Genetic Analysis

Analysing whale shark DNA can help determine how closely related whale sharks from one region are with those from another. This is important because if researchers are able to work out if whale sharks from different regions are actually mixing and mating then they might be able to narrow down their search for where this might be occurring.

In this technique a small (0.5cm - about the diameter of a pen) disk of skin is removed from the shark using a biopsy tip. This is then sent to a laboratory where the DNA is isolated, examined and compared with those from other samples.

The MWSRP has contributed biopsy skin samples to two international studies. The first of which by Jennifer Schmidt et al from the Shark Research Institute has now been published and can be found in the publicatons section.