Jennifer V Schmidt Authors Greenland Shark for World Book Volume 8: G

Summary: Jennifer V Schmidt authors the article Greenland Shark, about Arctic- and north Atlantic-Ocean sleeper sharks, for World Book Encyclopedia Volume 8: G.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Jennifer V Schmidt authors the article Greenland Shark, about Arctic- and north Atlantic-Ocean sleeper sharks, for 2020 edition of World Book Encyclopedia Volume 8: G by World Book, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois.

Being a sleeper-shark group member bodes for a Greenland shark becoming more inactive than active at any age and belonging among the sea world's slowest-moving animals. It conduces to crawling through sea waters at such maximum depths as 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) down from warmer surface waters during each year's summer months. Somniosidae (Latin somnum, "sleep"; -idæ, "appearing/resembling") family membership draws its Somniosus microcephalus genus, microcephalus species (Somniosus microcephalus; Latin somniosus mīcrocephalus, "sleepy little-headed") members upward winter months.

The winter months entail Greenland sharks exiting from the extreme-cold ocean depths and entering the shallow, warmer waters of the Arctic-Ocean and the north Atlantic-Ocean bays.

Big-, bulky-bodied Greenland sharks feature small dorsal (Latin dorsum -ālis, "back -relating to") back fins and a rounded snout even as they favor black-brown, gray coloring.

Greenland sharks guard dark- to neutral-colored, sometimes white-marked or white-spotted, bodies even as they generally garner 10- to 16-foot (3- to 5-meter) front- to rear-end lengths. There have been Greenland sharks with body lengths of 23 feet (7 meters) or longer even as some Greenland sharks have weighed 2,200-plus pounds (1,000-plus kilograms). They ingest crustaceans, fish and squid even as they sometimes include dead birds; dead mammals such as polar bears and reindeer; marine mammals such as seals.

Greenland Shark by Jennifer V. Schmidt for World Book Encyclopedia Volume 8: G jubilates Greenland sharks journeying through cold darkness without internal heat or perfect vision.

Some cold-water sharks know how to kindle internal heat that keeps their bodies at above-freezing temperatures even as Greenland sharks keepsake antifreeze-like chemicals in their tissues.

A parasitic copepod (Greek κώπη, "handle"; ποδός, "foot/leg") sometimes lives on the Greenland-shark eye surface or both-eye surfaces even as that sometimes leads to Greenland-shark blindness. Their vision in cold, dark ocean depths may not matter as much to Greenland sharks as other senses such as mastering strong smells of various prey. The female Greenland shark ovoviviparously (Latin ōvum, "egg"; vīviparus [vīvus, "alive/life/living"; pariō, “bring forth/give birth/produce”) nestles her eggs internally even as her 10-pup litter nets live-birthing.

Greenland Shark by Jennifer V. Schmidt for World Book Encyclopedia Volume 8: G observes Greenland sharks obtaining ocean-deep occurrences even as they occupy them many centuries.

The Greenland-shark eye lens permits scientists to produce age calculations for individual sharks even as such calculations thus far provide a maximum lifespan of 400 years.

Such an age perhaps qualifies the Greenland shark as longest-lived animal of all world vertebrates (animal with a backbone, Latin vertebrātus [vertebra, “joint”; -ātus, “-ed”)], "articulated/jointed"). Greenland sharks perhaps reproduce 100-some years after their births even as their populations reveal great vulnerability to Arctic-country deep-water net-fishing that renders them accidental-capture, non-target bycatch. Some Arctic countries seek Greenland sharks as their target fish even as Greenland-shark meat sequesters toxins that only successive boiling or successive drying succeeds in suppressing.

Greenland Shark by Jennifer V. Schmidt for World Book Encyclopedia Volume 8: G treats big-bodied, deep-dwelling, long-lived, overfishing-vulnerable, protective-colored, savvy-sensed, slow-growing, slow-moving, smell-sensitive, toxic-fleshed Greenland sharks.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

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