Monday, December 13, 2010

But they don't even have bones...

This video shows laser ablation of shark vertebrae.  Laser ablation is the same method used when analyzing trace elements in otoliths.  However, since sharks don't have otoliths (they have a similar structure called a statolith), the vertebrae is often used for aging and I'm guessing elemental analysis of a vertebrae would yield the same type of data that can be obtained from an otolith.  The video is kind of long and monotonous, but I was interested because it is a relatively new concept to me, and I have a few shark obsessed colleagues

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