Talk:Greenland shark

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:45, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Citation Help Please?
Newbie struggling to get citations right! First, I thought I got the one for World of Sharks.net, glossary g O.K. but discovered that it has been flagged as spam??? There are ads, but the info that I've read seems quite straightforward, though it is not primary science studies. How do I find original sources? And the second, though much less related, is not found on ss central america's wikipage but the location is needed to demonstrate the possible lengths of southern summer migrations, so I had to search for where the wreck lies. http://www.sscentralamerica.com/history is the site, but something's wrong with my citation of it. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Elisevil (talk • contribs) 09:47, 14 February 2017 (UTC)


 * it may be because the source is not secure, thus it won't allow most of the users to access the site Sflower07 (talk) 01:00, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

Size and Weight?
Msjayhawk (talk) 19:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually if they are regularly recorded being above 6,5 meters should not they be considered, along with the pacific sleepers, the biggest predatorial sharks?--94.69.165.91 (talk) 04:15, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

In the diet section the statement of the Greenland Shark being an "apex predator" seems to be undermined by the fact that the article goes on to state it has never been observed hunting. Also, other statements seem to indicate it is a scavenger which if that is the only way, or even the primary way, it gets food seems to NOT justify the apex predator designation. The article on scavengers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scavenger) discusses an argument regarding whether T. rex was a scavenger or apex predator, hinting that usually a species is not able to be both. Dbrouse (talk) 00:44, 29 July 2018 (UTC)

Age of individuals
I have not added this to the article because I haven't had a chance to verify the information, but an article I read about the Greenland shark indicated that these sharks may be extemely long-lived ... possibly into the hundreds of years. I will try to find supporting evidence of this if I can. - Chabuhi 15:58, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Not that I would trust mike rowe as far as I could throw him, and he looks rather large, but a recent special involving the greenland shark (its no now. ) indicates the can ossible bne over 400 years old. Brandonha (talk) 04:53, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Regarding the age, the French-language article states that these sharks seem to grow 0.5 to 1.0 cm per year (this was calculated from a single shark captured and tagged in 1396, and then recaptured in 1952). Thus it is estimated that a 7-meters long individual would be over 200 years old. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.131.220.35 (talk) 15:46, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

There are no reliable data on their life span, but fully grown Greenland sharks have been recaptured 16 years after being tagged. Citation: Caloyianis, Nick (September 1998). "Greenland Sharks". National Geographic, p. 67. Amelia guo (talk) 13:58, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Confusing language regarding St. Lawrence habitat
The article as it stands reads: Recently, the Greenland shark has been found within the lower St. Lawrence River, where it swims in shallow waters for the first time. Since discovered within Quebec, divers have noted that the female sharks will stay within the lower area of the St. Lawrence, while the male sharks swim farther up to areas where marine life is more abundant.

To say that "where it swims in shallow waters for the first time" means that the individual shark never swims in shallow waters until it enters the St. Lawrence. I think that it should read "where it has been discovered swimming in shallow waters for the first time," which means something entirely different.

If there is no response to this consideration I'll change it in a few days. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Richaraj (talk • contribs) 16:04, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Agree, be WP:BOLD. --Stefan talk 04:40, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Lifestyle Information Increase
--MidgarHeretic (talk) 06:04, 25 February 2011 (UTC)I noticed there was not much dealing with the lifestyle of the shark. I asked the question of why the Greenland shark was also called the "sleeper shark." I found some information among (http://dsc.discovery.com/sharks/greenland-shark.html) that states the "Greenland shark is subnamed the sleeper shark because this shark is often inactive and appears to be sleeping."

Habitat
(http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/greenlandshark/greenlandshark.html) I found this link that contains some strong information about the Greenland sharks habitat if anyone is interested in developing this information. If there is no response within a few days I will work on developing this section. --MidgarHeretic (talk) 06:08, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Sorry I'm not registered and don't know how to add this to another section, but is there any reason this article is a duplicate? Go to these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somniosus_microcephalus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somniosus_antarcticus

The articles are nearly identical, with some missing information from one. Both lead to the same discussion page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.22.161.230 (talk) 16:44, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Dentition
If I may interject:

Not that I feel we would eschew with the inclusion of its feeding methods, but it seems rather odd to be delineating them in the dentition subsection of the article. Sure, the subjects are related, but perhaps we should reserve said subsection for elucidating upon the morphophysiology exclusively, and assign the particulars of the physics of its feeding to another subsection. Ghost Lourde (talk) 18:55, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Hakarl
Couldn't find anything to suggest that hakarl is a delicacy in Greenland so that part was removed. I'd be interested to know if that actually is consumed in Greenland but as of now it appears to only be Iceland, where it is indeed considered a delicacy.Yojimbo1941 (talk) 15:11, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

microcephalus?
That means either small brain or small head?

Any explanation of why it was given that name?

