UNE Marine Science innovation in the spotlight ahead of Shark Week premiere

James Sulikowski uses portable ultrasound technology to study a pregnant spiny dogfish
James Sulikowski uses portable ultrasound technology to study a pregnant spiny dogfish

James Sulikowski, Ph.D., professor in the University of New England’s Department of Marine Sciences, was featured in several newspaper and television reports about his cutting edge research on shark reproduction. The media attention came days before “Tiger Beach,” the premiere episode of “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel starring Sulikowski and University of Miami professor Neil Hammerschlag.

In the reports, Sulikowski discussed the research in the episode, which follows the journey of Sulikowski and Hammerschlag of the University of Miami as they travel to a region in the Bahamas where tiger sharks are known to congregate. Their team of researchers, including 2015 UNE Marine Sciences graduate Carolyn Wheeler, sets out to discover why so many tiger sharks gather there.

To study the sharks’ reproductive behavior, the team uses an ultrasound machine similar to the technology used on pregnant humans, which allows researchers, for the first time in history, to test sharks for pregnancy without killing them first. It’s a technique Sulikowski refined using spiny dogfish in the Gulf of Maine, which reporters and photographers from the Portland Press Herald and WCSH witnessed firsthand. “You can see, they really are quite beautiful,” Sulikowski said. “We learn so much from each look, but without hurting the mother or babies.”

Read the article and see video from the Portland Press Herald.

Watch the story from WCSH.

Read the article from the Journal Tribune.

Read the article from the Sun Journal.

Read the article from Seacoast Online.

Read the article from WALB.

Read the article from WGME.

To learn more about The University of New England’s Department of Marine Sciences visit www.une.edu/cas/marine

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions