By Irene Wright Growing up on the Gulf coast of Florida, shark researcher Dean Grubbs has always been fascinated by nature’s ancient animals. “I caught a little sharpnose shark when I was 7 years old, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and (I) told my parents I was going to be Jacques Cousteau,” he told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “That fascination never changed.”
In 2003, smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) had the unenviable distinction of being the first native marine fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. The classification followed decades of declining populations due to habitat loss, overharvesting and mortality as fisheries bycatch. Now, 20 years later, a 13-foot adult female captured off the coast of Cedar Key, FL suggests the species may be making a slow but spirited comeback.
“I think this is going to potentially be one of the most important estuaries or nurseries for this species on the west coast of Florida as the waters continue to change,” said Andres, who is with the Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory.
Recent FSU graduate, Blake Hamilton (MSc), recently published his second paper from his Master's thesis concerning the use of river and estuarine energy sources by Apalachicola Bay sharks.
Announcing a recent publication in the ‘Fish Movement’ special issue of Environmental Biology of Fishes from Ashley Dawdy, a current PhD student of the Grubbs lab. This publication is a result of Ashley’s undergraduate Honors in the Major thesis, completed here at FSU with former Grubbs lab students Dr. Cheston Peterson and Dr. Bryan Keller!
WWF is elated to announce Jasmin Graham, MSc., as winner of the third-annual Conservation Leadership Award. This award aims to give the next generation of conservation leaders access to a global platform and experts, and provides a financial prize that recipients can use to further their professional or educational goals related to their conservation work. Graham is a marine biologist, environmental educator, and social justice activist. She is the CEO and president of the organization Minorities in Shark Sciences.
Dr. Grubbs’ lab recently spent 8 days in the Marquesas Keys with scientists from the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum and Bimini Biological Field Station to tag and collect valuable data from various species of elasmobranchs.
Ph.D. Candidates Johanna Imhoff, Kevin Olsen, and Cheston Peterson all successfully defended their dissertations and graduated during FSU’s 2021 summer commencement! All of us at the Marine Lab are so proud of the accomplishments of these standout scholars and we are thrilled to watch them fledge to grow even more in their chosen professions. So where are they headed now?
Dr. Grubbs and Dr. Abel's book, "Shark Biology and Conservation" has rave reviews! Check out the awesome write-up on their book on pages 70 - 74 in "Shark News" - a publication put out by IUCN Shark Specialist Group.
Recent PhD graduate, Bryan Keller, is the lead scientist on new research finding that sharks likely use the Earth’s magnetic fields to help guide them on their migrations. Keller specifically examined a group of bonnethead sharks that spend the summer off the coast of the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab, before migrating south for the winter. Other populations of bonnetheads have been shown to undertake migrations over 1000 km roundtrip. The team’s work is published in the latest issue of Current Biology
