Comments on: How Great White Sharks Accidentally Wandered Into the Mediterranean

By: Mal

Mal — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:58:13 +0000

Gj, sharks aren’t fish..? What are they then, reptiles.?! Of course they’re fish. You are thinking of whales & dolphins. They my friend are mammals not fish but sharks are fish.

By: Naveed

Naveed — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:12:19 +0000

GJ, sharks are fish…..dolphins and whales aren’t fish…..

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:40:33 +0000

Sure it was an accident. Like when I was flying to Irkutsk, and “accidentally” got on the plane to Greece instead. I tried to get it fixed but, you know, I was knocking back cold ones on the beach and just never got the time to follow up with the airline…

;-)

By: GJ

GJ — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:40:46 +0000

“Mediterranean fish”, What?
Sharks are not Fish, very sloppy Discover.

By: AL

AL — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:14:17 +0000

That’s a good question, s, and I’d like to know the answer too. If I had to guess, it’s possible these great whites were breeding with the nearby population, but in limited numbers so that they still retain a closer relationship with the distant population rather than the nearby one. Alternatively, they’re just inbred but “won the lottery” so to speak, in that they didn’t end up with severe defects. Inbreeding raises the risk of defects, but doesn’t guarantee it.

By: s

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:35:21 +0000

I would think you would need more than just 1 pregnant female. Otherwise in-breeding and such would have caused severe handicaps…including a good chance of sterility.

Admittedly, I’m no geneticist, but it seems a logical argument.

Maybe those that know better can add to this??

By: scott

scott — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:28:31 +0000

I spent the summer and fall near Nice, France, swimming everyday way out, in deep water in the med thinking there were no big sharks! However…I think the jellyfish prove to be more a threat as their populations are becoming such a problem and causing many stings, beach closures and warning signs to crop up. One beach, in Eze, became “unswimmable”. I was going everyday and more and more jellyfish were in the waters and it got to the point where it was not worth getting into the water as you could see them everywhere. The last week in August the water had none, by the end of September you could see them floating in the water by the dozens, same pattern happened in Antibes. Monaco invests in large nets that prevent them from stinging swimmers at their man made beach coves (you can see them on google earth). This purple jelly (link below) is the one that filled the waters. This same species also prevented swimming in July, 2008 while I was visiting Menorca and Ibiza. You could not get into the water to swim.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-spineless-menace-jellyfish-overwhelm-the-sea-783036.html