George W Benz Authors Greenland Shark for Grzimek's Animal Life

Summary: George W Benz authors Greenland Shark Somniosus microcephalus for the Second Edition, the 2003-dated publication of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.

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George W Benz authors the two-page article Greenland Shark Somniosus microcephalus for the Second Edition, as the 2003-dated publication, of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia in the Fishes volume edited by Michael Hutchins.

Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1799) and Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (Sunday, Jan. 18, 1750-Saturday, Jan. 12, 1822) in 1801 bared the glacial-seas habitant taxonomically. Their Squalus microcephalus (Latin squalus mīcrocephalus, "shark little-headed"), now Somniosus mīcrocephalus (Latin somniosus, "sleeper/sleepy") carries as common names gray, Greenland, ground, gurry (garbage) and sleeper sharks. Local designated ekalugssuak/egaludjuaq appears conical headed, with blunt snout; 48 to 53 continuous-edged, lower-jaw, oblique-cusped teeth; large olfactory openings; spiracles (Latin spīrāculum, "air-hole, vent"); suctorial mouth.

Greenland sharks exhibit blue-gray, brownish, purplish, torpedo-shaped bodies with irregular-spotted mottling sometimes; lighter lower ventral than dorsal supper surface; and widest at two paddlelike pectoral-fin levels.

They feature 21-foot (6.4-meter), 2,250-pound (1,020-kilogram) female and 11-foot (3.3-meter) bodies with small gill slits; two equal-sized spineless dorsal fins; caudal keels; powerful semilunate caudal fins.

Polar and temperate seas from above Arctic-Circle waters southward toward Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Great Britain, sometimes onto Blake Ridge, offshore Savannah, Georgia guard Greenland sharks. Seasonal-covered sea-iced waters below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), under land-fast ice, in 500-plus-foot- (152-plus-meter-) deep open water or in knee-deep shallow waters house them. Greenland sharks inhabit cold waters to 7,218-foot (2,200-meter) depths even as they itinerate to such fresh-, saline-mixed brackish waters as upstream the Saguenay River, Quebec, Canada.

George W. Benz judges behavior, conservation, diet, distribution, feeding ecology, habitat, physical characteristics, reproductive biology and significance of the Greenland shark for Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.

Greenland sharks blindly, near-blindly, sluggishly kill such kineticized prey as chars (Salvelinus spp) and seals (Pinnipedia parvorder) even as perhaps olfaction and sound kindle keen-sensed killing.

They locate around olfaction-laden, sound-loaded fishing, sailing, whaling operations even as bright-colored parasitic copepods (Greek κώπη, "handle"; ποδός, "foot/leg") living in Greenland-shark eyes lure Greenland-shark prey. Greenland sharks manage mealing small prey whole even as they munch large prey one melon-sized chunk by one and even as dead and injured-live prey matter. Amphipods (Greek ἀμφί, "all-around/all-over"; πούς, "foot"); brittlestars (Greek ὄφις, "serpent"; οὐρά, "tail"); cod (Gadus morhua); crabs (Brachyura infraorder); haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus); halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) nourish them.

The Benz-offered Greenland shark in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia obtains jellyfishes (Medusozoa subphylum), lumpfishes (Cyclopterus lumpus), sea urchins (Echioidea class), snails (Gastropoda class), wolfishes (Anarhichadidae family).

One-hundred-plus-year lifespans perhaps prompt shallow-water newborn and juvenile nurseries even as 16-foot- (5-meter-) long females produce 10-pup litters ovoviviparously (Latin ōvum vīvus pariō/parere, "egg alive/life/living acquire/bear/beget/birth/generate/procure/produce/spawn").

Greenland-shark females quarter 10 internally-fertilized, live-birthable 14-inch- (36.7-centimeter-) long embryos even as Greenland-shark flesh, livers, skin, teeth respectively queue dog-, people-quested meat; fine oil; cutters; scrapers. Greenland-shark flesh reveals some toxicity, renderable dog-, people-nontoxic even as Greenland sharks realize dietary requirements for the multi-level trophicity (Greek τροφικός, "food-/nutrition-pertaining") that retains organic pollutants. European fishers, sealers, whalers see Greenland sharks as bycatch and target fishes even as Inuit (Inukitut ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, "the people") communities seek them as equipment-, meat-, oil-sourcing.

George W. Benz treats the Greenland shark in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia as bycatch with treasured turbots (Scophthalmus maximus) and as tasteful-product and nuisance-termination target fishes.

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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