Impurest's guide to Animals #3 – Salmon Shark

Impurest's guide to Animals #3 – Salmon Shark

Well it’s time for Issue #3 of Impurest Cheese’s Guide to Animals. Last week the deceptive Milk Snake was in the spotlight. This time we have a more ancient predator is in the spotlight. Hope you guys enjoy.

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Issue #3 – Salmon Shark

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Chondrichthyes

Order – Lamniforme

Family – Lamnidae

Genus – Lamma

Species – ditropis

Related Species – One of the Mackerel Sharks whose ranks include the infamous Great White Shark (Charcaradon charcaris) (1)

Range

Like Jaws but in miniature.

The Salmon Shark is a medium sized fish which grows up to 3m long and may weight up to 250kg and while there are reports of large individuals these reports are assumed to be sightings of the closely related Great White Shark. As the name suggests salmon is one of the key prey species of this species of shark but like its relatives any fish it can catch is on the menu. While large enough to prey on marine mammals in addition there is no evidence that the Salmon Shark preys on seals. Like all large animals the Salmon Shark has the potential to be dangerous to humans although to date there are no attacks attributed to this species.

Salmon Sharks are among the small group of unrelated fish to practice homeothermy (warm bloodedness) using an organ called the retia maribila to keep its core temperature at a constant level. Not only does this allow the Salmon Shark to be active in cold water it also appears to give it extended stamina when hunting. While usually solitary Salmon Sharks do gather in groups when there is abundant prey with the largest gathering exceeding a hundred animals.(2)

Like most mackerel sharks the Salmon Shark gives birth to live young called pups which practice their hunting skills in the womb by hunting their brothers and sisters. Like most shark species the Salmon Shark matures slowly reaching maturity at around eight years old. Salmon Sharks are among the species hunted for shark fin soup and sashimi in Japan, with the heart being a particular delicacy.

Five Fun Salmon Shark Facts

Salmon Sharks have a reputation of being pests in Canada and Alaska. The species often follows boats and steals bait or hooked fish from lines.

Salmon Sharks are one of the most cold tolerant species of shark thanks to the retia maribila (wonderful nets translated from Latin) and are able to remain active in water as cold as 2 degrees Celsius

The Salmon Shark has suffered from misidentification for a long time only being named as a new species in 1947 despite being know to science for longer. Even today they are confused with immature Great Whites and the closely related Atlantic Porbegale (Lamna nasus).

Salmon Sharks practice population imbalance within their range. The Western population (Russia, Japan and Korea) has a high percentage of male animals while the Eastern population (Canada and Alaska) is made up mostly of females (3)

Juvenile Salmon Sharks occasionally suffer from a bacterial infection similar to meningitis that causes them to become stranded on beaches. Weather the infection effects the sharks navigation system or if they simply die at sea and are washed onto shore is still under investigation. (4)

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Bibliography

(1) - www.arkive.org

(2) - Goldman, Kenneth; Anderson, Scot; Latour, Robert; Musick, John A. (2004). "Homeothermy in adult salmon sharks, Lamna ditropis". Environmental Biology of Fishes (Kluwer Academic Publishers) 71 (4): 403–411

(3) - Goldman, Kenneth; Musick, John A. (2006). "Growth and maturity of salmon sharks (Lamna ditropis) in the eastern and western North Pacific, and comments on back-calculation methods". Fishery Bulletin104 (2): 278–292.

(4) - http://sanctuarysimon.org/news/index.php/2013/12/salmon-shark-strandings/

Picture References

[1] - http://cdn2.arkive.org/media/9A/9A8BD962-336C-4EFD-AD1A-2B8F323A02A6/Presentation.Large/Salmon-shark-.jpg

[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lamna_ditropis_distmap.png

[3] - http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2005/shark_f.jpg

[4] - http://sanctuarysimon.org/news/index.php/2013/12/salmon-shark-strandings/

Hope you guys enjoyed the insight into this varacious predator. Drop me a comment with an animal you want explored in the next issue.

Hey @cbishop, @laflux and @lifeboy next installment is up. :-)

I wonder if the population imbalance means that they travel to a common spot at some time to mate?

