A new study has found that prolonged exposure to seawater containing higher than normal concentrations of carbon dioxide could have a corrosive effect on the dermal denticles that make up a shark’s skin.
The study, which was conducted byLutz Auerswald and his associates and published in the latest issue of Scientific Reports, looked at the effects on puffadder shysharks living in water that had been acidified by high concentrations of CO2. They found that after nine weeks, 25% of denticles on average were damaged, compared to 9.2% of denticles in a control group of three sharks that had been housed in non-acidic water.
Structural- and compositional changes of denticles under chronic hypercapnic conditions were evident from structural scans and elemental composition of samples. Such corrosion may impair the sharks’ skin protection and open-water sharks’ ability to swim, as denticle surface affects their swimming speed.