The 2m fish was anaesthetised with a form of clove oil used by dentists before going under the knife at Nausicaa, an aquarium in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France. Pretty amazing, isn’t?

“We have contacted other aquariums across the world and it is apparently the first time anywhere that an operation of this sort has been carried out on a shark,” said Dominique Mallevois, deputy head of the aquarium.

The medical team intervened after the 20-year-old shark, named Gilles, began losing weight a few months ago and staff noticed a nylon thread extending from its stomach.

When the shark was put to sleep, an X-ray revealed that it had swallowed a 10cm hook that staff believe was attached to a fish it had eaten.

Gilles was anaesthetised for a second time this month for the hour-long operation, carried out by Alexis Leccu, a veterinary surgeon from Vincennes Zoo in Paris. While water and oxygen were blown into the shark’s mouth, Mr Leccu managed to extract the metal object without damaging any blood vessels.

Mr Mallevois said clove oil was used because it has been found to be well tolerated by fish of all species.

“The shark’s in good form now,” said Mr Mallevois. “It’s swimming and eating just like the other sharks and if you look in the aquarium, it would be difficult to tell which one had been operated on.

” In fact, the only way of knowing is the wound, although it’s difficult to see.”

Source:
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,24554460-5017320,00.html

Here is a very interesting article that I read today:

“THEY are the predators of the ocean, but their blood may hold a key to saving human lives.

Victorian scientists have discovered a way to collect disease-fighting proteins from shark blood that they believe could help in the fight against cancer, malaria and arthritis.

“Sharks can be our friends,” said La Trobe University associate professor Mick Foley.

“I still probably wouldn’t go and feed them and pat them, but evolution has given them something we might exploit.”

Researchers took genes from shark blood and modified them to create random mutations.

These mutations mimic how the human immune system works, producing antibodies that can be used in studying disease.

The blood was collected from a wobbegong shark at Melbourne Aquarium.

This method of collecting antibodies is regarded as safer for both humans and sharks, as it does not require handlers getting into tanks and immunising the animals. Hundreds of thousands of shark antibodies have been created and stored, providing scientists with a library of proteins they can use to test whether certain antibodies attack specific diseases.

Because shark antibodies are much smaller than those of humans — about one tenth the size — they are more stable, which raises the prospect that future treatments may be taken orally instead of by injection.”

So there you go guys… even more reasons to Love Sharks!

This is the article we found today

“Tiburón!” a little boy cried out, jumping up and down in the sand with his finger outstretched toward the ocean. Everyone around followed the youngster’s panicky gaze out past the waves and into the Pacific, where they spotted not a shark’s fin but a buoy.

“Everybody’s seeing sharks these days,” said the security man at one of the giant resort hotels that has flown a black flag over its lifeguard tower in recent days, warning swimmers to beware.

Since the end of April, the beaches north of here have experienced three separate shark attacks, two of them fatal, a rarity along this coastline. Needless to say, there are some jitters these days about whether the shark or sharks responsible might strike again.

An Ixtapa lifeguard, sitting atop a tower, admitted that every shout or scream he hears these days causes his heart to race. There is a fair amount of shrieking that occurs at every beach, whether caused by a hard-fought point in beach volleyball, a wave splashing the face of a child or maybe someone stepping down too hard on a sharp-edged shell. Now, though, any raised voice has him thinking: someone else has been bitten.

The first victim, Adrian Ruiz, 24, of San Francisco, arrived at a hotel on the beach in Troncones in the early evening of April 28 and immediately headed for the waves. Not too long afterward people on shore saw blood in the water.

“I ran to the water and grabbed him,” said Osmán Altamirano, 26, who works at a beachfront hotel. “Half his leg was gone. He was shaking. We put him in the back of a pickup but didn’t get him to the hospital in time.”

Queensland Shark Control Program manager Tony Ham says bull sharks and whalers can be active in muddy river mouths and beaches after heavy rain.

He is warning surfers and swimmers to be careful until the water clears.

“There’s a distinct link between murky water, heavy rainfall and the movement of bull sharks in and out of rivers and creeks,” he said.

“Basically what we’d be advising people is to think about whether there is a need for them to swim or where abouts they’re going to swim over the next few days just so that they’re aware that there is the possibility of some increased shark movement.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au

Mako shark fishing and mako fishing tournaments is becoming popular big game fishing and deep sea fishing. Mako sharks are known for great big game fighting including air born jumps. Mako sharks have five large gill slits, Well developed eyes (slightly larger in the long-fin) and pronounced knife like, non-serrated teeth. An extremely fast and active shark it was propelled to ” big-game fishing ” fame by author Zane Gray who was taken by the animals menacing appearance and volatility during the early part of this century. Mako sharks occur worldwide in warm-temperate and tropical waters. The high abundance of juveniles in the California Bight indicates its importance as a nursery ground for this species.

Zebra sharks do well in captivity, and a number of aquariums around the world have them on display. They are fished commercially on a small scale. Zebra sharks’ have average sized pectoral fins and low, long dorsal fins. Zebra sharks will lay about four eggs at a time.

Zebra Sharks are oviparous (they lay eggs outside of the body). It lays eggs that are 17cm in length. Zebra sharks often rest on the ocean floor and prop themselves up on their front two fins. The mouth points downward, helping the shark feed off of the ocean floor. Zebra Shark Jaw - While the young zebra shark is dark brown with whitish stripes, the mature shark is tan with brown spots, which lends to its alternative name, the leopard shark. Ridges run along each side of this long, sleek shark from the head to the caudal fin, the length of which is nearly that of the rest of the body.

Zebra shark, the common name of these slow-swimming, non-aggressive, bottom-dwelling sharks, is derived from the coloration of the juveniles that have narrow bars reminiscent of a zebra’s stripes. The bars are lost in adults, becoming spots.

Once you see this footae you will understand how sharks simply have the right to be there.