@cbishop: Could be. Thanks for commenting

@impurestcheese: Of course. :)

Another reason it sucks to be a Salmon.

@ostyo: Yep :-)

@ostyo: Gulp now the Salmon Shark has it's own card

@impurestcheese:

They do not have swim bladders like most sharks right?

@impurestcheese: Hahaha, I always get tails though!

@OverLordArhas: Actually no Shark or Ray has a swim bladder. It's why pelagic sharks like the Great White must continue swimming. If they stop then 'Dynamic Lift' the force that keeps them level stops and they aphixiate.

BTW thanks for checking out the old issues :-)

I think it has cute eyes

@cgoodness: Hmm you are the first person to call soulless black orbs cute.

Like most mackerel sharks the Salmon Shark gives birth to live young called pups which practice their hunting skills in the womb by hunting their brothers and sisters

I had no freaking idea. You've just upped my level of shark-phobia by a thousand.

@hislolita: Your more likely to be killed by a falling coconut then a shark. Calm down and get ahold of yourself woman

PS - Remind me to tell you about my Thresher Shark encounter on my gap year

Bump and Bite for Shark Week

@impurestcheese: shark week was last week :/

@cgoodness: Boo, yeah alright but I was working at the time so I missed it. Consider this Shark Week 2

@impurestcheese: Thanks to you I've started reading all about this adorable shark, and it's easily become one of my favorites. I'm fascinated by gender separation that occurs in the species. They remind me so much of the Porbeagle in appearance, but it sounds like they may have something in common with the Ragged Tooth Shark when it comes to mating?

@ostyo: Yep the Porbeagle is actually from the same Genus, hence why they looks so familiar.

Shar Week 2? xD This is sweet. I really enjoyed reading it. I wouldn't mind reading about bees. Did you write about them yet?

@dboyrules2011: Nope no bees yet. Any particular species in mind?

No worries.

"90% of shark attacks are in shallow water."

Seems terrifying, doesn't it? OH NOES ITZ JUST LIKE JAWS.

But it's really not.

You wanna know why?

"shallow water"... That's where 99.9% of the people anywhere near the ocean are.

Seemingly-terrifying statistics aren't so scary now, are they? And more people die from being crushed by vending machines than being killed by sharks.

@impurestcheese: How about ostriches? I would love to read about them.

Cool.

@retconcrisis: Never been afraid of sharks even when I've swam in open water with them. Thanks for the comment though

@wolverine08: Thanks

@dboyrules2011: Already have an unusual big bird on the cards so no ostriches at the moment.

@impurestcheese: Man, so cool that such a fascinating shark has been swimming off the coast of my home state all this time. I wonder if there's any research institutions dedicated to their study in Oregon or Washington...

@impurestcheese: Oh, okay. I'll let you know if I think of something.

@dboyrules2011: Cool Thanks

@ostyo: Perhaps...

@ostyo: Perhaps

@dboyrules2011: Okay, can't wait

@impurestcheese: Jeez, Big Red. You're suppose to have all the answers. :P

@impurestcheese: You're welcome.

@impurestcheese: Oh, I was replying to Ms Lola about the fact thing.

I don't expect a person posting a guide on a shark to have a phobia of sharks.

@retconcrisis: Ah okay. Do you want to be included in call outs for future issues

That's fascinating. Are there many other species of sharks with retia maribila?

Yeah, that'd be awesome.

@squares: Not many only the Great White, Makos and Porbeagles. In adition Tuna and the Billfish also have Retia Maribilia

@impurestcheese: Oooh, cool.

Great, now my vending machine phobia is upped.

@ms-lola: Well, I guess it's better to be more afraid of vending machines and falling coconuts... I think...

@ms-lola: @retconcrisis: True, quite true

@sundown89: Do you know this story?

@ficopedia: Oh that, yeah so Imp was scuba diving on the edge of a reef off the east coast of Sulawesi and was lucky enough to see a thresher shark in the open ocean just cursing around. Little more than that but thresher sharks are pretty cool, and seeing one is quite rare.

Cool. ;)

@ficopedia: Cruising, cruise that autocorrect

Ha! Well done! ;)