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Images: H. Nativ ©

 

In each of the last several years (especially in the last two decades), we have seen a seasonal aggregation of sharks that gather close to shore on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The aggregation occurs near the power station at Hadera (32°28"N, 34°53"E). The observed sharks are mature female dusky sharks and mature male sandbar sharks, and such aggregations were never documented until recently. The sharks’ aggregation here, in the warm, oligotrophic, highly evaporative margins of the Mediterranean, is still unexplained. We have deployed an acoustic receiver array to investigate and understand the movements of these sharks, which we have been tagging for the last three years. We used Thelma Biotel acoustic transmitters and receivers, and so far have tagged 50 sharks.

Contact person:  Ziv Zemah Shamir