Welcome to Shark Week!! Every year since 1988, the Discovery Channel has devoted a week each summer to sharks. What started as an attempt to educate the public that there was more to sharks than just what they saw in Jaws has since become a cultural phenomenon. Last year while watching Shark Week, EmmaBoo227 started to write the names of sharks on log sheets she created and stuck them in a handful of containers we had won at a raffle and the idea for a shark week series was born.
But where to hide a shark week series? In the ocean would be ideal, but not realistic. But we have a body of water nearby. And while the caches can’t really be hidden in the lake, we could make them all puzzles and hide the caches around the lake. So that’s what we did. We hope you enjoy learning a little about some sharks you have probably heard of and learning a little more about some sharks you have probably never heard of.
These hides are all placed around Folsom Lake. Care was taken to avoid poison oak as much as possible, but it is still out there. Also beware off all the other hazards of the lake including, but not limited to, ticks, snakes, other animals, heat and uneven footing.
Cache is located at N38 43.CEB W121 05.DFA
Lemon Shark
The lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae. Lemon are often found in shallow subtropical waters and are known to inhabit and return to specific nursery sites for breeding. Often feeding at night, these sharks use electroreceptors to find their main source of prey: fish. Lemon sharks enjoy the many benefits of group living such as enhanced communication, courtship, predatory behavior, and protection. This species of shark gives birth to live young, and the females are polyandrous and have a biennial reproductive cycle.
Lemon sharks have proven to be an ideal model species to challenge the belief that all sharks are asynchronous opportunistic predators due to their tendency to use nursery areas for an extended period of time. Lemon shark feeding behaviors are easy to determine because their well-defined home ranges are conducive to accurate calculations of both the amount and types of prey in the environment and diet of a lemon shark.
Lemon sharks feed at night and are mainly piscivorous; however, they have been known to feed on crustaceans and benthic organisms. Rather than feeding randomly, lemon sharks display a high degree of preference for certain species and size of prey when environmental conditions are favorable. They also tend to prefer a prey when it is more abundant and available. Lemon sharks feed selectively on species that are slower and more easily captured by using a stalking technique. Lemon sharks feed on prey that are intermediate in size compared to other available prey. This tendency can be explained by the tradeoff between the probability of capture and the profitability when it comes to prey size. The general trend in the foraging behavior of lemon sharks conforms to the optimal foraging theory, which suggests a positive relationship between prey selectivity and availability.
A. What is the commonly attained weight of a lemon shark (first digit, kg)?
B. How far south have lemon sharks been found in the eastern Pacific Ocean?
C. What year was the lemon shark first named and described?
D. What is the maximum recorded length of a lemon shark (feet)? +3
E. What is the maximum number of pups in a lemon shark litter? -1
F. What is the maximum recorded weight of a lemon shark (pounds)?
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