted, coral reefs can be occupied by small fish, causing algae flooding. It won't be until we lose this species that we will understand how important it is.
Shark protection must be taken seriously. Although no shark species has become as extinct as the dodo, many species are on the verge of extinction. Not only are shark species threatened to decline, but their populations are also plummeting. Just as the protozoa on the continent — bears, wolves, tigers, lions, koalas and parrots — are disappearing, so are the sharks in the ocean. The only difference is that most of their disappearance goes unnoticed.
For years, scientists and environmentalists have been saying that sharks fear humans more than we fear them. Statistically, the probability of death in a falling vending machine or a falling coconut exceeds that of a shark. But there is still a lingering view that sharks are dangerous, cruel, and retaliatory. This fear was not deliberately stirred up by the very few who were attacked by sharks, many of whom, despite losing their limbs, still became advocates for the cause of shark conservation.
Compared to when Jaws was released in 1975, these amazing animals are in a much worse position around the world today. They need as much positive publicity as possible, and people should learn more about the new story of sharks, including their rich variety of species and wonderfully complex ways of behaving, as well as other puzzles to be explored.