​

Obtaining the sizes of Tiger sharks by hand is not reasonable without harming the animal. To obtain size estimates of large animals in the wild without interfering, a method named “parallel laser photogrammetry” (PLP) was developed and first used to measure the body sizes of killer whales (Orcinus orca, Durban and Parsons 2006) and Alpine ibex (Capra ibex, Bergeron 2007). This method involves shining parallel lasers of known distance from each other onto an animal for scale and extrapolating its size from imaging. It is now widely used by many marine and terrestrial biologists and is an accepted scientific tool.

​

Once the size is determined, weight can also be found using NOAA's Shark Measurement Calculator.

https://apps-nefsc.fisheries.noaa.gov/loranconv/shark.html

​

Besides size, the ability to document healing processes is essential too. The sharks we encounter have mating scars and lacerations from numerous sources. We have visually documented many wounds and the healing process over the years. It would be valuable to know the size of the lacerations and, at each encounter, measure the healing rate quantitatively.

​

Housing donated by Howard Rosenstein of Fantasea Line

#FantaSea_Line

fantasea.com