Shark Research

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The sharks are part of the major group of non - bony fishes known as elasmobranchs which include the skates and rays. The sharks are primarily carnivores and many of the larger species apparently are the top predators in their environment. This role is not widely appreciated and not well understood. In fact, the exact position and role of most of the species of sharks in the marine ecosystem is poorly known despite the large size and spectacularity of most kinds of sharks. The main areas of shark research discussed at the Monterey Conference included those which, in the past, had been judged to be of most interest to the u.s. Navy. These research areas have a more direct bearing on the capabilities of sharks to act as predators on humans. Intentionally, no attempt was made to cover all aspects of elasmobranch research since these can be as diverse as the entire discipline of biology. In fact, it was suggested that a second workshop be.held in the future, concentrating on those aspects of elasmobranch biology such as immunobiology, cellular metabolism, pathology, etc., wherein the elasmobranch is essentially utilized simply as another kind of experimental animal of convenience or choice. In addition, because the conference was in the nature of a work shop discussing areas of potential future research, this resulting report cannot be considered a review of the entire field of elasmobranch research, even in those topics specifically covered and represented by the partici pants.