Nate and Nelson Rouette, brothers from Massachusetts, caught a juvenile tiger shark while shark fishing on Cape Cod. The five-foot shark is typically found in warmer waters, such as the Caribbean Sea. Scientists believe its appearance off Falmouth, Massachusetts, may be an indicator of warming seas caused by climate change.
Warming Waters and Shark Migration
John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, stated that juvenile tiger sharks have been spotted more often in northern waters in recent years. Rising temperatures of global seas appear to have made the Atlantic Ocean off New England more hospitable to them.
Tiger sharks are among many kinds of sea life that have been trending north in recent years as seas have warmed. Other sharks, such as great whites, have also been seen off the coast of New England. Scientists have attributed the shift in great white sightings to factors including a higher abundance of seals, which the great whites prey on.
Original reporting: Oklahoma City News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
