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Catalina Island Leadership Program

Phoenix Country Day School

Kelp Forest Information Links

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries

Introduction: From October 15th, 2007 to October 19th, 2007 our class went to Howland’s Landing on the beautiful Catalina Island of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. While at Catalina we went snorkeling, kayaking, and data collecting. We swam with leopard sharks and horn sharks, which aren’t considered dangerous. We also saw many other cool things while snorkeling such as bat rays and lobsters. The trip was fabulous and we all had lots of fun. Nonetheless, we went on this trip to learn how to answer the question selected for a project in Science class. Our question was, “What sharks live in the Channel Islands and why do they live there?”

Research: While at Catalina, we conducted our research. Not only did we see some beautiful sites at Catalina but we also found information that was vital to our project. We found this information out through many techniques. Our first technique was snorkeling. We snorkeled three times at Howland’s Landing. While snorkeling we looked for sharks to observe where they live and where their prey live. We acquired this data by conducting a roving diver fish count both at Howland’s Landing and at Emerald Bay. We did two snorkels at Howland’s Landing during the day. We also did a snorkel at Howland’s Landing at night. At night, we saw a baby leopard shark and a few horn sharks because they are nocturnal. We did not expect to see either of these sharks. At this night, we saw many different fish. For the last snorkel we went to Emerald Bay and we did a lot the same things at Emerald Bay that we did at Howland’s Landing, but we did not see any sharks.

While kayaking we also collected a lot of data, but most of it we shared with other groups. (For example we took depth measurements with the lead weight depth meter and salinity with the secchi disk.) We snorkeled on days 1,3, and 4 and kayaked on day 2. We found out many things about the sharks that live in the Channel Islands through much research before, during, and after we went to Catalina.
Before we traveled to Catalina we found out lots of interesting facts about the sharks that live in the Channel Islands. These sharks that live in the Channel Islands are the blue shark, the horn shark, the swell shark, the pacific angel shark, the leopard shark and the great white shark. We learned where these sharks live and why, what they eat, and where else in the world they live.

The leopard shark was the first shark we saw on our trip. The leopard shark lives on the pacific coast in coral for protection and food. (They can usually be found close to the shore at 20 feet but have been found as deep as 300 feet.) They are especially prominent in the Channel Islands. They eat a variety of fish, crabs, clams, and shrimps. The species is fairly stable, so it is not endangered and not over populated. We saw a few on our first snorkel and a bunch on the second one. We even got to touch them. We saw the leopard shark very close to the shore. We saw many leopard sharks he because this was near kelp forests were their prey lives and they live in shallower waters.

The second shark we saw on our trip was the horn shark. The horn shark migrates seasonally from shallow water in the summer to deeper water in the winter. During the day, the horn shark retreats to caves or crevasses for shelter and protection. (They may return to the same cave or crevasse day to day.) During the night, it comes out and lives along the bottom as a nocturnal bottom dweller. It eats small fish, squids, crabs, and sea urchins. The horn shark lives in the Eastern Pacific, off the coast of Central California and Central America. We saw the horn shark on the night snorkel because they are nocturnal. We also saw it because we were in shallower waters.

The blue shark was a shark lives in the Pacific near where we snorkeled but we did not see any. The Blue shark lives in Monterey Bay and along the California coast in early summer and they also migrate to and from the Coasts of Brazil and Europe. They can migrate all over because they will eat almost anything. Blue Sharks hunt in groups and they eat fish traveling in schools like anchovies, herring, and sardines. Blue Sharks also eat squid and salmon and they will also attack wounded marine animals.

Another shark we did not see, but was seen by another group in the area is the pacific angel shark. The pacific angel shark is said to live anywhere in the Pacific from Peru to Alaska. They are also common in Southern California. They used to be abundant in the Channel Islands, but now they are getting scarce. Pacific angel sharks are normally found nesting in the sand to catch prey. Pacific angel sharks eat fish like halibut, juvenile sea bass, surfperch etc. Pacific angel sharks also sometimes eat Squid and sea cucumbers. They are sharks, but they have the features of both sharks and rays.

The swell shark is one that we sadly did not see on our snorkels. The swell shark is found in Monterey Bay, South of Mexico and off the shore of Chile. It lives in similar places as the horn shark small caves, crevasses, rocks and kelp. It is found in shallow water but has been found down to 1500 ft. Swell Sharks are nocturnal feeders that catch small fish. Their habitats are areas that are either sandy or rocky areas where algae covers the bottom. It lives in temperate, tropical areas and they are benthic animals. They eat mollusks and crustaceans, and they hunt for fish and invertebrates at night.

The last species of shark that lives in the Channel Islands area is the great white shark. These sharks live worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas. They live offshore and inshore. Great white sharks eat fish, marine animals, turtles, squid and crustaceans. Great white sharks swim outside the surf near the coastal archipelagos or in deep waters. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we didn’t see any Great Whites on our trip.

Conclusion: Learning about the sharks of the Channel Islands was fun and interesting. We learned just how many different sharks live in the Channel Islands. We also learned that many of the sharks in the Channel Islands live elsewhere in the world. It is cool to see the biodiversity of sharks in the different areas. During our project we learned where sharks live and why. However if we had more time we might have learned a few more things. One thing might have been what are the different types of prey in each of the different areas. Another thing might have been what other sharks live in the Pacific, where in the Pacific do they live, and why. We also learned about their habitats and diets. Being able to see and learn about the sharks was really cool and helped us learn about them.