Mote SEA Audio Tour
About the Tour As you journey through the each gallery, click on each track to uncover fascinating facts about the species and their habitats. Listen to the introductory track below for detailed instructions.
Searching day and night: diel hierarchical search patterns in a large marine predator that never stops swimming
Animals may demonstrate area-restricted search (ARS) behaviour when encountering prey, where they turn frequently to remain in an area where the probability of finding additional prey is relatively high. We would expect optimally foraging...
Center for Fisheries Electronic Monitoring at Mote (CFEMM)
Center for Fisheries Electronic Monitoring at Mote (CFEMM) The Center for Fisheries Electronic Monitoring at Mote (CFEMM) internship provides research experience...
Exploration Hall
Experience the awe-inspiring beauty of Mote SEA’s Aquarium Venue Exploration Hall, a breathtaking 10,000-square-foot space designed to captivate and inspire. Home to a spectacular 400,000-gallon exhibit, this hall showcases the vibrant...
Venue Rentals: City Island
From mid-size rooms to larger halls to a Chickee Hut that provides a unique outdoor setting with a Southwest Florida feel, our waterfront location showcases everything that is special about Sarasota and her islands. Each year, millions...
The trophic role of a large marine predator, the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier
Tiger sharks were sampled of the western (Ningaloo Reef, Shark Bay) and eastern (the Great Barrier Reef; GBR, Queensland and New South Wales; NSW) coastlines of Australia. Multiple tissues were collected from each shark to investigate...
Undersea Constellations: The Global Biology of an Endangered Marine Megavertebrate Further Informed through Citizen Science
The whale shark is an ideal flagship species for citizen science projects because of its charismatic nature, its size, and the associated ecotourism ventures focusing on the species at numerous coastal aggregation sites. An online...
Modulation of shark prey capture kinematics in response to sensory deprivation
The ability of predators to modulate prey capture in response to the size, location, and behavior of prey is critical to successful feeding on a variety of prey types. Modulating in response to changes in sensory information may be...
A United States shark fin ban would undermine sustainable shark fisheries
A proposed nationwide ban on the sale of shark fins within the United States would undermine sustainable shark fisheries, would have little effect on global shark mortality, and would perpetuate the misconception that the shark fin...
Nurse shark
Nurse sharks range from yellow-tan to brown, blending into the sandy ocean floor. They have two sensory barbels near their mouths, helping them detect prey in the sand. Unlike many sharks, their small,...
Sandbar shark
Sandbar sharks are gray-brown with a tall, triangular dorsal fin and long, broad pectoral fins, helping them glide efficiently through coastal waters. They prefer sandy or muddy bottoms in shallow areas...
Rate of Tooth Replacement in the Nurse Shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum
Three juvenile nurse sharks, Ginglymostoma cirratum, were examined weekly for 3 yr to document rates at which teeth, marked by clipping the cusps of newly exposed teeth, moved from the innermost to the outermost row and were eventually...
Behavioral electrosensitivity increases with size in the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus
During elasmobranch ontogeny, increasing body size has been proposed to result in a tradeof between increased sensitivity and decreased spatial resolution of the electrosensory system, but this hypothesis has not previously been tested....
Length at life stages of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias in the western North Atlantic
Length at life stages of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias is not well known for most of the 9 populations of this species, including in the western North Atlantic (WNA). We analyzed length and maturity data by sex for 87 white...
Sphyrna alleni sp. nov., a new hammerhead shark (Carcharhiniformes, Sphyrnidae) from the Caribbean and the Southwest Atlantic
Hammerhead sharks (Family Sphyrnidae) comprise a monophyletic Miocene radiation of carcharhiniform sharks characterized by their laterally expanded and dorsoventrally compressed head (‘cephalofoil’). The bonnethead shark (Sphyrna...
Climate-driven global redistribution of an ocean giant predicts increased threat from shipping
Climate change is shifting animal distributions. However, the extent to which future global habitats of threatened marine megafauna will overlap existing human threats remains unresolved. Here we use global climate models and habitat...
Blacktip reef shark
Blacktip reef sharks have silvery-gray dorsal sides and white bellies. Eluded to in their name, these reef sharks have dark black spots on the end of all of their fins, including their tail. They are fast and agile, frequently leaping...
Horn shark
Horn sharks get their name from the two distinct ridges protruding from their head. They are slow-moving, bottom-dwelling sharks that use their pectoral fins to "walk" along the seafloor. With strong, molar-like teeth, they are...
Partial migration of the nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum (Bonnaterre), from the Dry Tortugas Islands
Nurse sharks have not previously been known to migrate. Nurse sharks of the Dry Tortugas (DRTO) mating population have a highly predictable periodic residency cycle, returning to the Dry Tortugas Courtship and Mating Ground (DTCMG)...
Potential Human Health Applications from Marine Biomedical Research with Elasmobranch Fishes
Members of the subclass of fishes collectively known as elasmobranchs (Class Chondrichthyes, Subclass Elasmobranchii) include sharks, skates, rays, guitarfish, and sawfish. Having diverged from the main line of vertebrate evolution...
Treading water: respirometer choice may hamper comparative studies of energetics in fishes
Measuring the metabolic rate of animals is an essential part of understanding their ecology, behaviour and life history. Respirometry is the standard method of measuring metabolism in fish, but different respirometry methods and systems...
New global study recommends major reforms to protect imperiled species
Researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida International University, University of Miami and many scientists across the globe have discovered two areas of concern after analyzing small shark fins...
New hammerhead shark named for late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen
A hammerhead shark species discovered by scientists finally has a name and its namesake is the late Paul G. Allen, philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft. The existence of the new species, Sphyrna alleni, was hidden because...
Epaulette shark
Epaulette Sharks are known for their ability to "walk" on the ocean floor using their pectoral and pelvic fins, which is unique among sharks. They prefer hiding in crevices and caves during the day and are more active at night when...
Coral cat shark
Coral cat sharks have color-changing abilities that allow them to adapt to different environments— from sandy sea floors to coral reefs. These sharks are mostly nocturnal, hunting for small fish and invertebrates at night.They...
Blacknose shark
These sharks are named for the dark shading on the tip of their snout, which is more prominent in juveniles and fades with age. They have slender, yellowish-gray bodies with countershaded (paler) bellies.
Bonnethead shark
Bonnethead sharks are grayish-brown with distinctive shovel-shaped heads. During migration, they often travel in large schools, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands!
Zebra shark
Zebra sharks get their name from the coloration they exhibit as juveniles. Juvenile zebra sharks have brown and white stripes, but as they get older, their pattern lightens to become tan with dark brown leopard-like spots. The upper...
Sand tiger shark
Sand tiger sharks have an intimidating appearance, with rows of long, needle-like teeth visible even when their mouth is closed. Despite their fierce look, they are slow-moving and docile toward humans....
Swell shark
The swell shark is a small, nocturnal species of shark. They have large mouths, extending past their eyes. Swell sharks have a broad head and stout body. They are a yellowish brown color, with a pattern of large dark blotches and...