Colin Simpfendorfer

Shearing Tooth Morphology May Allow Sharks to Access Higher Trophic Levels at Smaller Sizes Predator morphology imposes limitations on prey selection due to biomechanical constraints, making some prey functionally inaccessible and thereby constraining predator trophic niches. We assessed ho....

Cutting teeth probably let smaller sharks get higher in the food web than those with grasping teeth. Awesome stable isotope study led by fabulous PhD graduate Sabrina Riveron!

@griffith.edu.au

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We’re excited to welcome Ghofrane Labyedh as a keynote speaker at Sharks International 2026!

📅 Join us in Sri Lanka from 4-8 May 2026 to hear directly from Ghofrane and learn from her inspiring vision for inclusive, regional conservation.

🔗 si2026.org

Register for Sharks International 2026 is today!

🦈 Join a global community at #SI2026 in Sri Lanka, 4-8 May! Registration includes access to all sessions, keynotes, sides events, and the welcome reception. Don’t miss out, register now for #SI2026!

🔗https://si2026.org/

Don’t miss Madeline Green at #ASFB2025 in #Darwin #NT 🦈🐠

Madeline leads research on molecular surveillance, #seafood traceability, and catch reconstruction to improve fisheries management and combat IUU fishing.

👀 It’s not too late to register:
www.asfbconference.org.au/registration

Poster for a Sharks International 2026 conference session titled “Quantifying the Chase: New Frontiers in Predator–Prey Dynamics.” The background is a watercolor blue gradient. The central image shows multiple shark silhouettes circling a single small red fish. The Sharks International Sri Lanka 2026 logo appears in the middle of the poster. Contact emails for sammyaz@stanford.edu, emily.lester@sydney.edu.au, and lauren.meyer@flinders.edu.au are listed at the bottom for more information.

🦈 Heading to Sharks International 2026?
Consider applying to our session:

🎯 Quantifying the Chase: New Frontiers in Predator–Prey Dynamics

We’re exploring tools, techniques & cross-disciplinary insights.

🌐 si2026.org @sharks-int.bsky.social
#SharksInternational2026 #SharkScience #MarineEcology

Current Vacancies

I am currently advertising a new 3-year research position in my TerraLuma team: Research Associate in Drone Field Operations (Academic Level A)

The position will support the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s (@TERN_Aus) Dronescape project.

careers.utas.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...

And of course that is just the individuals that wash up and are counted. The impacts of the bloom are ongoing with no end in sight.
@iucnshark.bsky.social

The recorded shark and ray mortalities include >1800 Southern Fiddler Rays, >500 Port Jackson Sharks, >400 Western Shovelnose Ray,>260 Cobbler Wobbegong, >140 Shortail Stingray, >50 Australian Angelsharks, >50 Coffin Rays, >30 Varied Carpetshark, >30 Southern Eagle Rays, and even White Sharks /2

SA Marine Mortality events 2025 Data gathering for South Australia 2025 'fish' mortality events. This project is set to automatically add aquatic vertebrates and macroinvertebrates annotated 'dead' from Feb 2025 onwa...

While North America has been distracted by #sharkweek there has been a major algal bloom in the waters off South Australia and thousands of sharks, rays and many other types of marine life washing up dead on beaches. /1
www.inaturalist.org/projects/sa-...

New paper in Ecology & Evolution: analysed 187 species of rays & skates to explore patterns of sexual size dimorphism. Turns out SSD in rays doesn’t follow the same rules as in sharks.

❓Differences in reproductive strategies❓

🔗 doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

#SharkScience #Evolution #MarineBiology

Florida Keys’ Mysterious Spinning Fish Event Explained | Changing Seas YouTube video by South Florida PBS

"We're all very nervous about the future of sawfish right now" said Dr. Dean Grubbs with Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory in this new Changing Seas video.
Go to www.sawfishrecovery.org to learn more and make a tax-deductible donation.
www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Call for Abstracts is NOW OPEN for Sharks International 2026! 🦈

Help shape Sharks International 2026 - the world’s largest conference on sharks, rays, and chimaeras - taking place 4–8 May 2026 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

🔗 More info: si2026.org/participate/...

