| Summary: | The tiger shark is easily recognized by its rounded snout and silted nostrils and also by its dark grey stripes that fade with age. It is these stripes that inspired its name. This shark was first universally named in 1635 as the “Tiger of the Sea.” This apex predator commonly migrates along the coast between the Atlantic, Caribbean, Pacific and Indian oceans while still maintaining a presence in freshwater river mouths and estuaries. Tiger sharks prefer shallow temperate tropical waters; however, they have a presence in the deep open ocean surrounding the Polynesian and Hawaiian islands. In a study conducted by the University of Hawaii, 15 Tiger sharks were surgically implanted with ultrasonic transmitters in the hope that the team could study the migration patterns of this wide traveling species. (31) These transmitters would send pulse signals to buoys strategically placed throughout the island chain for around 800 days. The results showed that these animals come and go in no real pattern but that the juveniles seem to stay in deeper water, most likely to avoid larger sharks that would cannibalize them. (11) This species is slightly smaller than its Artic counterpart, only growing between 4-6 meters in length. Again in contrast to the slow growing Greenland shark, the tiger shark is almost rapid in its maturation. Past studies of growth show that it seems the animals that frequent the Hawaiian coast don’t mature as equally as the same species in another part of the ocean. However, many of these studies come under scrutiny for using “invalidated vertebral ring counts.” Consequently, after further review it was concluded that in fact the growth rates of the Hawaiians tiger shark population are equal to the growth rates of tiger sharks living elsewhere. When pondering its rapid growth, scientists deduce that the vast array of prey and the tiger shark’s infamous diet contribute to this unique adaption (11). Modern accounts tell of car bumpers, license plates, and bags of money that have all been removed from the stomachs of tiger sharks. This species is notorious for eating anything and everything including turtles, 20 | P a g e
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