A Shark Was Able To Regenerate Its Fin

A silky shark has been documented as being able to regenerate its mangled dorsal fin.

Shark researcher Chelsea Black was studying shark migrations off the coast of Florida during the summer of 2022. She and her team would tag them with a GPS tracker and release them back into the ocean, according to a post on the Team Sharkwater Facebook page:

“The research took an unexpected turn when underwater diver and photographer @JoshSchellenberg captured images of a silky shark with a mangled fin in Jupiter, Florida and submitted them to Black’s team. Upon examination, it became apparent that the hole in the fin matched the size and shape of the satellite tag initially placed by the researchers. Not only that, but the evidence of the removed tag suggested that someone had purposefully removed it.

“In June 2023, the same silky shark reappeared in Jupiter, Florida, providing researchers with a unique opportunity to track its healing process. Through photo evidence, researchers were able to observe the shark’s recovery over a 332-day period, allowing them to calculate healing rates for the first time in this species. In fact, the shark regenerated enough tissue that his dorsal fin was almost back to 90% of its original size, growing back more than half of what had been cut off in 2022.

“What came of the research was a silky shark’s incredible ability to regenerate its dorsal fin. Something that had never been discovered within the silky shark species before. This encounter is a reminder of the importance of understanding and protecting our precious ocean ecosystems.”

(Image credits: Josh Schellenberger and John Moore)