University researcher featured on ’Shark Attack Files’

The inspiration for one of marine ecologist Neil Hammerschlag's most intriguing studies on sharks came not during a research cruise to Tiger Beach in Grand Bahama nor in his laboratory at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, but while sitting in a commercial airliner thousands of feet in the air. Hammerschlag was returning from a scientific symposium. And as the jet made its descent for a nighttime landing at Miami International Airport, he looked out his window to see a coastline illuminated by lights. He knew that some animals like pigeons and racoons thrive in cities, while others such as wolves tend to be "urban avoiders,” staying away from big metropolitan areas. "But what about sharks?” Hammerschlag asked himself. Research investigating the movements of ocean predators in relation to urbanization is rare, he knew. So, along with a team of colleagues, Hammerschlag tracked bull, nurse, and great hammerhead sharks in coastal waters near the city of Miami, finding, to his surprise, that the three species spent an abundance of time near the lights and sounds of the big city, often close to shore, no matter the time of day.