PHOTO : EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND ANTIQUITIES |
Squid games Divers in New Zealand stumbled on a rare sight in October – the washed-up body of a fully intact giant squid , measuring 4.2 metres in length . Celebrating their rare find , they took a few photos before contacting a friend at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research ( NIWA ) to collect the specimen .
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It ’ s not like it matters in the grand scheme of things . Does it ? Every page of your newspaper has bad news of one sort or another . What does it matter if a little stingray – or stingaree – of which there is only one specimen to prove its existence , is declared extinct ? This specific little piece of bad news crossed my desk three times from separate routes in the past week or so . And made me stop and think . The last global assessment of the conservation status of sharks and rays , released in 2022 , listed the Java Stingaree as Critically Endangered ( Possibly Extinct ) – that ’ s technical language for ‘ nobody really thinks they are still there but we can ’ t be sure ’. But in December 2023 , researchers bit the bullet and declared that the species could formally be considered extinct . This is the first marine fish extinction to be recorded as a result of human activity .
The cause is a combination of intensive and poorly regulated fisheries , industrialisation and habitat loss on the northern coast of Java , particularly Jakarta Bay where the species was known to occur . It ’ s a witch ’ s brew that ’ s sadly affecting species across the world .
But extinction is inevitable . This week I gave a talk about the evolution
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of sharks – a 450 million-year rollercoaster ride on which sharks , of one sort or another , have come into existence and disappeared through five major extinction events . The species of sharks and rays that we have today are just the most recent iteration of Sharks of the World . A snapshot in time . If we fast forward another 50 million years or so , it ’ ll be a very different picture . And anyway , if you think about it , ‘ species ’ are just boxes that we created to put nature into . If we weren ’ t here keeping count , what difference would it make ?
But the point is that this little ray , and potentially many more like it if we don ’ t get our act together , are disappearing on our watch . And because of us . We are the asteroid . But , unlike the asteroid , we can alter course and lessen our impact . So we should . And we should care when a species – even a little-known species – is driven out of existence by our carelessness . We all do what we can . I ’ m lucky enough to work as part of a team , a global network , that really can change the outcome . We may have lost one but there are still ( at least ) 1,252 shark and ray species gracing our seas , 401 of which are threatened . So maybe I should stop scratching my chin and get on with my work ! www . sharktrust . org
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Gift of the Nile While searching the Nile River , underwater archaeologists have discovered carvings , paintings and miniatures depicting ancient pharaohs . The expedition took place near Aswan , Egypt , in an area that was flooded during the construction of the Aswan High Dam . Among the lost artifacts were rock carvings depicting the Egyptian pharaohs Amenhotep III ( 1390 to 1353 BCE ); Thutmose IV ( 1400 to 1390 BCE ; Psamtik II ( circa 595 to 589 BCE ) and Apries ( 589 to 570 BCE ).
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