Buzz
By Chris Gayomali
Biologist Joshua Drew's unexpected find started like many scientific breakthroughs: "I simply wanted to examine fascinating artifacts," he shared with The Los Angeles Times. Currently a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, Drew and his team were exploring a new exhibit at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The exhibit showcased an array of formidable weapons, including swords, knives, and spears, historically used by the Gilbert Islands' inhabitants in the Central Pacific 130 years ago to inflict devastating damage on their foes.
However, these weapons weren't forged from metal. Instead, the 124 deadly tools on display were crafted from wood, with their edges meticulously lined with razor-sharp shark teeth, creating a uniquely biological arsenal.
While examining the artifacts, Drew observed something unusual: some of the teeth seemed to belong to dusky and spottail sharks, species not commonly found near the Gilbert Islands. How did he identify them? Being in a natural history museum, he had access to fossil records, which he used to verify his observations.
"The shape, serration patterns, and other characteristics of shark teeth allowed researchers to determine the species," LiveScience reports.
By referencing field guides and the museum's shark jaw collections, the team identified teeth from eight shark species on 122 weapons and tooth collections from the Gilbert Islands. The silvertip shark (C. albimarginatus) was the most frequently used, with its teeth appearing on 34 weapons. Other species included silky sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, tiger sharks, blue sharks, and hammerheads. [Live Science]
However, historical records showed no indication that dusky and spottail sharks ever inhabited the reefs of the Gilbert Islands. While trade with distant cultures might explain the presence of these teeth, the more plausible explanation is one we've encountered before:
"They were likely overfished," Drew explains. Although the exact reason for their disappearance remains unclear, Ed Yong of National Geographic notes that shark fin harvesting in the Gilbert Islands dates back to 1910, with around 3,000 kilograms of fins being exported annually by the 1950s. The situation has worsened to the point where conservationists estimate that 100 million sharks are killed globally each year.
Following the publication of their findings this month in the journal PLoS One, Drew and his team aim to use the discovery of a "shadow biodiversity" in the waters surrounding the Gilbert Islands to bolster conservation initiatives for marine species that have faced decades of overfishing.
Considering the ecological significance of these species to the Gilbert Island reefs and their cultural importance to the Gilbertese people, recording these changes in baseline fauna marks a crucial step toward reviving the vibrant ecological and cultural diversity. [PLoS One]
That’s a discovery worth delving into.
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