The Leopard Sharks are back in La Jolla. This species is found on the Pacific Coast and these leopard sharks spawn annually in the shallow water at La Jolla Shores. Leopard sharks migrate annually from the coast of California to the northern bays. They are distinctively marked with dark brown spots on a silvery gray background that resemble a leopard print. This past Sunduy was one of the nicest days in San Digeo that I can remember. Not only was the weather perfect, but the water conditions perfect as well! So, I decided to join them for a swim... Don't worry they are harmless! The leopard shark is slim and has a small mouth, which is used to suck up invertebrates on the ocean floor. Although leopard sharks have small teeth, they swallow their food whole, without chewing. Leopard sharks feed on animals that live in mud and sand, like worms and crabs (not little fingers). Leopard sharks are totally harmless and I hope you enjoy the experience!

Class Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays)\Rajiformes\Potamotrygonidae\Potamotrygon yepezi

Lopadotemakhoselakhogaleokranioleipsanodrimypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakekhymenokikhlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptokephalliokigklopeleiolagōiosiraiobaphētraganopterýgōn is a fictional dish mentioned in Aristophanes' comedy Assemblywomen. In its complete form the word is: Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphio- paraomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryon- optekephalliokinklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφο- φαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων in the Greek alphabet (1169-74). Liddell and Scott translate this as "name of a dish compounded of all kinds of dainties, fish, flesh, fowl, and sauces." The original Greek spelling had 171 characters (something which is not obvious in the Roman transcription, depending on the variant) and for centuries it was the longest word known. The dish was a fricassee, with 17 sweet and sour ingredients, including brains, honey, vinegar, fish, pickles, and the following: Fish slices Fish of the Elasmobranchii subclass (a shark or ray) Rotted dogfish or small shark's head generally sharp-tasting dish of several ingredients grated and pounded together Silphion "laserwort," apparently a kind of giant fennel A kind of crab, beetle, or crayfish Eagle Cheese Honey poured down Wrasse (or thrush) On top of a kind of sea fish or Blackbird Wood pigeon Domestic pigeon Chicken Roasted head of dabchick Hare, which could be a kind of bird or a kind of sea-hare New wine boiled down Dessert fruit or thing eaten raw Wing, fin Info on it can be found here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lopado...pterygon Music "Producer Pack Vol 1 track 6" royalty free (sounds like a 70's porno I know)

The name "leopard shark" may also be used for the zebra shark Stegostoma fasciatum and the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier. The leopard shark, Triakis semifasciata, is a hound shark found in the coastal waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, along the coast of North America from Oregon to Baja California. The species can grow up to 7 ft (2 m) in length, with a long, slender body and head. The distinctive markings that give the species its common name provide camouflage against dappled ground. Leopard sharks are bottom feeders, eating worms, mollusks, crustaceans, octopuses, and small fish. Leopard sharks migrate seasonally. Their reproduction is aplacental viviparity (no yolk-sack placenta); the 4 to 29 pups per litter gestate within the body of the female and are born live. Gestation is estimated at 10 to 12 months. The sharks hunt in groups, sometimes with smooth-hound sharks. The species is actively sought by sport fishermen in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Monterey Bay for its tender, flavorful flesh. Conservationists are concerned with sport fishing of the species, which, like most sharks, reproduces slowly. Leopard sharks are found in rocky areas, rocky reefs, kelp beds, sandy areas and under piers. Leopard sharks swim at depths of 10 to 250 feet deep. They prefer cold to warm water. They are often seen a large shoals but when breeding can be solitary. Leopard sharks range from Mazatlan, Mexico, to Oregon. Tagging has revealed that stock is mostly resident in San Francisco Bay. However, about 10 percent of the population moves into the ocean seasonally, and one male tagged in San Francisco Bay was recaptured in Santa Monica Bay 10 years later. Mixing between regional stocks is thought to be limited.

As raias, arraias ou peixes batóides são peixes cartilaginosos (Chondrichthyes) marinhos classificados na superordem Bathoidea (ou Rajomorphii) dos Elasmobranchii, que agrupa também os tubarões. E foi esse ser que o grande pescador Renan, mais conhecido como "Renan Arraia" fisgou, e olha, isso não é história de pescador!!!

