{"id":9926,"title":"Meet Little Miss Bendy.","description":"Hi I am a white tipped reef shark who has spinal scoliosis. I am female and live a very interesting life.","content":"

The effect on behaviour of a female captive white tip reef shark with spinal scoliosis.<\/strong><\/h3>

During my time studying at Bournemouth University, I took on a project working with Bournemouth Oceanarium. Having a passion for sharks for most of my life, I found a very interesting little female shark who had issues. She stood out for me as she looked very different and I like different.<\/p>

I named her Little Miss Bendy and I visited her daily over the course of a few months, in fact I could have stayed day and night just watching her behaviours. Each morning when I arrived she would swim from her resting place and swim straight past me, looking me in the eye as she went by. This got me thinking, did she recognise me? So I tried an experiment by wearing the same T - Shirt with a big logo on for a whole week (sounds Disgusting I know) But by the end of the week she would follow me around.<\/p>

Well I digress, the aim of the study was to look at how her condition affected her behaviour, then write a paper showing my findings. I will Post a link to this later on ( If you like a bit of scientific reading) and if you are not into reading thousands of words and looking at charts I will give you a nice little overview here.<\/p>


Swimming<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

Swimming for LMB looks awkward and is a bit slower compared to the other (male) white tip that is in the aquarium, but after comparing the activity of both, she is just as active as the male. Luckily for LMB being a white tip makes her unique in that she has the ability to pump water over her gills using the muscles around her mouth, reducing the need to constantly swim to get oxygen.<\/p>

Feeding<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

LMB's ability to feed is not compromised in any way, in fact she appears to be rather dominant within her tank and makes sure she gets her share, sometimes nipping others and pushing them out of her way.<\/p>

Interactions<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

White tip sharks are mainly solitary sharks, only really getting together during feeding frenzies or for mating. Within LMB's tank there are 5 Black tip sharks, 1 male white tip, a nurse shark, and a leopard shark, a school of big eyed jacks, 2 green turtles, 2 eels and a variety of smaller fish. Of the smaller fish there are a small group of bannerfish. Bannerfish like to remove debris from the skin of larger fish and they seem to like picking and our LMB a lot, it does not seem to bother her too much though and in some way is probably a nice way to get rid of excess skin and any parasites.<\/p>

<\/p>

<\/p>

Read my new novel about her journey; you can buy it by scanning the QR code below:<\/p>

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Further Reading<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

Both Newport Aquarium and Georgia Aquarium sharks have scoliosis of the spine.<\/p>

And you can also take a look at Bournemouth Oceanarium.<\/p>

https:\/\/www.oceanarium.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>

https:\/\/www.newportaquarium.com\/<\/a><\/p>

https:\/\/www.georgiaaquarium.org\/<\/a><\/p>","urlTitle":"meet-little-miss-bendy","url":"\/blog\/meet-little-miss-bendy\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/meet-little-miss-bendy\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/wonplanet.co.uk\/blog\/meet-little-miss-bendy\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1612956549,"updatedAt":1759498089,"publishedAt":1759498088,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":103581,"name":"won-planet"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/wl7xrcitjf0utikpsrvsc4bosd8uonawh3iiowkatuasn16v.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/wl7xrcitjf0utikpsrvsc4bosd8uonawh3iiowkatuasn16v.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/wl7xrcitjf0utikpsrvsc4bosd8uonawh3iiowkatuasn16v.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"White tipped reef shark","metaDescription":"Meet our female white tipped reef shark with spinal scoliosis","keyPhraseCampaignId":2809,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":20256,"title":"The Ocean as a Habitat","url":"\/blog\/the-ocean-as-a-habitat\/","urlTitle":"the-ocean-as-a-habitat","division":103581,"description":"Learn about the ocean, it's salinity and what goes on in the ocean depths.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/acsnf6fxwmqtthrrpkfyaealbflrk1py7bhi0hzcvtve0o3b.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/acsnf6fxwmqtthrrpkfyaealbflrk1py7bhi0hzcvtve0o3b.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":26514,"title":"The Intertidal Zone","url":"\/blog\/the-intertidal-zone\/","urlTitle":"the-intertidal-zone","division":103581,"description":"The intertidal zone of the ocean is where tide pools, or small, isolated pockets of water, form. These pools, which can range in depth from a few inches to a few feet and width from a few feet, form when the tide goes out and seawater becomes trapped in depressions along the shorelines","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/r5w36uz0p5dpfyanjkj18yciqrx5krnejxc8ggpmiaz25omm.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/r5w36uz0p5dpfyanjkj18yciqrx5krnejxc8ggpmiaz25omm.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":24531,"title":"Keeping Our Oceans Plastic-Free!","url":"\/blog\/keeping-our-oceans-plastic-free\/","urlTitle":"keeping-our-oceans-plastic-free","division":103581,"description":"Plastics pose a huge threat to our ocean\u2019s health and ecosystems. Every day, more and more plastic finds its way into our oceans and affects both the environment and the animals living there. But there are ways we can reduce the amount of plastic in our oceans","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nbn8kqzoaskcnuszhkeei56ggujbg0qeqjmaln1xp12mkjse.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nbn8kqzoaskcnuszhkeei56ggujbg0qeqjmaln1xp12mkjse.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}