It seems that London's famous river is much more exciting than we thought. Seahorses, eels, seals -- In addition to the expected fish, seahorses and eels, the River Thames has been discovered to have venomous sharks. Yikes!
A
survey by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) revealed "positive
news" for wildlife, and ecosystem recovery, the society recently announced. Surprising
creatures, like sharks including tope, starry smooth-hound and spurdog
-- a slender fish measuring some 23 inches and covered in venomous
spines -- have been found. Spurdogs
can be found in deep water, and the spines in front of the shark's two
dorsal fins secrete a venom that can cause pain and swelling in humans.
Tope
shark, which feed on fish and crustaceans and can reach 6 feet and up
to 106 pounds, have never launched an unprovoked attack on humans,
according to the UK's Wildlife Trusts. Meanwhile, the starry smooth-hound, which can reach up to 4 feet and 25 pounds, mostly eats crustaceans, shellfish and mollusks.
The survey also showed that climate
change has increased the Thames' temperature by 0.2⁰C a year on
average, ZSL said, warning that this "paints a worrying picture" when
combined with sea level rises.
Water
levels have been increasing since monitoring began in 1911 in the tidal
section of the Thames, rising at some points by 0.17 inch a year on
average since 1990. "As water
temperature and sea levels continue to rise above historic
baselines, the estuary's wildlife will be particularly impacted, through
changes to species' lifecycles and ranges," ZSL warned in a statement.
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