Sharks and rays of Queensland's Journal

Congratulations to all iNaturalist observers and identifiers. The Sharks and rays of Queensland project continues to grow has doubled in size since the last post.

A total of 4720 observations of 76 species by 1,045 observers and 500 identifiers- these are significant numbers of species and people..

Most observations by @ianbanks, @adamsmith3 and @nigelmarsh

Most species (39) by @nigelmarsh

The three most observed species are:
Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Broad Cowtail Stingray (Pastinachus ater)
Whitespotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)

The top identifier with an amazing 4,010 observations is @clinton

Please let us know if you have any suggestions. We have created a poster of Sharks of Queensland
https://reefecologic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Poster-sharks2-500x700mm.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawGEA3pleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUTY3Bgp0hGpDYdXn8a3Zg9k0W5cFI03PUAPNmF5Uuh3w1I9bduptLiBSA_aem_POxCOW2vt08zhBVUJwKecA

We would also be interested if people would like a Sharks and rays guide or quiz to be developed to increase education. Also any support in time or resources is welcomed.

Congratulations to all iNaturalist observers and identifiers. The Sharks and rays of Queensland project continues to grow has doubled in size since the last post.

A total of 4720 observations of 76 species by 1,045 observers and 500 identifiers- these are significant numbers of species and people..

Most observations by @ianbanks, @adamsmith3 and @nigelmarsh

Most species (39) by @nigelmarsh

The three most observed species are:
Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Broad Cowtail Stingray (Pastinachus ater)
Whitespotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)

The top identifier with an amazing 4,010 observations is @clinton

Please let us know if you have any suggestions. We have created a poster of Sharks of Queensland
https://reefecologic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Poster-sharks2-500x700mm.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawGEA3pleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUTY3Bgp0hGpDYdXn8a3Zg9k0W5cFI03PUAPNmF5Uuh3w1I9bduptLiBSA_aem_POxCOW2vt08zhBVUJwKecA

We would also be interested if people would like a Sharks and rays guide or quiz to be developed to increase education. Also any support in time or resources is welcomed.

Reef Ecologic began this project in August of 2022 hoping to shed some light and information regarding the current species of Elasmobranch (Shark and Ray) and their occurrence throughout the Queensland coast. This project has been shared on websites such as SciStarter and continually discussed on Linkdin and Twitter- with it continuing to grow!

I encourage all participants to summarise their findings and share what they have seen on social media to grow momentum for this project. Currently, the Sharks and Rays of Queensland project has over 2900 observations, but is sitting at 69 species, which is a staggering average of 42 observations per species! I endeavour to continue to grow the species numbers by uploading regularly and checking in on all the current observations listed.

I continue to enjoy seeing observations coming in and identifying all the amazing and threatened species of Shark and Ray in Queensland. Finally, I encourage some of you to support the species protection and hopefully further studies and understanding of this misunderstood species.

Best fishes and can't wait to see what the next few months has in store for this project!

This is a post to introduce a new project for 'Sharks and rays of Queensland'. If you are a snorkeller, SCUBA diver, fisher, traditional owner, tourism operator or scientist we would love your involvement in recording observations and identifying.
The iNaturalis community have collated over 2,200 sightings of 68 species so far.
The quality is excellent with a high proportion of research grade observations.
However there are many more species to add as there are approximately 130 species of sharks and rays in Qld so we have about half so far.
We would love for you to be involved and share this new project and encourage others to be involved
Best fishes
Adam