Marine biologist and Shark Week expert Forrest Galante sits down with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield to describe his search for “venomous sharks.”

Great Barrier Reef

A shark expert, Forrest Galante, discussed his experiences with lesser-known shark species, including those believed to be venomous, during a segment focused on Shark Week. Galante explained that while the Port Jackson shark is rumored to be venomous, there is little evidence to support this, whereas the ghost shark, or elephant nose shark, does possess a venomous spine, though its effects on humans are not well documented.

The discussion also covered the high rate of shark bites at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, which is attributed to a combination of environmental factors and human activity. Galante emphasized that most shark bites are not targeted attacks but result from sharks pursuing prey in conditions with many people in the water. The segment aimed to promote ocean conservation and a better understanding of shark behavior.

Shark expert details encounter with ‘venomous shark’

Oh my gosh, and this is why I still want to dive the Great Barrier Reef. Okay, Forrest, I might have to go along with you on one of your next journeys, but anyhow, that's another chapter. Okay. So thank you so much for being with us. So what more can you tell us about your two new specials that look so exciting? Look, it's Shark Week. It's the most wonderful week of the summer. That's for sure. A lot of death in our titles, but the truth is what I believe is that Shark Week aims to educate and inspire people to care about the ocean and care about ocean conservation. So I have two awesome shows this year, Alien Sharks, which is a franchise we've done for a number of years where we look at some of the weirdest and most wonderful sharks out there, lesser known, smaller shark species, some that have venom, and then Death Beach, which takes us into Florida. Oh my gosh. Okay. So let's talk about Florida because, you know, Florida, a lot of times the coastal, you know, some of the coastal cities do get, you know, bad rap for shark attacks. In fact, even in the last two weeks, two people suffered shark bites at a new Smyrna Beach, 40 year old Matthew Bender on July 6th, and then 18 year old surfer, Sam Hollis, just on Friday. So it's been pretty serious matters. And it also happened that it happened at a place that's been called kind of the shark bite capital of the world with 30% of the world's shark attacks happening there. Why is that? Yeah, it's a great question. And that's what our second show, Florida's Death Beach, digs into. And you know, there really, it really is the shark attack capital of the world. There are more shark attacks and they're really bites more than attacks, but there are more shark bites taking place in New Smyrna Beach than the rest of the world combined. And it's due to this amazing confluence of factors that we dig into in the show between the summertime temperatures when the bait fish go shallower. And then the sharks, the medium sized sharks have to chase those bait fish in shallow, the big sharks predating upon those sharks out deep. And then all these other factors like spring break, summer vacation, tons of people in the water, high turbidity, low visibility, lots of fishermen. It's sort of this perfect storm of situations that lead to medium sized shark being two things, hungry and sort of fearful of predation. And because of those two factors, they're biting kind of anything they bump into, which includes a lot of surfers feet. Right. So, so people need to know that the sharks are really not after them. It's just they are after, you know, the feeding of the schools, the many schools of, you know, of fish or whatever they're going after. It just so happens, like you just described, there are a lot more people in the water at that time. And so there you go. You know, mistakes happen. OK, so in alien sharks, you search for what you're calling venomous sharks. I've looked everywhere. I don't see any documentation of venomous sharks. So what do you mean? So that's one of them you're looking at right there on your screen right now. And that's the Port Jackson shark. And it's alleged that it has venom within those spines that I'm pointing out there. I would say that we found very little, maybe bacteria on that. But the second shark, the ghost shark, also known as an elephant nose shark, they do possess a spine that contains venom similar to a stingray. However, because they're so rarely caught and so rarely tested, nobody really knows the full effects of that venom in that spine. So I teamed up with Dr. Brian Fry, the world's leading venomologist, to actually extract that venom and test it on the human body, which was a little bit silly. But we got through it. It hurt like heck, but we did it anyway. And did that to show what can happen. Oh, yeah. So that light right clip back there, it's like a it's like a talon that's on, you know, a fin there that you're kind of piercing. And is that the is that what you're saying emits or, you know, this venom? So in this case, with the Port Jackson shark, it was rumored to be venomous, but we didn't or I personally didn't have any adverse reactions, but we just heard sharks and it was bad. Yeah, that looks like it hurt. OK, well, you're taking the hits for us as we continue to watch and learn. But like you said, that's the most important part is what we learn. I mean, sometimes these sharks can be very menacing, but really they're very beautiful and people should be respectful of all that is in the deep. All right. Forrest Galante. Yeah. Thank you so much. Look forward to tuning in, tuning into Discovery all this week for Shark Week.

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