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BLOG POST Swimming With Sharks Lying in water only a foot deep, I watched the shark meander lazily through the mangrove, already exuding the confidence inherent of the supreme creature within its domain. It was hot here i...MORE STORIES


	BLOG POST MORE STORIES Do Sharks Smell in Stereo? Animals, on land and in the ocean, live in a 3-D world, and they depend on their...
	ARTICLE MORE STORIES Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) The TOPP program brought together scientists from seven countries to explore the...
	BLOG POST MORE STORIES Reef Sharks Repelled by People Reef sharks rarely get any love. These sharks, comprising several species, loite...

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					X-Ray Image of a Monterey Skate May 14, 2013 - 9:19AMAn X-ray image of a Monterey skate (Raja montereyensis) reveals a spine that extends like a tail out from the pelvic fin. The skeletons of skates, rays, chimaeras, and sharks are made of cartilage, rather than bone. Scientists in...

Grey Reef Shark, West New Britain, Father Reefs, Papua New Guinea

Mar 28, 2013 - 9:45AM

Gray reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) are known for being active at...

Gaping Jaws of a Great White Shark

Mar 20, 2013 - 9:27AM

A great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) emerges from the water's...

SPOTLIGHT


5 Reasons to Revere, Not Fear, the Shark CREDIT: © Mary Parrish/Smithsonian Institution 1. Respect Your Elders Sharks have a long and impressive...

Caribbean Reef Shark Sep 29 2011 - 1:46pm Several Caribbean reef sharks swim over a coral reef in the Bahamas in this image captured by National Geographic photojournalist Brian Skerry. For nearly 30 years, Skerry has been swimming with and photographing sharks, including great whites, tigers, bulls, blacktips, and great hammerheads...	Cookie-cutter Shark Dec 21 2012 - 11:33am Ever heard of a cookie-cutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis)? They look like your average shark—sort of menacing and streamlined—but their name comes from how they feed. They eat smaller animals (like squid) whole, but also take large, round cookie-cutter shaped bites out of larger animals, such as...
Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) Aug 22 2012 - 1:57pm The TOPP program brought together scientists from seven countries to explore the lives of large mid-water animals such as sea turtles, birds, whales, tuna, sharks, seals and even squids. Animals that live throughout the open ocean are often hard to track, and because of this difficulty, we know...	Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, Colombia Nov 4 2010 - 11:59am The Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary site in Colombia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The marine park surrounding Malpelo Island is the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, providing critical refuge for threatened and endangered marine mammals, fish, and...
Swimming With Sharks Oct 13 2011 - 1:15pm Lying in water only a foot deep, I watched the shark meander lazily through the mangrove, already exuding the confidence inherent of the supreme creature within its domain. It was hot here in Bimini, nearly 100-degrees and mosquitoes were thick and relentless, swarming on to any bare skin. Yet...	Reef Sharks Passing Through Aug 14 2012 - 10:12am Large numbers of grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) were observed at Jarvis Island, an uninhabited Pacific island, during the 2010 Pacific RAMP expedition of the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai. But most reefs don't have so many sharks. Read about it in the blog post "Reef Sharks Repelled by People...
Breaching Sequence Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Great White Sharks breach to hunt -- with split-second timing they grab an unsuspecting seal or sea lion in one swift snatch. Follow the action in this slideshow. Learn more about the great white shark in the Great White Shark section.	X-Ray Image of a Monterey Skate May 14 2013 - 9:19am An X-ray image of a Monterey skate (Raja montereyensis) reveals a spine that extends like a tail out from the pelvic fin. The skeletons of skates, rays, chimaeras, and sharks are made of cartilage, rather than bone. Scientists in the Division of Fishes at the Smithsonian's National Museum of...
Alison Kock tags a shark Dec 17 2009 - 7:21pm Save Our Seas scientist Alison Kock tags a Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) to gather data about their movements off the coast of South Africa. More about the great white shark can be found in our Great White Shark featured story.	The Big Five of the Ocean: Exploring the Waters of East Africa Nov 21 2012 - 11:25am A whale shark swims with a diver off the coast of Southern Mozambique. Photo: Caine Delacy. When we think "Africa," we think of the "Big Five"—lions, elephants, leopards, buffalo and rhinos—that crisscross the African Savannah. Few would imagine that there could be more natural beauty on offer. But...
Shark DNA Helps Catch Poachers Sep 30 2009 - 1:14pm Dr. Mahmood Shivji explains how shark DNA is used as evidence to prosecute shark fin poachers. More about sustainable seafood can be found in our Sustainable Seafood Section.	Illustration of Helicoprion Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am This illustration shows one old idea of what the ancient shark Helicoprion might have looked like. There was room for many ideas—some more plausible than others—because the only fossils of the fish were of a strange, spiral-shaped jaw loaded with teeth. Where did it go? In its mouth, on its nose,...
Tagging and Tracking Animals Underwater May 16 2012 - 4:35pm How do we know where ocean animals swim day and night? Scientists are getting snapshots into the daily lives of whales, sharks, and even fish by tagging the animals to track their movements.	Face to Face with a Tiger Shark May 25 2012 - 1:09pm What would you do if you came face to face with a shark? Brian Skerry lives for these moments and is ready with his camera. Here he is seen photographing a large tiger shark on the seafloor near the Bahamas. Read more about Life in the Field with Brian Skerry.
Shark Teeth Tell Great White Shark Evolution Story Nov 16 2012 - 6:05pm For the last 150 years, paleontologists have debated the origins of the great white shark. Many believe that they descended from the 50-foot megalodon, also known as the megatooth shark (Carcharocles megalodon), which is often imagined to be a vastly inflated great white. But after the discovery of...	X-Ray Image of a Winghead Shark Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am The distinctive form of a winghead shark, Eusphyra blochii, is revealed by an X-ray image. The shark's eyes are spread far apart, giving it superb binocular vision.