Basking Shark Courtship Torus

Описание: I documented the basking Shark courtship torus for the first time anywhere in the world in August 2016.

I spent ten years searching for the fertile areas of the ocean, before eventually figuring out what I was looking for is known as a cold front, or a coastal front ... where an upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water makes its way to the sea surface.

Ten years of pulling my RIB around the country desperately trying to get my documentary ideas funded.
Being refused funding by 17 broadcasters in 14 countries.
Years of sitting on a cliff side with a scope watching the distant sea area where I'd suspected there was animal feeding activity.

When I finally found the coastal fronts in the summer of 2016, this was the first thing we encountered.

I contacted the world expert on basking sharks who immediately told me this was almost certainly basking shark courtship. Although it had been seen by shark hunters off Cornwall in the 40's & 50s and seen from a research plane off Canada in 1998, this was the first time anyone was in the water and so able to document the equal mix of males and females, the males' swollen claspers (reproductive organs) and many other useful observations.

It has been documented many times since then and I asked some other scientists to work with us, we co-authored a research paper describing this behaviour.

Sadly, when the story went viral in the world's media, the said scientists forgot to mention us. And all our years of work that enabled them to study the torus.

Paper is here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36073...


From NORTH ATLANTIC The Dark Ocean

All media copyright Sea Fever Productions. No reposting please.