Thursday, January 24, 2013

Porbeagle Shark

 

Porbeagle Shark | The Porbeagle shark is a member of the mackerel shark family, like the great white shark and the Mako, and bears a resemblance to both types. A widespread species, it exists in the western Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to New Jersey, although it rarely ventures south of New England and probably ranges from southern Brazil to Argentina. The Porbeagle shark is one of the most cold tolerant species of pelagic sharks in the world, prefer water temperatures below 18 C. The porbeagle is a counter flow heat exchanger in the bloodstream, which makes it possible to maintain a body temperature 7-10 degrees higher than the ambient temperature of the water.

Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Chondrichthyes
Subclass:     Elasmobranchii
Order:     Lamniformes
Family:     Lamnidae
Genus:     Lamna
Species:     L. nasus

The Porbeagle shark is a robust, cobalt blue body with a perfect conical snout, ending in a point. It is easily recognized by its teeth, which are smooth and have little bumps on both sides of the base. It often has a distinctive white area at the foot of the first dorsal fin is this more apparent than on the mako and white sharks. There is a huge, especially prominent, flattened keel on both sides of the tail, and below, but further back on the tail is a small secondary keel, which also lack Mako sharks and white. The anal fin is directly in line with the second dorsal fin.


Fast and energetic, the
Porbeagle shark are found singly or in groups. Porbeagle shark swallows its prey whole and feeds on a diverse group of fishes and invertebrates. They eat mackerel, herring and squid in winter, cod, flounder and other bottom fish in the fall as less common prey, such as wolf-like, spiny dogfish, small crabs and shellfish. Bits of fishing line, rope, shiny packaging and plastic packaging are all found in their stomach contents as well. 


Porbeagle sharks are potentially dangerous to humans because of their large size. But the Porbeagle shark is very seldom attacked swimmers or boats. None has ever accused porbeagle in unprovoked attacks on humans, probably because they live in such cold water, but as a member of the Mako and Great White sharks is one of the fastest swimmers in the sea. It belongs to the top of the food chain and is the top predator in its own territory.


The meat of Porbeagle shark is of good quality and texture and is said to taste like swordfish. Excellent sportfish, Porbeagle sharks occur in colder waters than Makos and whites, which may explain why they are not involved in attacks on humans. The Porbeagle shark is one of the fastest swimmers in the sea, but it can not swim out of the commercial fishermen on the North Atlantic come from around the world in search of her highly acclaimed flesh. The shark population is almost the lowest ever, but things are looking for this endangered species. But now, since the large cuts in fishing quotas for porbeagle shark in recent years, it is slowly recovering.

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