University of Delaware researchers are using an underwater robot to find and follow sand tiger sharks that they previously¹ tagged with transmitters. The innovative² project is part of a multi-year partnership³ with Delaware State University to better understand the behavior and migration⁴ patterns of the sharks in real time. "In the past week our new, specially⁵ equipped glider⁶ OTIS -- which stands for Oceanographic Telemetry Identification Sensor⁷ -- detected multiple sand tiger sharks off the coast of Maryland that were tagged over the past several years," said Matthew Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography in UD's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. "This is the first time that a glider（滑翔机） has found tagged sharks and reported their location in real time."

 

OTIS is a remote-controlled device that looks like a yellow torpedo⁸ and normally darts⁹ through the ocean to sample water conditions. Oliver outfitted¹⁰ the apparatus¹¹ with acoustic¹² receivers that can recognize signals given off by the sharks' transmitters as they travel through coastal¹³ waters, rapidly reporting the encounters.

 

The technology allows the course of OTIS to be changed to follow the sharks and test the water surrounding them. Sharks were initially¹⁴ found on Oct. 10, and OTIS doubled back to again locate the sharks. The approach will help scientists follow where the sharks are going more quickly than conventional tracking techniques.

 

Sand tigers are the largest commonly occurring shark in Delaware's bay and coastal waters, serving as Delaware Bay's apex¹⁵ predator¹⁶ and playing a key role in the ecological¹⁷ balance of the region.

 

"Sand tigers have suffered from a number of threats that ultimately led to population declines," said Delaware State's Dewayne Fox. "In 1997 sand tigers were listed as a 'species of concern' by the National Marine¹⁸ Fisheries Service, although very little is known of their migrations¹⁹ and habitat requirements."

 

The research involves three different types of tags. One is an acoustic transmitter that "pings" receivers while passing by a set of 70 devices situated²⁰ mostly in Delaware Bay, with a few along the Atlantic coast. The receivers are maintained by Fox, who has tagged more than 500 sharks since 2006.

 

The team is also using 34 pop-off satellite archival tags, which store data on the sharks' journeys for one year and then automatically release from the animal to dispatch a location signal for retrieval from the water.

 

The newest type of tag is called a VEMCO mobile transceiver (VMT), a larger tag that both transmits and receives information to communicate its location and listen for the pings of other sharks, fish or marine mammals outfitted（配备） with acoustic（声学的） tags.

 

"It will tell us not only where it is, but who it's with," Oliver said. "It's like a social network for sharks."

 

Together with their students, Oliver and Fox spent the summer inserting the transmitters into sand tiger sharks in Delaware Bay. Using bait, hooks and little patience, they caught the sharks -- up to nine feet long -- and carefully pulled them into a stretcher alongside their boat.

 

Veterinarians from the Georgia Aquarium²¹ trained Oliver's graduate student, Danielle Haulsee, to insert the small transmitters in a quick surgery.

 

Scientists suspect that the sharks migrate widely along the Eastern Seaboard, and the Delaware research team plans to use newly collected information to map sand tiger shark habitats. They will cross-reference the sharks' data with satellite and remotely sensed environmental conditions to create a comprehensive picture of the animals' habitats.

 

"The integration²² of biotelemetry with ocean observations represents a fusion²³ between observing networks on the East Coast," Oliver said.

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