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Scientists ID sharks from their bite marks
Forensic techniques can now precisely identify sharks by the bite marks left on their victims.Bite damage patterns have long been used to estimate shark species and body size, with somewhat limited success.
Credit: Peter Symes
In a method analogous to analyzing human fingerprints, scientists can make identifications by precisely comparing shark bites to the jaws and teeth of the powerful predators, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, which is housed at UF's Florida Museum of Natural History.
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Burgess said the new technique allows scientists to say with a degree of certainty whether the beast was a 14-foot tiger shark or a 9-foot bull shark.
The ability to make predictions from bite patterns is important to understanding the behavioral underpinnings of shark attacks and their prey habits, said lead researcher Dayv Lowry, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, who did the work as a graduate student at the University of South Florida.
The new technique was developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of South Florida. The research appears in the November issue of the journal Marine Biology.
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