A silky shark named Genie swam 17,000 miles, a record-breaking migration

A silky shark named Genie traveled from the Galapagos Islands out to the open ocean and back – over 17,000 miles – over the course of a year and a half. This is the longest recorded migration for a silky shark.

Marine scientist Pelayo Salinas de León and his team named Genie in honor of the late marine biologist Eugenie Clark. Also known as "The Shark Lady," Clark devoted her life to the study of sharks and to improving their reputation.

Salinas de León says the team was surprised by how far into the Pacific Ocean Genie traveled, but they have three hypotheses as to the reason behind it: (1) better food, (2) to give birth and (3) to mate. The system used to track Genie could help researchers answer this in the future.

And since silky sharks are declining in number, knowing where they are may help us protect them.

Read about Genie in the Journal of Fish Biology.

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Today's episode was produced by Michael Levitt and Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Viet Le and Christopher Intagliata. Rachel, Regina Barber and Emily Kwong checked the facts. The audio engineers were Carleigh Strange and Patrick Murray.