Students and teachers from Oxbridge Academy joined Florida International University scientists for a day of shark research offshore Palm Beach County.
EXPEDITION DETAILS
March 14, 2025
Palm Beach County, FL
Gina Badlowski
Mia Gabb
Sophia Hemsi
William Sample
Veronica Zuccolo
All sharks were fished for, caught, studied and released for research purposes under Florida permits held by Florida International University scientists.
A group of curious and eager students and teachers from Oxbridge Academy joined R/V ANGARI crew and scientists from Florida International University’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education on a productive Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks expedition. Participants deployed a baited remote underwater video system (BRUVS) in the Lake Worth Lagoon before heading offshore to fish for sharks using drumlines, specialized scientific fishing gear.
The day began with a BRUVS deployment inshore. Students assembled and lowered the BRUVS into the Lake Worth Lagoon, where it recorded underwater footage of marine life. When participants were later able to watch the footage they had recorded, they were amazed to see two nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) and an Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara), giving great insights into the diversity and behavior of predators in the area. After further review, it was also determined that the footage depicted a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) swimming through the frame. This was the first time that footage of a bull shark in the Lake Worth Lagoon had been captured during a Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks expedition!
After the BRUVS survey, participants headed offshore to begin fishing using drumlines. Participants deployed a total of 17 drumlines and caught six sharks, including two nurse sharks, two tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier), a great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) and a lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris)! Each shark was secured to the stern of the vessel and worked up. Workups consisted of measuring the shark, taking a tissue sample from its dorsal fin, tagging it with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Shark Tagging Program (NOAA CSTP) identification tag and determining its sex before scientists safely released it. It was a thrilling day of shark research for Oxbridge Academy!
This expedition was supported by Oxbridge Academy.
CHIEF SCIENTIST
Will Sample is a Ph.D. candidate in the Marine Community and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Florida International University. His current research uses both long-term historical datasets and newer methods, such as high-resolution accelerometry, to study the movement and behavioral ecology of juvenile bull sharks. He specifically focuses on the way these sharks may be transporting nutrients across habitat boundaries, how they may be optimizing their movements to save energy and what the long-term implications of different behaviors they specialize in may be. Will’s research in the Florida Everglades studying the ways sharks move through this crucial ecosystem is important for conservation and informing habitat restoration and management efforts. Will earned a B.S. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Florida Atlantic University in 2018 and has lived all throughout Florida for most of his life, from Jacksonville to Jupiter to the Keys. He is passionate about community outreach and education, particularly regarding Florida’s natural habitats, and currently serves as lead scientist for ANGARI’s Palm Beach County based Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program aboard R/V ANGARI.
