Save The Sharks

New program alert! 🦈 💙

You don't need to be a scientist to help save the sharks. You just need to be in the water, on a boat, or standing on the shore. 🌊

Spot a shark → report it in 2 minutes → your sighting goes on our live map, and into our conservation database!

We've spent over a decade fighting for sharks legally, politically, and on the ground. Now we're giving YOU the tools to fight with us.

English + Spanish. Free. Open to everyone.

Link in bio to report your first sighting.

¡Alerta de nuevo programa! 🦈 💙

No necesitas ser científico para ayudar a salvar a los tiburones. Solo necesitas estar en el agua, en un barco o de pie en la orilla. 🌊

Avista un tiburón → repórtalo en 2 minutos → ¡tu avistamiento aparece en nuestro mapa en tiempo real y se incorpora a nuestra base de datos de conservación!

Hemos dedicado más de una década a luchar por los tiburones en los ámbitos legal y político, así como sobre el terreno. Ahora te brindamos a TI las herramientas para luchar junto a nosotros.

Inglés + Español. Gratuito. Abierto a todo el mundo.

¡El enlace está en nuestra bio!

🦈 HUGE win for sharks at the UN's CMS COP15!

7 shark species just gained international protection — including the Great Hammerhead and all three Thresher sharks.

Great Hammerhead & Scalloped Hammerhead → Appendix I (taking PROHIBITED)

Pelagic, Bigeye & Common Thresher → Appendix I (taking PROHIBITED)

Patagonian Narrownose Smoothhound → Appendix II (international cooperation required)

This is what global conservation looks like. 🌊

We have a new home - and it's built for sharks 🦈💙

After a decade of advocacy, legislative wins, and independent research, savethesharksorg.com has a new look — and new tools to protect every fin in the ocean!

🌊 Explore our Citizen Science Sightings map, where your eyes become data.
🌊 Use our Report an Entity tool to flag restaurants and stores still selling shark products.
🌊 Join our growing volunteer network.

We believe people protect what they understand.

Today, we're giving you more ways to understand — and more ways to act.

The ocean has been waiting. So have we. 🦈

Link in bio → savethesharksorg.com

🦈🌍 Shark and ray conservation is taking center stage at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15).

Delegates from around the world are meeting in Campo Grande under the theme “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life” to strengthen international cooperation for the protection of migratory wildlife.

Several shark and ray species — including thresher sharks, hammerheads, angelsharks, wedgefishes, guitarfishes and manta rays — are being discussed for enhanced conservation measures. Proposals range from Appendix I listings (strict protection) to Appendix II listings (coordinated international management), reflecting growing recognition of the pressures these highly migratory species face.

Overfishing, bycatch, habitat degradation and slow reproductive rates continue to place many populations at risk. Strengthening global policy frameworks and improving habitat-based conservation — such as the identification of Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) — are key steps toward safeguarding ocean biodiversity.

Protecting migratory marine species requires science-based policy, international collaboration, and sustained conservation action.

🌊 Healthy oceans depend on thriving shark and ray populations.

Ever wanted to contribute to significant and impactful shark science + research? Have you held back because you don't have a Marine bio degree? Are you in the water, like, EVER?

Our program is right for you!

We have a data collection program in our website, and we need YOUR help! 🦈💙

Link in bio to start contributing! 🤓

Together, we can Save The Sharks!

WE'RE LAUNCHING SOMETHING BIG. 🦈

Citizen Science Sightings is officially live — and we need YOU.

You don't need to be a scientist to help save sharks. You just need to be in the water, on a boat, or standing on the shore.

Spot a shark → report it in 2 minutes → your sighting goes on our live map and into our conservation database.

We've spent over a decade fighting for sharks legally, politically, and on the ground. Now we're giving YOU the tools to fight with us.

English + Spanish. Free. Open to everyone.

Link in bio to report your first sighting.
¡El enlace está en nuestra bio!

BIG wins for sharks - but the fight isn't over. 🦈

2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year for shark conservation:

✅ 70+ shark & ray species just received enhanced international trade protections under CITES; including whale sharks and manta rays. Conservationists are calling it "a historical win."

🗺️ A new IUCN global map identified 816 critical shark & ray habitats that urgently need protection, covering less than 3% of the ocean, proving how achievable this goal really is

⚡ Researchers at Florida Atlantic University developed a breakthrough shark-repellent device that slashes bycatch by up to 70% without harming target fish species.

🚨 Just days ago, Brazilian police seized 1.5 metric tons of illegal shark fins, dismantling an international trafficking syndicate. The ocean is watching.

Sharks have roamed our seas for 450 million years. They regulate ecosystems, cycle nutrients, and help keep our oxygen supply alive. We owe them more than we know.

🌍 Tag someone who needs to care about this. Every share = more awareness



📸 Alpha Coders

A new study has documented microplastics inside mermaid’s purses, the protective egg cases that shield developing shark embryos from the outside world until they are ready to hatch.

📸 Getty Images




Read more here, https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2026/02/20/plastic-pollution-is-reaching-sharks-before-they-hatch/

Top 4 Shark Misinformation Myths — Debunked 🦈

Sharks are among the ocean’s most fascinating inhabitants, yet a cloud of misunderstanding follows them. Let’s bust some of the most persistent myths with clear science and context:

1) Sharks are man-eating monsters
Reality: Humans are not on the shark menu. Most so-called attacks are cases of mistaken identity or investigatory bites — sharks don’t hunt people.

2) All sharks are the same
Reality: There are roughly 500 species of sharks with wildly different sizes, shapes, diets, and behaviors — from filter-feeding whale sharks to reef specialists.

3) Sharks must never stop swimming
Reality: Some sharks do need constant motion to breathe, but others can remain still and pump water over their gills.

4) Sharks are mindless killing machines
Reality: Sharks are curious, behaviorally varied animals with complex roles in ecosystems. They are much more interested in their normal prey than in people.

Why this matters
Sharks are critical for healthy oceans, and myths fuel unfounded fear that undermines conservation. Better understanding leads to better protection. 🦈 🌊

🦈 The First Shark: Before Bones Were Cool

⁣
Long before T. rex roared or trees shaded the Earth… Sharks were already ruling the sea.

Meet Cladoselache: the earliest named shark in the fossil record, swimming the Devonian oceans 370 million years ago.

🔹 Sleek, fast, torpedo-shaped
🔹 No scales, no nonsense
🔹 Cartilage skeleton and paired fins
🔹 Fossils found in Cleveland, Ohio

But here’s the twist:
Shark-like creatures date back even further - 450 million years ago, to the Ordovician Period. These ancient ancestors didn’t have jaws or bones. But they carried the blueprint that would evolve into modern sharks.

> These early “stem sharks” are the great-great-great-grand-uncles of the hammerhead and great white.

🌊 Before dinosaurs. Before mammals. Before flowers bloomed… sharks were there.

Let that sink in.

🧠 Fun Fact:
Sharks predate trees by over 50 million years!

🦈 Some sharks can live for over 500 years, making them the longest-living vertebrates on Earth.

Say hello to the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), a sluggish deep-sea dweller found in Arctic and North Atlantic waters. Scientists estimate these cold-water giants can live between 272 and 512 years, based on radiocarbon dating of proteins in their eye lenses.

🔍 One female studied was likely born around 1505, before Shakespeare was even born.

And get this:

They don’t reach sexual maturity until they’re around 150 years old.

Their metabolism is glacially slow, which may be a key to their longevity. They often swim blind, their eyes parasitized by a bioluminescent worm.

Talk about ancient, mysterious, and absolutely metal.