--23.119.204.117 (talk) 17:29, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Sharks are not vertebrates
While sharks are chordates, they are not vertebrates. My correction ofthis was removed. Please correct "vertebrate" to "chordate" in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:344:4001:4C20:E143:1DA8:A09B:F270 (talk) 11:33, 16 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Rubbish --Epipelagic (talk) 00:43, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Are you certain? Is this a matter of disputed terminology? Note that the "Chondrichthyes" page (explicitly including sharks) defines them as vertebrates... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrichthyes 205.155.64.3 (talk) 23:42, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

A vertebrate has a bony spine. The classification also clearly demontrates that sharks are not vertebrates. Check the taxonomy. Vertebrates are a different branch. This is elementary school science folks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:344:4001:4C20:E143:1DA8:A09B:F270 (talk) 13:37, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Incorrect, as one learns in Highschool. Vertebrata as a group is any animal with a backbone. It includes both bony backbones, and cartilaginous backbones. Please cite your source that excludes chodrichthyes from Vertebrata.-- Kev  min  § 15:11, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Preying on Seals
Can anyone provide a source indicating that Greenland Sharks have been known or suspected to prey on seals, specifically around haywarden or Sable island? I followed the provided link and it is outdated and a quick search hasn't turned up anything suggesting that Greenland Sharks hunt seals, or specifically around these locations. (Articles like |this talk about great whites and sable island, but make no mention or Greenland Sharks) Sylvanniss (talk) 19:43, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Removed claim about 2700m depth off Brazil
I removed this from the article:

A specimen videotaped at 2773 m off the coast of Brazil on 11 February 2012 may have been a Greenland shark, but cannot be distinguished in the video from a southern sleeper shark or Pacific sleeper shark.

As the site itself says this was mostly a different species of shark according to a Greenland shark expert, having one unreliable and unconformable source for this in the article doesn't belong. It misleads the reader into thinking that it's pretty likely that it can dive 500m deeper than has been confirmed. --Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 11:10, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

Swim speed
The article states that the top speed is 2.6 km/h then in the next sentence it says the maximum swim speed is about half that of a typical seal. Unless the max swim speed of a seal is 5.2km/h this makes no sense. I assume that by 'top speed' it means 'the highest cruising speed' and will edit it to clarify but those two sentences still don't read well. Would it be better to just remove the 2.6 km figure, I mean, what does it really represent anyway? And maybe add in an approximate figure for maximum speed? NickPriceNZ (talk) 19:17, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Population Size
There's nothing in the article about the size of the population or whether it is growing or shrinking. Mhkay (talk) 22:41, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The rate of population increase is unknown --Epipelagic (talk) 22:51, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Toxic at least to dog and man
explain "to dog and man". (or "to canines and humans"?) zzz (talk) 00:43, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
 * That's what I meant. Actually I just used the words from the cited reference (Anthoni et al 1991). It's the first sentence in the abstract: "The flesh of the Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus, especially in fresh condition, is toxic to both dog and man." sentausa (talk) 08:56, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
 * That's fair enough, then. I thought it seemed absurdly detailed for the lead, but maybe that's just me. zzz (talk) 09:20, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

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Inuit translation?
The Inuit translation seems a bit out of place. These things are endemic to most northern Atlantic waters so I'd expect names to be widespread, is there any reason we give a translation in one particular language (which doesn't seem to be widely used in English-speaking pages)? 2601:646:8280:AD8D:453E:E58:8B33:64F (talk) 05:10, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Inconsistent mythological name
The name of the shark in Inuit legend is encountered as "Skalugsuak" in the article, but this is clearly unetymological, as sk- initial consonant clusters do not occur in any Inuit language (at least not western), and especially with the modern Greenlandic rendition of this word at the top of the page. I think this is a typo, and should be Ekalugsuak, which would make much more sense as the old Greenlandic rendering of eqalussuaq. There are instances of both the seemingly wrong and right spellings on the web, but perhaps the wrong ones came from this page? 80.62.117.205 (talk) 08:28, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Reference 23 URL link is incorrect
I tried to edit it but was not able to (sorry everyone - I am a beginner to this). The correct link is https://deep-c.coaps.fsu.edu/news-and-multimedia/in-the-news/deep-c-scientists-capture-first-greenland-shark-in-the-gulf-of-mexico

At the moment the reference links to an advertising site ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.236.79.66 (talk) 06:35, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Is it a 5 or 6 gill shark.. the taxonomic information is incomplete.
Is it a 5 or 6 gill shark..? 173.2.41.9 (talk) 23:57, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

National Variety of English consistency
There's at least two English national styles represented in this article: i.e. multiple uses of "color" and "behaviour." I am not familiar with the exact protocol but I understand that things are supposed to be consistent per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

Just blowing the whistle on this one. If no edit is made within the next couple of days, I'll attempt to edit it and surely will do it wrong and be chastised for it, but it'll end up being correct one way or the other. 96.244.47.98 (talk) 15:37, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

External link leads to gambling site
The deep-c(dot)org link in the references leads to a gambling site. Needs changed to an archive link but I don't know what to do so I'll just leave a message here. 2601:409:200:1115:BCB3:E303:995D:1F92 (talk) 22:40, 16 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I have commented out the link for now. CMD (talk) 03:06, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Reproduction
This part in the article regarding reproduction of the greenland shark: "About ten pups per litter is normal, each initially measuring some 38–42 cm (15–16+1⁄2 in) in length." is followed by one source (No. 35, by Pennisi Elizabeth) that contains no information regarding the litter size of these animals at all and another source (No. 38., by Martin. R. Aidan), that does not look trustworthy (marked with self published note?). Two more trustworthy sources regarding this matter would be: (1) src No. 39 Viviparity in the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) by Anthony M. Carter and Hiroaki Soma, and (2) Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) by Julius Nielsen et al..

In (1) the authors argue in favour of the longer existing hypothesis of 10 pups per litter, in (2) the authors argue in favor of >200 pups per litter, including new findings of females with hundreds of eggs in their ovaries. The question overall does not seem to be answered as of today.

I would suggest removing the sentence I quoted above with its current two sources, and instead would propose presenting the two currently existing opinions with the more trustworthy sources I mentioned above. DarkGreenAndSunny (talk) 16:15, 7 March 2024 (UTC)