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Nicole the shark's record-breaking swim
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 07/10/2005)
A great white shark named Nicole has completed the first known ocean crossing by a lone shark over a record-breaking distance of more than 12,400 miles.
Star in the making: Nicole was named after Australian actress and great white shark lover Nicole Kidman
The epic swim means that the endangered sharks - the largest predatory fish in the ocean - could be in more danger from fishing than had previously been thought.
Scientists watched in awe as the female - named after the Australian actress and white shark lover Nicole Kidman - made her ocean crossing twice, after she was tagged with a tracking device off South Africa.
In addition to travelling farther than any other known shark, Nicole completed the return trip to Australia in just under nine months. It is the fastest known back-and-forth swim.
Nicole - originally designated shark P12 - also provides the first physical link between two of the most important and widely separated populations of great white sharks.
Ramon Bonfil fits a satellite tag to a shark's fin
Her travels have astounded researchers and challenge long-held notions about these awesome predators, report the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in Bronx Zoo, and other organisations today in the journal Science.
"This is one of the most significant discoveries about white shark ecology and suggests we might have to rewrite the life history of this powerful fish," said Dr Ramon Bonfil, the lead author.
"Nicole has shown us that separate populations of great white sharks may be more directly connected than previously thought, and that wide-ranging white sharks, which are nationally protected in places such as South Africa and Australia, are much more vulnerable to human fishing in the open oceans than we previously thought."
There is still much to learn about why and how sharks find their way through such vast distances, and how populations are related, Dr Bonfil added.
Nicole's epic journey
"More studies and funding are needed to unveil the mysteries of these great predators and how they can be protected."
The story of Nicole began in November 2003, when Dr Bonfil and his colleagues from the Marine and Coastal Management Department of South Africa and the White Shark Trust attached a satellite tag to her dorsal fin. The tags record data on time, temperature, water depth and light levels. On a pre-recorded date, the tag detaches from the shark and floats to the surface, where it transmits its data to a researcher's computer via satellite.
Another 31 white sharks were also tagged during the study. While most of them revealed at least three different movement patterns, including wide-ranging coastal migrations up and down the eastern side of South Africa, Nicole headed out into the vast and deep basin of the Indian Ocean.
Data transmitted by the tag revealed that she followed a strikingly direct route towards Australia. Although she frequently plunged to depths of up to 3,215ft - a record for white sharks - she mostly swam along the surface, leading researchers to suspect that great whites may use celestial cues for navigation.
A little over three months later, Nicole was swimming about a mile from shore just south of the Exmouth Gulf in western Australia, where her tag detached and floated to the surface with all of her secrets.
This leg of the journey alone was one for the record books.
However, Nicole later resurfaced back in Gansbaai, South Africa, where she had been tagged.
Her distinctively notched dorsal fin was photographed by Michael Scholl, one of Dr Bonfil's team of researchers. After a detailed comparison of images of dorsal fin markings, there was no longer any doubt: Nicole had returned home.
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 07/10/2005)
A great white shark named Nicole has completed the first known ocean crossing by a lone shark over a record-breaking distance of more than 12,400 miles.
Star in the making: Nicole was named after Australian actress and great white shark lover Nicole Kidman
The epic swim means that the endangered sharks - the largest predatory fish in the ocean - could be in more danger from fishing than had previously been thought.
Scientists watched in awe as the female - named after the Australian actress and white shark lover Nicole Kidman - made her ocean crossing twice, after she was tagged with a tracking device off South Africa.
In addition to travelling farther than any other known shark, Nicole completed the return trip to Australia in just under nine months. It is the fastest known back-and-forth swim.
Nicole - originally designated shark P12 - also provides the first physical link between two of the most important and widely separated populations of great white sharks.
Ramon Bonfil fits a satellite tag to a shark's fin
Her travels have astounded researchers and challenge long-held notions about these awesome predators, report the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in Bronx Zoo, and other organisations today in the journal Science.
"This is one of the most significant discoveries about white shark ecology and suggests we might have to rewrite the life history of this powerful fish," said Dr Ramon Bonfil, the lead author.
"Nicole has shown us that separate populations of great white sharks may be more directly connected than previously thought, and that wide-ranging white sharks, which are nationally protected in places such as South Africa and Australia, are much more vulnerable to human fishing in the open oceans than we previously thought."
There is still much to learn about why and how sharks find their way through such vast distances, and how populations are related, Dr Bonfil added.
Nicole's epic journey
"More studies and funding are needed to unveil the mysteries of these great predators and how they can be protected."
The story of Nicole began in November 2003, when Dr Bonfil and his colleagues from the Marine and Coastal Management Department of South Africa and the White Shark Trust attached a satellite tag to her dorsal fin. The tags record data on time, temperature, water depth and light levels. On a pre-recorded date, the tag detaches from the shark and floats to the surface, where it transmits its data to a researcher's computer via satellite.
Another 31 white sharks were also tagged during the study. While most of them revealed at least three different movement patterns, including wide-ranging coastal migrations up and down the eastern side of South Africa, Nicole headed out into the vast and deep basin of the Indian Ocean.
Data transmitted by the tag revealed that she followed a strikingly direct route towards Australia. Although she frequently plunged to depths of up to 3,215ft - a record for white sharks - she mostly swam along the surface, leading researchers to suspect that great whites may use celestial cues for navigation.
A little over three months later, Nicole was swimming about a mile from shore just south of the Exmouth Gulf in western Australia, where her tag detached and floated to the surface with all of her secrets.
This leg of the journey alone was one for the record books.
However, Nicole later resurfaced back in Gansbaai, South Africa, where she had been tagged.
Her distinctively notched dorsal fin was photographed by Michael Scholl, one of Dr Bonfil's team of researchers. After a detailed comparison of images of dorsal fin markings, there was no longer any doubt: Nicole had returned home.
, that thing must have been bored or really wanted to try something different
