This video is called How to Identify Caribbean Fish: How to Identify a Nurse Shark.
News from Artis Aquarium of the Amsterdam zoo:
Baby short-tailed nurse sharks
A global first in the Artis Aquarium
Since Wednesday morning 23 January, two young small short-tailed nurse sharks are swimming around in the Artis Aquarium. As the first aquarium anywhere in the world, Artis has succeeded in breeding this shark species, which is rare in aquariums. During the breeding, it was discovered that this shark lays eggs; though it had been thought that short-tailed nurse sharks were ovoviviparous.
Shark species face extinction amid overfishing and appetite for fins: here.
Sharks’ ‘DNA postcodes’ will help the fight against shark finning: here.
Sharks are dying by the dozen due to internal bleeding, via Discovery News: here.
Analysis of fins from the shark fin trade finds that 45% contain mercury, lead, or arsenic exceeding max safe levels: here.
Turning the tables: Attack Survivors Help Sharks: here.
Marine researchers are reporting the discovery of a previously unknown breeding ground for great white sharks in the Gulf of California: here.
Shark attacks are rare – and related deaths even rarer: here.
Tiny aquarium holds just 10ml of water: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
‘Secret Shark’ Discovered At Aquarium
Thursday, May 19th 2011 12:18
Aquarium staff in Blackpool were stunned to discover a shark they did not know about had been living undetected in one of their tanks for years.
Staff at the resort’s Sea Life Centre were baffled when two shark eggs were discovered in a tank occupied by resident sharks which give birth only to live young.
The centre’s marine experts now believe that one of several former curators must have introduced a small tropical carpet shark to the display without recording the fact – and that it has been in hiding ever since.
“When we found the first egg during a routine dive in the ocean tank just before Easter, we initially thought it must be artificial, and part of the tank’s theming decor,” said senior aquarist Martin Sutcliffe.
“We were all completely baffled when we took a closer look and realised it was real, and then we found another one about three weeks later.”
A fish expert at the centre has confirmed the four-inch-long eggs come from a carpet shark – so called because of their habit of lying on the seabed.
Mr Sutcliffe said: “The ocean tank is a massive half-a-million litre display with numerous dark nooks and crannies amongst the theming, and it is just feasible that a small shark could have stayed hidden.
“A small carpet shark would possibly feel threatened by the larger sharks in the tank, which is the only explanation we can come up with for it keeping out of sight for so long.”
Now staff want to move the shark to a smaller tropical tank and provide her with a mate.
Mr Sutcliffe said: “The sudden appearance of these eggs suggests she has reached maturity and if we partnered her with a mature male there’s every chance we would get some babies.”
http://www.juicebrighton.com/newscentre/quirkies/secret-shark-discovered-at-aquarium-15995107
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Shark fin processors still unable to regroup
Kyodo
KESENNUMA, Miyagi Pref. — Shark fin processors in the city of Kesennuma, a major pillar of the fishing industry in Miyagi Prefecture, are still reeling from the effects of the March earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region’s coast.
New shark hauls have yet to be brought in and processors are at a loss over how to revive their businesses. The municipal government has yet to lay out a reconstruction plan, which may require many of them to relocate their plants.
Fukuju Marine Products Co., a processor of shark fins used in Chinese cuisine, is almost ready to start repairing its plant that was demolished by the tsunami after its workers have been clearing rubble for four months.
But President Hiroshi Usui is not optimistic. While repair work is allowed at the plant site, construction work is restricted and the firm may have no choice but to leave if the area is staked out for city-led reconstruction projects.
Municipalities in Miyagi Prefecture are required to submit draft reconstruction plans to the prefectural government by the end of August, with the clock ticking toward the Sept. 11 expiration of the construction restriction. Kesennuma meanwhile says it needs more time.
The city’s effort to craft such a plan is being delayed partly because the central government has yet to spell out its overall reconstruction policy, including financial assistance for local governments, city officials said.
Fukuju Marine dismissed its workers after the March disaster, but its former employees are still working for the company at the same time they are getting unemployment benefits.
Usui is frustrated with the slow progress of reconstruction efforts by central and local government authorities and fears losing skilled workers.
“I want them to come back to work (as paid employees) by the time their benefits are cut a year from the disaster,” he said.
According to the Kesennuma fisheries cooperative, 95 percent of local seafood processing plants, refrigerated and freezer warehouses and other facilities were damaged by the quake and tsunami.
“About 70 percent of local citizens made their living in the fisheries-related industry. The city will not get its life back unless seafood processors are revived,” said Toshiharu Kasuga, a senior official of the Kesennuma Chamber of Commerce.
“Even relatively well-funded businesses will be hard pressed if the reconstruction work takes too long,” he said.
Shark processors are major employers in the city. While their fins are a prized delicacy, sharks can also be sold as minced meat and their powdered cartilage is sold to pharmaceutical firms.
But at least one shark fin processor has been forced to fold after being in the business for more than 30 years because its president was killed in the disaster and its processing plant and warehouse were damaged.
Another shark fin processor, Ishiwatashoten Co., aims to start all over again by moving its plant from the coast to higher ground.
“Unless someone makes the first step forward, others will take more time before doing so,” said Hisashi Ishiwata, an executive of the company.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110727a4.html
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