Sharks are known for their terrifying teeth. this may change

Sharks are the ocean’s apex predators and their fearsome teeth are vital to their survival, but they are now threatened by changes in ocean chemistry. A new study suggests that increased ocean acidification could harm these vital weapons.

German scientists studied how acidic ocean environments affect shark teeth. Their findings highlight the direct link between human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, and the continued acidification of the world’s oceans.

The study concluded that as the ocean becomes increasingly more acidic, shark tooth structures may become weaker and more susceptible to breakage. Researchers warn that this degradation could fundamentally alter these powerful creatures’ place at the top of the ocean’s food chain.

The oceans won’t become filled with toothless sharks overnight, said the study’s lead author Maximilian Baum, a marine biologist at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. But Baum said the possibility of weakened teeth represents a new danger for sharks already facing pollution, overfishing, climate change and other threats.

“We found that shark teeth are corrosive,” Baum said. “As dominant species over other populations, their entire ecological success in the ocean could be at risk.”

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, describe their study as follows: ocean acidification has become a growing focus of conservation scientists.

Acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide from the air, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Already said. German scientists write that by 2300, the ocean is expected to be nearly 10 times more acidic than it is today.

The scientists conducted the study by collecting more than 600 discarded teeth from aquariums housing blacktip reef sharks, a species that lives in Pacific Ocean and Indian In the ocean, it usually grows to about 5.5 feet (1.7 meters) long. They then exposed the teeth to water with today’s acidity and an expected acidity of 2,300.

Teeth exposed to more acidic water suffer more severe damage, developing cracks and holes, root erosion and deterioration of the structure of the tooth itself, the scientists wrote.

The results “suggest that ocean acidification will have a significant impact on the morphological properties of teeth,” the scientists wrote.

Shark teeth are “highly developed weapons for cutting meat, not for resisting ocean acids,” Baum said. Sharks replace thousands of teeth over their lifetimes, and these teeth are critical for sharks to regulate populations of fish and marine mammals in the ocean.

Many sharks are also at risk of extinction, with more than a third of shark species currently threatened with extinction, according to the agency. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Nick says thankfully, sharks have a number of factors that help them avoid the negative impacts of ocean acidification. whitneySenior Scientist at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson-Cabot Center for Marine Life.

whitneyHe, who was not involved in the study, said scientists’ work on shark teeth was legitimate. However, because shark teeth develop within the shark’s oral tissue, they will be temporarily protected from changes in ocean chemistry, he said.

Whitney said history tells us that sharks are the survivors.

“They’ve been around for 400 million years and have evolved and adapted to a variety of changing conditions,” he said.

ocean acidification That may be a problem, but overfishing remains the biggest threat to sharks, said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Naylor and others warn that ocean acidification does pose many threats to the ocean, not just sharks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says ocean acidification is expected to be particularly harmful to shellfish such as oysters and clams because it will make it harder for them to build their shells.

It may also make the fish scales weaker and more brittle. Naylor said it’s hard to say now whether this will ultimately benefit the sharks that feed on them.

Currently, ocean acidification is a threat to sharks that cannot be ignored, Baum said. He said some shark species could be on the verge of extinction in the coming years, and ocean acidification could be one of the factors causing this.

“The evolutionary success of sharks depends on their perfectly developed teeth,” Baum said.