A great white shark caught in the Bay of Fundy this week was
a rare sight – the first in six years.
But the waters off Atlantic Canada are home to several shark species, plus a few visitors that find their way north in the warm waters of
the Gulf Stream.
The Canadian Shark Research Laboratory lists almost 20
species of sharks that have been reported in Canadian waters as well as a dozen
others that have been spotted, albeit rarely,
off Canada’s east coast.
Among the more prevalent species:
Basking shark – After
the whale shark, the basking is the largest
fish in the world and is commonly seen in
the waters of the Bay of Fundy. The basking shark
has also appeared in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and along Nova Scotia’s coast, usually during summer and fall seasons.
Although it is sometimes mistaken for the great white shark,
the basking is a harmless animal with
significantly smaller teeth. It’s a filter
feeder, preferring a diet of plankton.
The basking shark’s skin is grayish-brown and often has a
“mottled appearance.” They can reach grow up to 10 metres, with an average length of
seven to nine metres. The largest
“accurately-measured” basking shark, at 12.27 metres, was found in
the Bay of Fundy in 1851.
It’s estimated the basking shark
population in Atlantic Canadian waters is about 10,000.
The creatures have been spotted swimming in schools in the Bay of Fundy.
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Porbeagle shark – The Canadian Shark Research
Laboratory says the porbeagle shark is “the second most commonly observed
large shark in Atlantic waters.”
It’s a species of mackerel shark known to swim in waters
from the Bay of Fundy to North Carolina. Porbeagles
head south to the Sargasso Sea, located between
Bermuda and Cuba, to give birth.
A porbeagle shark can
grow up to three metres in length and weighs about 135 kg. It’s a
“stout” shark with large black eyes and has blue-gray skin on its
back, with white on its underside.
A unique characteristic of the porbeagle is that it must
keep swimming in order to breath. It has the ability to thermoregulate, meaning
it can raise its body temperature to three to eight degrees higher than the
temperature of the water it’s in.
Porbeagle shark have long
been hunted for their meat and fins, used in shark fin soup. Overfishing in the
northwest Atlantic led to a significant decline in the population of
porbeagles, until Canada lowered fishing quotas in 2000.
Blue shark – As
the name suggests, this approximately three-metre shark is recognizable
for its distinct blue colour. It’s also the most commonly sighted shark in East
Coast waters, from the Bay of Fundy to the Grand Banks and up to southeastern
Newfoundland.
The blue shark is popular among game fishermen, but not a
friend of the commercial fishing industry. The blue
shark often destroysfishing equipment and their
meat has little value on the market.
Females can deliver anywhere between 4 and 135 pups in a
single litter.
The species has been nicknamed the “wolf of the
sea” because they tend to “roam” in packs.
Blue sharks are not
commonly known to attack humans, but the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory
says they have been linked to attacks on victims of air and sea disasters.
While not a protected species, the
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada lists the blue shark
as a species of special concern.
It’s a regular catch during the annual Yarmouth Shark
Scramble, happening every August for the last 14 years.
Smooth hammerhead shark – The smooth hammerhead is
common all over the North Atlantic.
Although it is rarely seen in Canadian waters, usually in
the Gulf Stream, it has been reported off the coast of Nova Scotia in
several areas close to Halifax, including St
Margaret’s Bay, Herring Cove and Sambro Light.
The smooth hammerhead shark
tends to stay
within inshore waters, not more than 20 metres deep. The sharks feed off of schooling fish,
cephlapods and even other sharks, including fellow hammerheads.
Smooth hammerheads are olive-brown or grey brown skin, with
white on their underside, and can reach more than four metres in length and a
weight of more than 400 kilograms.
Their eyes are on the sides of their namesake head and
their U-shaped mouth underneath.
Although they can pose a danger to
humans, the number of smooth hammerhead-related attacks is low because
they are more common in temperate waters, where people don’t typically swim.
Sources: Canadian Shark Research Laboratory and Wikipedia
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