Sharks Form and Function
Course Cancelled
Sharks and their relatives are of major importance to the oceans, not only as apex predators but as indicators of the ocean’s general health. As the oldest living group of fish, they are considered by many to be primitive animals. Yet to have been so successful from an evolutionary perspective their body plan and biology is actually very advanced and give the elasmobranchs a significant evolutionary advantage. Although their general anatomy is similar to what it was when they first evolved 420 million years ago, they can be considered to be very advanced fish. Sharks and their relatives have the longest evolutionary record of any vertebrate evolving over 420 million years ago.
Students taking this course explore the anatomy, histology and body plan of a shark relating their basic vertebrate body plan to the fundamental anatomical structures found in all vertebrates and why the body plan of sharks is so successful 420 million years after they first evolved.
As Sylvia Earle said “Sharks are beautiful animals, and if you’re lucky enough to see lots of them, that means that you’re in a healthy ocean. You should be afraid if you are in the ocean and don’t see sharks”. Sharks’ importance to our ecosystem must not be underestimated and one of this courses’ main deliverables is to show how important such flagship species are to the history of vertebrate life on earth.
Objectives of Course
The primary objective of this course is to provide a sound understanding of shark and elasmobranch anatomy. To achieve this, we will take an evolutionary and comparative anatomy journey through the basic body plan of a shark. Towards the end of the course, we will briefly look at a recently deceased shark, caught as bycatch. The students will dissect this animal as part of the assessment using their new skills to investigate an anatomical system in some detail and comparing it to what they saw and learnt in the specimen dissection.
Instructor: Prof. Ian Bricknell & Prof. Walt Golet
- Workshop dates: Monday, July 24 – Friday, July 28, 2023.
- The workshop begins promptly at 8:30am Monday morning and concludes 4:30pm Friday afternoon, unless weather requires a later end time on one of the days (instructors will advise).
- Workshop Fee Options (please check back for final rates):
- Option 1 (residential): Includes multi-occupancy room & board
- Arriving after dinner on Sunday, July 23rd, and departing after the workshop on Friday, July 28th. If you need to make alternative plans please contact the DMC staff.
- Cost: $905 + UMaine tuition which will be billed separately
- Option 2 (commuter): Includes lunch Monday-Friday, Jul 24-28
- Cost $560 + UMaine tuition which will be billed separately
- Option 1 (residential): Includes multi-occupancy room & board
- Workshop size: minimum 10, maximum 20
- Travel tips and driving directions.
- University of Maine tuition is due in addition to the workshop fee, if you are to receive 2 credits for this course (as SMS 491). Due to limited capacity participants must register for the workshop before permission will be given to enroll for the course at UMaine.
- For more information about the DMC, accommodations and workshop logistics, please contact the DMC staff.