For the first time since the initial IUCN Red List assessment, scientists, including the Save Our Seas/Ocean Foundation’s Project Leaders, have reassessed the extinction risk to all 1,199 chondrichthyan* species. And the news is bad. Despite having survived at least five mass extinctions during their 420-million-year history, more than two-thirds (37.5%) are now estimated to be threatened with extinction. That’s up from around a quarter (24%) in 2014.
From the majestic reef manta ray to the giant great hammerhead shark, and even the bioluminescent velvet belly lanternshark, they all have one thing in common: they’re caught (often unintentionally) in fisheries, and it’s threatening their survival.