Shark trust eggcase hunt
Shark Trust egg case hunt and beach clean
Here at SEA LIFE Brighton we take part in regular beach cleans from the Brighton Marina to the West Pier. We’re also doing our best to get the public involved and are lucky enough to be joined by divers who go under the pier and clean out those hard to reach places.
The other part of the day is our egg case hunting activity. This is important because it tells us which species of sharks are breeding on the Brighton coast, allows the Shark Trust to gather data and helps to aid conservation in the UK.
Egg case hunting involves getting as many people as possible looking for shark egg cases that have been washed ashore. Sharks reproduce by laying tough, leathery egg cases on the seabed. Each egg case contains one embryo which will develop over a period of several months into a miniature skate, ray or shark. It is possible to identify which species an egg case belongs to by their various shapes and sizes.
Egg cases can often be found amongst the seaweed in the strandline. Reported findings allow the Trust to identify potential shark nursery grounds, which means they can protect and learn about the sharks near our shores.
There are over ten species of skate and ray, and a few species of shark in UK waters but, like all sharks, their numbers are being constantly challenged. The threats include: getting caught in fishing nets, over fishing, shark finning for shark’s fin soup, and accidental capture.