Old and cold - biology of the Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus.


 

Project summary

 

Old And Cold: Biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus)

 

The elusive Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) is an understudied and putatively important species in the Arctic. Recent studies suggest that the Greenland shark is among the longest living animals in the world, is highly migratory and an active top predator in the arctic ecosystem. Through a series of integrated studies conducted on sharks sampled in arctic waters the project will explore the growth pattern and maximum age of Greenland shark, quantify their role and overall importance as a top predator and investigate the population genetic structure throughout their distributional area – the northern North Atlantic Ocean. The project will integrate several state-of-the-art techniques related to the age determination, migration and genomics in order to accomplish the specified objectives.

 

NEWS November 2024: New expedition to the Arctic Station is scheduled for June 2025 for about 15 days for a group of about 10 researchers. The purpose of the trip is to to study the biology and behavior of the Greenland shark, but in particular finish the subprojects concerning the physiology of the heart, and the effect of global increased temperature on the ECG. In addition we will initiate a karyotype project to determine how many chromosomes the Greenland shark has, check telomer lengths and try to start a cell line. 

 

NEWS September 2024: Preprint concerning the Greenland shark genome: A Sahm, A Cherkasov, H Liu, D Voronov, K Siniuk, R Schwarz, O Ohlenschläger, S Förste, M Bens, M Groth, I Görlich, S Paturej, S Klages, B Braendl, J Olsen, P G Bushnell, A Bech Poulsen, S Ferrando, F Garibaldi, D L Drago, E Terzibasi Tozzini, F-J Müller, M Fischer, H Kretzmer, P Domenici, J Fleng Steffensen, A Cellerino and S Hoffmann.

The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) genome provides insights into extreme longevity. BioRxiv preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content//10.1101/2024.09.06.611499v1

 

News 2024: New expedition to the Arctic Station in Qeqertarsuaq, GL scheduled for June 2024. A 15 day expedition to University of Copenhagen's Arctic Station in Qeqertarsuaq on Disko Island in Greenland. "We" are 10 researchers from USA, France, Italy and Denmark.
The purpose of the trip is to to study the biology and behaviour of the Greenland shark, but in particular the physiology of the heart, and the effect of global increased temperature on the ECG. In addition we will test a new set-up to initiate and film fast-escape responses in the natural environment at 200 meters depth.

 

News 2023 : New expedition to the Arctic Station in Qeqertarsuaq, GL scheduled for May 2023. A 15 day expedition to University of Copenhagen's Arctic Station in Qeqertarsuaq on Disko Island in Greenland. "We" are 12 - 14 researchers from USA, Canada, France, UK and Denmark.
The purpose of the trip is to to study the biology and behaviour of the Greenland shark, but in particular the physiology of the heart, the vision and the effect of global increased temperature on the ECG. In addition a pediatrician may try to ultrasonically scan the heart with an esophagal probe - in vivo - which may be challenging.

 

News 2021 : GShark cruise w R/V Dana to Narsaq Greenland scheduled for July 30.th to August 8.th 2021: The plans for the coming research cruise w R/V Dana to Bredefjord close to Narsaq, Greenland are progressing as scheduled. We will be 16 researchers and about 14 crew. Funding: EuroFleets, Danish Research Council, the Carlsberg Foundation, Elisabeth and Knud Petersen Foundation and Danish Centre for Marine Research. Due to tight Covid-19 restrictions in Greenland we have chartered a Boing 737 to bring us and the RV crew to Narsarsuaq Airport - a former USAF Base - and R/V Dana without any contact to any locals.

 

News: Vision Airways 45 min video from Greenland from 2020 with about 1/4 concerning our Old And Cold project - "Grønland - In The Glare Of Ice".

  

News: Video from field campaign two weeks to the Arctic Station in Qeqertarsuaq/Godhavn on Disko Island, Greenland June 1.st - June 16.th 2019. 

 

 

News: Rare video of Greenland shark taking a chunk of meat attached to a baited camera rig at a depth of 225 meters in Disko Bay July 2018. Unfortunatelly the massive amounts of arrow worms obstructed the view, but it can be observed that the shark is slowly approaching the bait, while opening the mouth which caused a suction that made the bait get in the mouth. But then since the bait was attached with a string it dropped out again as the sharked drifted away. No sudden violent attach was observed. 

 

YouTube video of Greenland sharks by Under the Pole II Expedition to Greenland in 2014-2015.

 


http://www.mbl.ku.dk/JFSteffensen/OldAndCold

 

Updated November 2024.