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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Wed Sep 5, 2018, 04:35 AM Sep 2018

'Carnivore' sharks have a stomach for greens: study

5 SEP 2018

The bonnethead shark, a small member of the hammerhead family, was long thought to be a strict carnivore that would occasionally ingest greens purely by accident.

Not so, scientists said Wednesday. The bonnethead follows an omnivorous diet in which seagrass plays a key, nutritional role.

Although researchers have long known that Sphyrna tiburo eats copious quantities of seagrass, it was not believed to absorb any nutrients from it.

"Until now, most people thought that seagrass consumption was incidental when these sharks were hunting for crabs, etc. that live in the seagrass beds," study co-author Samantha Leigh, an expert in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, told AFP.

More:
https://www.afp.com/en/news/2265/carnivore-sharks-have-stomach-greens-study-doc-18u56z2





Hooray, Bonnethead sharks.

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