World of Sharks

Art has the power to change perspectives, spark dialogue, and raise awareness of the complex issues facing our ocean. This is exactly why PangeaSeed was established. Since its inception in 2010, PangeaSeed has brought together local artists and their communities to collaborate on large-scale, vibrant public artworks on the walls of their towns and cities, depicting the ocean, her inhabitants, and the challenges she faces, in line with PangeaSeed's mission to bridge art and science. Over the last decade,  over 500 murals have been created in locations across the world. Ahead of their travels to Seychelles, Isla sat down with executive director and director of operations for PangeaSeed, Tre and Akira, to discuss the intersection of art and ocean conservation, the importance of community and connection, and how sharks started an entire movement. 

You can find out more about PangeaSeed here www.pangeaseed.org, or on social media (@pangeaseed and @seawalls_). 

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

Follow us on socials! We are @saveourseasfoundation across all platforms.

In August 2025, a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science suggested that ocean acidification could negatively impact a shark's most useful tool: their teeth. We speak with the papers lead author, Max Baum, about this research, and what the findings could mean for the sharks of tomorrow. Plus we take a deep dive into the wonders of shark teeth, and meet a decidedly unbothered tiger shark named Farida.

You can read the paper we discuss in this episode here: Simulated Ocean Acidification Affects Shark Tooth Morphology 

You can also follow Max on Instagram (@maxbaum_insights) and discover more about his work here: www.ocean-insights.org.

Full shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast.

Find out more about us by following @saveourseasfoundation across all platforms!

Sharks have been around a long, long time (over 450 million years!). But how did they evolve into the extraordinarily diverse and successful group of animals that we have today? On today's episode, we meet palaeontologist and author of The Secret History of Sharks, Professor John Long, to discuss a thrilling story of evolutionary experimentation, fossilised clues, and above all, survival.

The Secret History of Sharks is available now: https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/john-long-2/the-secret-history-of-sharks/9781529427356/

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

The Maldives has served as a shark sanctuary for 15 years, and is now one of the most diverse regions for sharks and rays in the world. But with great success comes a new problem: conflict with humans. Fishers are reporting a loss of some of their catch to sharks, an issue known as depredation. For her PhD, SOSF project leader Mina Hatayama is seeking to understand depredation in the Maldives, studying shark behaviour and how it impacts local fishers and their attitudes towards sharks. She will also be asking the very intriguing question of whether hotter sharks are hungrier sharks, exploring the potential role of ocean warming in these increased depredation incidents, as well as working closely with the local fishing community to understand their perspectives and co-develop sustainable solutions.

In this episode, we dive into the challenges of humans and sharks sharing space and resources. It’s a really insightful conversation that weaves together all kinds of issues, from human attitudes and shifting baselines, to the influence of global threats such as climate change on human-wildlife interactions. We also discuss how complex and delicate these situations can be, and the realities of navigating an interdisciplinary project. 

Read more about Mina’s ongoing SOSF project here https://saveourseas.com/project/attitudes-and-costs-from-a-new-conservation-challenge/ and here https://www.fishandfisheries.com/minahatayama.

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

Sometimes called the 'couch potatoes of the sea', nurse sharks are famous for their laid back attitude to life spending most of their days cosied up in piles, napping. But their gentle, docile nature doesn't make them any less special. In this episode, we sit down with SOSF project leader and PhD Researcher Sergio Madrigal Mora - who has spent a lot of time hanging out with the Labradors of the shark world - to discuss how nurse sharks are perfectly adapted to life in the tropics and why they form 'cuddle huddles' on the sea floor. And, we learn more about Sergio's research into the influence of changing temperatures on the movements of Pacific nurse sharks in Costa Rica's St Elena Bay.

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast

You can follow Sergio on Instagram: @sergiomm_77 or @tiburones_ucr. You can find us across all platforms as @saveourseasfoundation.

Papers mentioned in this episode: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v750/meps14733,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098125000589,
https://connectsci.au/mf/article/75/2/MF23162/61130/Long-distance-
dispersal-of-the-endangered-Pacific