Newborns at Bio Center perfect for
graduate student’s project

By RUDI HEMPE
CELS News Editor & Reporter

The Biological Sciences Building has been called many things over the years—some not so complimentary—but now is has a new claim to fame—it has become a shark nursery.

A pregnant spiny dogfish has given birth to three baby sharks and no one can be more thrilled than Jack Szczepanski, a grad student of Dr. Cheryl Wilga.

The mother was pregnant when it was caught and brought to the biological sciences lab, says Wilga, who notes that the gestation period for dogfish is 24 months—the longest for any vertebrates.

"Jack Szczepanski, grad student, with baby sharks"

Sharks give birth to live young. At birth they are seven-to eight inches long. Adult dogfish, one of the most common sharks along the East Coast grow up to five feet long.

The birth of the little dogfish is perfect timing for Szczepanski because his project is to study how sharks feed—the habits differ as they get older. He will also do a comparison of shark feeding habits and techniques with those of skates. The lab has several skates in separate tanks. Unlike sharks, skates produce eggs that are in encased in sacs—the familiar rectangular cases

"Dr. Cheryl Wilga and Jack with baby skates"

often found washed up on beaches. The lab already has numerous baby skates.

To conduct his study, Szczepanski will use high speed video equipment, Digital Particle Image Velocimetry and a high-powered laser. The equipment can measure the speed of particles in water and determine the speed with which the sharks suck water over their gills. (Other types of sharks like the mako and white sharks breathe by ram ventilation thus explaining why they have to swim continuously.)

Wilga says there is no question more skates will be born—they have one plastic container has a large number of unhatched skate eggs.

And that’s not all. There is some indication the three newborn dogfish will have more siblings. Wilga notes the mother, who is kept in a separate tank, still has a slightly swollen belly and it’s possible that she could have been impregnated by more than one male.

There are no plans; however, to paint the lab walls a combination of blue and pink.

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