"Cynthia Witthoft" Song: "Sharks Banquet" Album: "Rectal Hidden Tracks - 2002" The fossil record of sharks extends back over 450 million years - before land vertebrates existed and before many plants had colonised the continents. The first sharks looked very different from modern sharks. The majority of the modern sharks can be traced back to around 100 million years ago. Mostly only the fossilized teeth of sharks are found, although often in large numbers. In some cases pieces of the internal skeleton or even complete fossilized sharks have been discovered. Estimates suggest that over a span of a few years a shark may grow tens of thousands of teeth, which explains the abundance of fossils. As the teeth consist of calcium phosphate, an apatite, they are easily fossilized. Instead of bones, sharks have cartilagenous skeletons, with a bone-like layer broken up into thousands of isolated apatite prisms. When a shark dies, the decomposing skeleton breaks up and the apatite prisms scatter. Complete shark skeletons are only preserved when rapid burial in bottom sediments occurs. Among the most ancient and primitive sharks is Cladoselache, from about 370 million years ago, which has been found within the Paleozoic strata of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. At this point in the Earth's history these rocks made up the soft sediment of the bottom of a large, shallow ocean, which stretched across much of North America. Cladoselache was only about 1 m long with stiff triangular fins and slender jaws. Its teeth had several pointed cusps, which would have been worn down by use. From the number of teeth found in any one place it is most likely that Cladoselache did not replace its teeth as regularly as modern sharks. Its caudal fins had a similar shape to the great white sharks and the pelagic shortfin and longfin makos. The discovery of whole fish found tail first in their stomachs suggest that they were fast swimmers with great agility. From about 300 to 150 million years ago, most fossil sharks can be assigned to one of two groups. One of these, the acanthuses, was almost exclusive to freshwater environments. By the time this group became extinct (about 220 million years ago) they had achieved worldwide distribution. The other group, the hybodonts, appeared about 320 million years ago and was mostly found in the oceans, but also in freshwater. Modern sharks began to appear about 100 million years ago. Fossil mackerel shark teeth occurred in the Lower Cretaceous. One of the most recent families of sharks that evolved is the hammerhead sharks (family Sphyrnidae), which emerged in Eocene.[21] The oldest white shark teeth date from 60 to 65 million years ago, around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs. In early white shark evolution there are at least two lineages: one with coarsely serrated teeth that probably gave rise to the modern great white shark, and another with finely serrated teeth and a tendency to attain gigantic proportions. This group includes the extinct Megalodon, Carcharodon megalodon, which like most extinct sharks is only known from its teeth and a few vertebrae. This shark could grow more than 15 metres (49 ft) long and is recognized as the biggest known carnivorous fish to have ever existed. Fossil records reveal that this shark preyed upon whales and other large marine mammals. It is believed that the immense size of predatory sharks such as the great white may have arisen from the extinction of the dinosaurs and the diversification of mammals. It is known that at the same time these sharks were evolving some early mammalian groups evolved into aquatic forms. Certainly, wherever the teeth of large sharks have been found, there has also been an abundance of marine mammal bones, including seals, porpoises and whales. These bones frequently show signs of shark attack. There are theories that suggest that large sharks evolved to better take advantage of larger prey.

Megalodon was an ancient shark that may have been 40 feet (12 m) long or even more. (There are a few scientists who estimate that it could have been up to 50 or 100 feet (15.5 or 31 m) long!) This is at least two or three times as long as the Great White Shark, but this is only an estimate made from many fossilized teeth and a few fossilized vertebrae that have been found. These giant teeth are the size of a person's hand! No other parts of this ancient shark have been found, so we can only guess what it looked like. Since Megalodon's teeth are very similar to the teeth of the Great White Shark (but bigger and thicker), it is thought that Megalodon may have looked like a huge, streamlined version of the Great White Shark. MEGALODON'S DIET Megalodon's diet probably consisted mostly of whales. Sharks eat about 2 percent of their body weight each day; this a bit less than a human being eats. Since most sharks are cold-blooded, they don't have to eat as much as we eat (a lot of our food intake is used to keep our bodies warm). TEETH AND JAWS Shark fossils are extremely rare because sharks have no bones, only cartilage, which does not fossilize well. Their teeth, however, are very hard. Their teeth are made of a bone-like material coated with hard enamel and they fossilize very well. Megalodon teeth are similar to those of the Great White Shark, but are much bigger, thicker, and with finer serrrations. Megalodon's jaws could open 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and 7 feet (2.1 m) high. The jaws were loosely attached by ligaments and muscles to the skull, opening extremely wide in order to swallow enormous objects. It could easily swallow a large Great White Shark whole! Like most sharks, Megalodon's teeth were probably located in rows which rotated into use as they were needed. Most sharks have about 3-5 rows of teeth at any time. The front set does most of the work. The first two rows are used for obtaining prey, the other rows rotate into place as they are needed. As teeth are lost, broken, or worn down, they are replaced by new teeth. Megalodon may have had hundreds of teeth at one time. It did not chew their food like we do, but gulped it down whole in very large chunks. WHEN MEGALODON LIVED Megalodon lived from roughly 25 to 1.6 million years ago, during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. It is now extinct, but the exact time of its extinction is hotly debated. MEGALODON ANATOMY MEGALODON FOSSILS Fossilized Megalodon teeth up to 6.5 inches (17 cm) long have been found in Europe, India, Oceania (the general area around Australia including New Zealand, New Caledonia, etc.), North America, and South America. MEGALODON CLASSIFICATION Carcharodon megalodon was named by Agassiz in 1843. There is some debate as to whether megalodon was an ancestor of the Great White Shark or was an evolutionary dead end. Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata Subphylum Vertebrata (vertebrates) Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) Order Lamniformes Family Lamnidae (genus Carcharodon) or Otodontidae (genus Carcharocles) Genus Carcharodon (meaning "rough tooth") or Carcharocles (There is currently some debate as to whether the megalodon's genus should be Carcharocles or Carcharodon. Megalodon was once thought to be a direct ancestor of the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, and so was put in the same genus; new evidence indicates that it not ancestral to the great white shark, so Megalodon was assigned to a new genus, Carcharocles) Species megalodon