Photo credit: Weiwei Gao
Upload your encounter photos here
If you can safely capture a photo of a Broadnose Sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) from the side, showing the head and gill area, like the photo above, upload it to the link below for analysis by pattern recognition AI, to determine if it has visited this area before.
Upload your photos or video here: https://www.sharkbook.ai/
The Sharkbook photo-identification library is a visual database of various shark encounters and of individually catalogued sharks. The library is maintained and used by marine biologists to collect and analyze shark sighting data to learn more about these amazing creatures. Sharkbook uses photographs of the freckle patterning behind the gills of each shark, and any scars, to distinguish between individual animals. Cutting-edge AI software supports rapid identification using pattern recognition and photo management tools. You too can assist with shark research, by submitting photos and sighting data. The information you submit will be used in mark-recapture studies to help with the global conservation of these threatened species.
Note: the Broadnose Sevengill shark is currently classified as ‘Threatened’ according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species worldwide.
For more information on this technology, please see: https://www.wildme.org/
Note: acceptance of new photographs to the project will be winding down by Oct. 2024, so please submit your photos before then.
Species Overview:
“The broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) is the only extant member of the genus Notorynchus, in the family Hexanchidae. It is recognizable because of its seven gill slits, while most shark species have five gill slits, with the exception of the members of the order Hexanchiformes and the sixgill sawshark. This shark has a large, thick body, with a broad head and blunt snout. The top jaw has jagged, cusped teeth and the bottom jaw has comb-shaped teeth. Its single dorsal fin is set far back along the spine towards the caudal fin, and is behind the pelvic fins. In this shark the upper caudal fin is much longer than the lower, and is slightly notched near the tip. Like many sharks, this sevengill is counter-shaded. Its dorsal surface is silver-gray to brown in order to blend with the dark water and substrate when viewed from above. In counter to this, its ventral surface is very pale, blending with the sunlit water when viewed from below. The body and fins are covered in a scattering of small black & white spots. In juveniles, their fins often have white margins.”
Why Does the Sevengill Shark Have Seven Gills?
Join shark scientist Kristian Parton as he dives into a creature on the broadnose sevengill shark – an ancient shark species! Kristian looks at sevengill sharks, asking important questions like: why do sevengill sharks have seven gills? He’s also joined by shark scientist Meghan Holst, who’s researching sevengill sharks in San Francisco Bay.
Runtime: 9:37
See also:
–What’s Going On in South Africa?
Disappearance of white sharks leads to the novel emergence of an allopatric apex predator, the sevengill shark
Hammerschlag, N., Williams, L., Fallows, M. et al. Disappearance of white sharks leads to the novel emergence of an allopatric apex predator, the sevengill shark. Sci Rep 9, 1908 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37576-6