About nine shark species regularly inhabit the Mississippi Sound and nearby barrier islands, and the area shows some of the Gulf of Mexico’s greatest diversity, Dr. Jill Hendon said.
Hendon, a scientist at the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, said her team has run surveys in the Mississippi Sound for more than 20 years and routinely finds seven- or eight-foot, sometimes nine-foot, tiger sharks and both great and scalloped hammerheads.
Those large sharks are often juveniles, Hendon said, noting that as they mature they move farther offshore. “It’s really interesting because, by far, all of these species are still juvenile,” she said. “So, you might be seeing a seven-foot shark, but it’s still a juvenile because the adults go way far offshore.”
The list of species Hendon cited includes Atlantic sharpnose, blacktip, finetooth, spinner and bull sharks. She said the Atlantic sharpnose is the region’s most common species and reaches about 3 feet in length. Farther offshore, Hendon said, larger mako sharks are common and can reach between 13 and 15 feet.
Hendon urged that the presence of sharks is not a reason to avoid the water. She pointed to statistics that show vending machines kill more people each year than sharks and said there have been very few shark attacks along the Mississippi coast over the past century and a half. “A lot of the fear is just what we’re saying — irrational,” she said, and added that while early “Shark Week” programming was rooted in scientific data, some later shows have leaned toward sensationalism and should be balanced with facts about sharks’ ecological roles.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
