#Orcas covered in scars left by #CookiecutterSharks may be new population https://phys.org/news/2024-03-orcas-scars-left-cookiecutter-sharks.html

"A key clue to the new population's presumed habitat range lies in #CookiecutterShark bite scars observed on almost all the orcas. This parasitic #shark lives in the open ocean, meaning the new population primarily inhabit deep waters far from land. Cookiecutter #sharks attach to the orcas, eventually leaving behind small, circular scars that were observed in photos of the #animals."

Pencils with teeth: meet the tiny #CookieCutterShark that attacked a catamaran off Cairns.

ParasiticSharks glow in the dark and known to have a go at anything they come across, despite their small size.

Also known as #CigarSharks, - they damaged a catamaran off the coast of Cairns have been described as “pencils with teeth” and they have a history of trying to eat inanimate objects, including submarines.

These parasitic small sharks often described as “pencils with teeth” have a history of trying to eat inanimate objects, including submarines.

“They’re called the cookiecutter shark because they don’t actually swallow their prey,” Rummer said. “They just take little bite-size morsels out of the side of them.

They can cause larger animals problems by leaving them with open wounds - leaving entry points for infection so the #whale is also immune compromised which requires a lot of energy for the whale to fight off the #infection.

https://youtu.be/UuWjPaNOm9Y?si=_FxkDdSVHYOQ6Vn7

#CrittersOfMastodon