Sanctuary | Species Focus
The author’s study of sharks in Malvan, Maharashtra, revealed the true, dire status of the spadenose shark species in the seas. The pressure of human
demand on this species for use in laboratories and the pot is leading to its decimation.memories of that diffi cult dissection,
not because IUCN has declared it
a Near Threatened species. The
dissection had moulded me into
an eco-friendly seafood consumer,
without passing on any information
about the species beyond its anatomy.
It was only in 2014, as I embarked
on a study of sharks in Malvan,
Maharashtra, that I realised the
implications of the demand created
by dozens of zoology students across
multiple institutions on a species
that was already being hit hard by
indiscriminate fi shing. The spadenose
shark is known to be a commercially-
valuable species in India, with its fl esh
being consumed directly or being
processed into fi shmeal. Additionally,
an export market has unfortunately
developed for its fi ns. The demand
for dissections could be the straw
that breaks this shark’s back. Like me,
several of these students were put off
by the smelly, messy dissections and
the species that we had to deal with in
those sessions. Unlike me, many of these
students continue to lead lives with
little to no knowledge about how these
species live and what they do. Beyond
anatomy, with respect to the dissection,
what more do we need to know?In the shallows of the Arabian Sea,
predators lurk. As they walk backwards,
slowly pulling on their rampan (shore
seine), the two-legged predators
fi shing for their meal pull in a school
of small sharks. These are spadenose
sharks Scoliodon laticaudus, colloquially
called dogfi sh. A wide-ranging species,
spadenose sharks are found in the
shallow waters and seas of the Indian
Ocean and eastern Pacifi c Ocean. As I
watch the fi sherwomen loading their
baskets with the day’s catch, I stop
at the heap of little sharks to begin
counting, measuring and identifying.
Laughing at my daily eff ort to delay
their departure, the fi sherwomen
remark, “They are all sharks. What
more do you need to know?” What
more, indeed!DISSECT NOT
This is not my fi rst encounter with
the spadenose shark. A memory from
over a decade ago fi ghts its way into
my consciousness. I have a vision of
the airy dissection laboratory of my
undergraduate zoology class. A dead
shark was staring up at me from the
dissection table as I felt its leathery
skin. Several of us wondered whether it
was a baby shark. No, we were told, itwas an adult spadenose shark, a relative
of the milk shark, broadly speaking,
and often consumed for its supposed
medicinal properties. On that day, we
were learning vertebrate anatomy and
were each expected to identify and
isolate shark organs, making sure not
to disrupt the connections of important
blood vessels or in any way mess up
the presentation of the organs. Every
time someone created a mess, they
were asked to take a new ‘specimen’
and repeat the dissection. Two dozen
students meant that at least double
that number of sharks was brought
for dissection. Little did I know that
this fi sh, which we callously cut open
and eventually discarded, was a
threatened species.
Over the years, the hours I spent
hunched over the spadenose shark
in the biology laboratory remained
with me because I could recognise
that fi sh anywhere. A few years later,
as I walked through a fi sh market in
Chennai, and the vendor insisted that
I should buy some “pal sorrah” (milk
shark), I didn’t need a second look
to know that it was the spadenose
shark being passed off as milk shark.
My revulsion for the shark being
dangled near my nose, stemmed from