The trade in shark liver oil is an invisible threat to sharks. Not only is there limited research on the topic, but liver oil is notoriously difficult to track and trace. Enter Dr Madeline Green, molecular fisheries ecologist and Principle Investigator of the Forensic Fisheries Lab at the University of Tasmania. Madi is working to apply protocols from the tracing of olive oil to extract DNA from shark liver oil samples, in order to identify species and help monitor this complex trade. In this episode, we learn all about Madi's research, and how the trade in liver oil is presenting a significant threat to deep-water sharks.

You can follow Madi on Instagram: @madigreenmarine and find more information about her research here:

https://discover.utas.edu.au/Madeline.Green https://saveourseas.com/project-leader/madeline-green/ https://saveourseas.com/project/using-dna-to-identify-the-sharks-in-squalene-products/ https://saveourseas.com/project/shark-share-global/

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

Find out more about the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) by following @saveourseasfoundation (Instagram and TikTok), @SaveOurSeas (X/Twitter) and @saveourseas.bsky.social (BlueSky)

Spiral intestines! Curly poop! A shark that eats plants! And…turning your stomach inside out because you ate something dodgy?! In this episode we explore the ins and outs of a shark’s digestive system with animal physiologist Dr Samantha Leigh (@sea_science_sam), an expert in all things shark gut. We learn how a shark’s digestive system is designed for maximum efficiency, the different ways in which they ingest their hugely diverse diets, and how some sharks are able to survive weeks – sometimes months – without a meal. We also take a deep dive into Dr Leigh’s research on the bonnethead – a shark known to chow down on seagrass – and her recent SOSF-funded project, which is using the shark spiral intestine as a model to address one of our greatest environmental conundrums: the removal of microplastics.

You can follow along with Dr Leigh’s work and lab here: https://samanthacleigh.weebly.com/

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

Find out more about the Save Our Seas Foundation by following: @saveourseasfoundation (Instagram and TikTok), @SaveOurSeas (X/Twitter) and @saveourseas.bsky.social (BlueSky).

Why swim when you can just walk from a to b?! This week, we are taking a closer look at the "walking" or epaulette sharks, a group of nine species who have evolved a slightly unusual way of getting around. We're joined by Faqih Akbar Alghozali, co-founder of Elasmobranch Project Indonesia (EPI) and SOSF project leader, who has lots of stories to share from his time in the field with the Kalabia, or Raja Ampat epaulette shark. Faqih and his team are trying to understand more about this poorly studied species, who are endemic to this remote paradise.

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

You can find out more about the EPI here: https://elasmobranch.id or follow them on Instagram (@elasmobranchid).

You can learn more about Faqih’s work here: https://saveourseas.com/project-leader/faqih- akbar-alghozali/ or follow him on Instagram (@faqihbig)

Find out more about the Save Our Seas Foundation: @saveourseasfoundation (instagram), @saveourseas.bsky.social (Bluesky), @SaveOurSeas (X/twitter)