📸 Fabrice Dudenhofer

Species Highlight: Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)

🦅 The name "eagle ray" refers to the ray's distinctive V-shaped snout, which resembles a bird’s beak. Interested in learning more about sharks, rays and chimaeras? Join us at #SI2026!

🔗 si2026.org

The Phenomenon of Piebaldism in Sharks: A Review of Global Sightings and Patterns Chromatic disorders like piebaldism—a rare form of leucism causing partial pigment loss—have been documented in 25 wild shark cases across 17 species and 11 families, with varying anatomical distribu...

The Phenomenon of Piebaldism in Sharks: A Review of Global Sightings and Patterns.🐟🧪

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Transnational shark trade: personal baggage and postal seizures in Australia and New Zealand Context Sharks (Chondrichthyes) are declining globally with over one third of species threatened with extinction, largely due to anthropogenic threats including overfishing driven by the international...

🦈 The shark trade in #Australia & #NewZealand is off the hook!
📢 Enhanced monitoring & tighter regulations are needed to tackle the trade of these misunderstood predators.

Read the #openaccess article
www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC25006

#SharkConservation #MarineScience
@pacificconsbio.bsky.social

Hiring a marine biology lecturer at @universityofessex.bsky.social! Permanent position. Deadline to apply= 20 Aug. We have aquaria, lots of mass specs/genomic facilities, field trips to Crotia, Indonesia, Scotland and a super collegial department. Pls share!

vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

Energetic benefits of prey choice for a shark-eating shark - Oecologia Optimal foraging theory has been used to understand the foraging choices of animals but is rarely applied to large predatory fishes due to difficulties measuring their behavior in the wild. Great hamm...

Energetics suggest Great Hammerhead Sharks only need to eat ~0.7% of their body weight per day of other sharks to survive. Means a ~250 kg big one would only need to eat one ~50 kg shark every three weeks! Good reason to be shark and ray-eating specialists.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

BREAKING: Governments act on the shark and ray extinction crisis by proposing increased protections for 70+ species of shark and ray via CITES listings at upcoming CoP20. 7 listing proposals, the most for sharks ever considered at a CITES meeting + more than 50 governments adding their names.

New paper! Electric rays can use their electric discharge to repel large sharks. Here a white shark carrying a camera approaches a Pacific electric ray. Something caused it to sprint 20 m shallower!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Happy International Angel Shark Day from the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group!

There are at least 24 species of angel sharks (Order Squatiniformes) and they occur across the world, from temperate to tropical waters, and from depths of <1m to 1,300m.

I thought it was a piece of toast!

Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds.🐟🧪

Elasmo #dreamjob. Join the lineage of great elasmobranch researchers who have filled this position at CSULB. Review of applications starts early September...
#sharkscience @iucnshark.bsky.social

csucareers.calstate.edu/en-us/job/54...

#JFB: Migratory patterns and seasonal habitat use of great hammerhead sharks (𝘚𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘳𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯) in the southeastern United States doi.org/10.1111/jfb.70039 #FishSci

Exciting news: our new study just published!

We looked at how Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) can also support the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).

Our findings? 1 in 5 ISRAs already qualify as KBAs.

CSU Careers

TT Assistant prof in biological sciences -- elasmobranch biology 🦈 🧪 @calstate.bsky.social #academicjobs
csucareers.calstate.edu/en-us/job/54...

In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…

The latest issue of Oryx features a special section on community participation in conservation. In the lead article, Shidqi et al. describe an encouraging alternative livelihood intervention to protect thresher sharks in Indonesia.🦈 Find out more: www.oryxthejournal.org/blog/new-iss...

New call for Fish and Fisheries Editor in Chief! Please dm me if you are interested. We are a great team of editors (if I don't say so myself!) and it's an amazing journal. Looking for someone to help shape its direction and impact, who works well as a team 🐟
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

Cryptids: stuff of nightmares (both literally and conservation wise). 'An invisible trade in imperiled guitarfishes'
doi.org/10.1111/cobi...