What would happen to the world's oceans if sharks suddenly began to disappear?
Unfortunately, recent decades have seen a sharp decline in many shark populations, making the question more urgent than hypothetical. Researchers are only beginning to understand the impact that shrinking populations of these top predators has on the many other living things in their environment. Visit a few species in their habitats and get a glimpse of how a sea without sharks might affect plants and animals around them.

Sources:
"Decrease in Shark Population Harms Ocean Ecosystems," Voice of America News
Florida Museum of Natural History, Ichthyology Department
iucnredlist.org: 2006 IUCN list of threatened species
Marinebio.org
"Shifting baselines and the decline of pelagic sharks in the Gulf of Mexico," Ecology Letters, 2004

Photo Credits:
Oceanic whitetip photo copyright © Jim Knowlton
Smooth hammerhead and thresher photo copyright © SeaPics.com